The duet is a classic staple of Country music, almost as timeless as the genre itself. Whether it's Dolly and Porter, Johnny and June, George and Tammy or something more modern like Carrie and Brad, Country music has a fantastic tradition of duets and 2024 has provided us with some cracking examples.
Here are our Top 10 duets of the year with a Spotify playlist at the bottom containing nearly 100 duets that were released this year!!
Ella Langley and Riley Green ‘You Look Like You Love Me'
‘You Look Like You Love Me' is easily the zeitgeist duet of the year so far. It has taken TikTok by storm and even crossed over into other mainstream areas too. The video might well win awards for its wild west setting as well! Riley Green has had a phenomenal year and Ella is not far behind him in the popularity stakes either!
Orville Peck and Mickey Guyton ‘Where Are We Now'
‘Where Are We Now' is a gorgeous track that can found on Peck's new ‘Stampede' album. The song builds to an insanely catchy chorus where the two distinctive at play in the song work really well together. Peck's rich baritone and Guyton's clean, sharp voice helps this song to really soar when they are singing together.
Noah Hicks and Shaylen ‘Second Time Around'
A commercial Country classic in the style of the greats like Brad & Carrie and Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson here. Two rising artists singing an intriguing tale of love, the second time around after they had gone down in flames at the first attempt. We love the drama and we love the big chorus and melody of this duet. We enjoyed talking to Shaylen about it too.
Post Malone and Lainey Wilson ‘Nosedive'
Malone released an album this year that was 90% duets and so we couldn't complete this feature without including one of those. Sure, the ones with Blake Shelton and Luke Combs are fun but it's the classic male / female duet that we are a sucker for and they don't come any better than this one.
Kameron Marlowe and Ella Langley ‘Strangers'
Ella's second appearance in the Top 10 this year! ‘Stangers' is one of the stand-out tracks on Kameron Marlowe's ‘Keepin' the Lights On' album which will be featuring in our end-of-year Top 10 albums list (spoiler alert). A Bluesy song with vocals that compliment each other perfectly, this is easily one of the best duets of the year.
Jelly Roll and MGK ‘Time of Day'
Jelly Roll and Machine Gun Kelly have collaborated on two duets this year, the re-imagined version of John Denver's ‘Country Roads' (‘Lonely Road') and the far superior ‘Time of Day' which featured on Jelly Roll's ‘Beautifully Broken' album. ‘Time of Day' is a dramatic, sweeping duet that showcases the power in the both artists' voices perfectly.
Joe Nichols and Annie Bosko ‘Better Than You'
Country icon Joe Nichols sounds so good on this slick duet with EF Country fave Annie Bosko. Their voices work so well together in a classic ‘Brad and Carrie' way. There's some power behind this traditional, moody ballad and so it's no surprise to us that it was released to radio and is having some success in those markets right now.
49 Winchester and Maggie Antone ‘Leavin' This Holler'
Whilst not strictly a duet in the purest sense of the word as Antone doesn't helm solo vocals or verses in the song, she's credited in the title and her vocals are all over this near-six minute epic. One of our favourite songs of the year with it's hypnotic sway and impassioned vocals, ‘Leavin' This Holler' is 49 Winchester's ‘Hotel California' moment.
Chris Stapleton and Dua Lipa ‘Think I'm in Love With You'
This unlikely partnership formed to perform this song at the 59th ACM awards earlier in the year and the live event was so successful and impactful that the song was released in it's live format the very next day! A Bluesy, soulful song, the addition of Dua Lipa's vocals alongside Stapleton's was a masterclass.
Ernest and Jelly Roll ‘I Went to College / I Went to Jail'
Jelly Roll's second appearance on the list, this thowback duet echoes the timeless Country of decades long gone now but with thoroughly modern and personal lyrics as both singers tell the story of their differing upbringings. A knockabout delight, this song is one of those songs that uses it's almost Gaelic undertones to put a smile on your face no matter what circumstances you might be listening to it under.
We've been collating a Spotify playlist of all the duets we liked over the course of 2024 and it's at nearly 100 songs now! That's how important the duet is to Country music! You can follow / subscribe or just listen to the playlist at the link below:
