Twelve weeks ago, Morgan Wallen clinched his first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. When “Last Night” jumped from No. 5 to No. 1, Wallen secured the first Hot 100 chart-topper by an unaccompanied solo male country artist in over 42 years since Eddie Rabbitt’s 1981 hit “I Love a Rainy Night.”

As the seasons transitioned from the tail end of winter through spring to the very beginning of the summer, “Last Night” remained a fixture in the top ten of the Hot 100, collecting three separate runs atop the chart so far. This week, on the chart dated July 1, 2023, Luke Combs’ “Fast Car,” a cover of Tracy Chapman’s Grammy-winning original, climbed to a new Hot 100 peak of No. 2. With Wallen and Combs concurrently holding the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Hot 100, country music also boasts the two most popular songs in the United States for the first time since 1981, when Rabbitt’s “I Love a Rainy Night” and Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” landed at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

For the past decade, simply gracing the lower regions of the Hot 100’s top ten was an impressive feat for songs that sat squarely in the country genre. Of course, the genre’s sound and aesthetic has been visible across the past ten years, most recently through more country-adjacent Hot 100 chart-toppers like Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road” and Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” Moreover, country acts like Gabby Barrett (“I Hope”) and Dan + Shay (“10,000 Hours”) have been able to score top ten hits on the Hot 100 with the help of pop stars Charlie Puth and Justin Bieber, respectively.

Nonetheless, such undeniable mainstream success for country songs from unaccompanied contemporary country artists is a sign that the genre has entered a new era. But how did country music get here? What moments were pivotal in helping the genre find its footing in the streaming era? Is this the beginning of a major country comeback in mainstream music, or have Wallen and Combs just caught lightning in a bottle?

Here are five reasons why country music’s big Hot 100 comeback is happening right now: