Top 20 Country Songs of 2009

Carrie Underwood's strong cover of Randy Travis' “I Told You So” further cements her status as the gorgeous girl-next-door with the biggest pipes in all of country music. Carrie’s version holds its own nicely against Travis’ sterling original cut.

The ever-reliable and consistent Alan Jackson keeps it simple and very touching in this low-key and deeply personal song about his beloved housekeeper, “Sissy,” who died in a motorcycle accident.

Kenny Chesney's up-tempo and flat-out fun “Out Last Night” is more traditionally country than his previous slew of beach-themed songs. His singing is smooth, confident and carefree, and the single forever puts to bed any lingering question about whether Chesney is country’s heir apparent to Jimmy Buffet.

Taking a well-deserved break from the lovelorn ballads that were threatening to pigeonhole Dierks Bently’s young career, his seventh No. 1 song, “Sideways,” is a rollicking ode to the time-tested theme of having a good time while getting your drink on.

Sugarland’s wonderful singer, Jennifer Nettles, showcases her powerful and patented twang as she laughs off life’s mistakes with a happy shrug in “It Happens,” the duo’s third single from its wildly successful 2008 album Love On The Inside.

No longer just “that guy who sang that silly song with Shania Twain,” Billy Currington is finally emerging as an artist to be taken seriously. His brisk feel-good single, “People Are Crazy,” is an engaging tale of two men ages apart sitting down for a beer and talking about how everyone else in the world is crazy.

Reba's first single for the Valory label, “Strange,” is a sassy and confident number about the joys of getting over an ex-lover in about two seconds flat. Country’s consummate diva sounds rejuvenated, fresh and loaded for bear.

The second single from Darius Rucker's surprising debut country album, Learn to Live, is a profoundly beautiful and tenderly executed ballad. His warm vocals carry you gently through the song’s promise of better times ahead, and by the end it’s hard not to believe him.

Co-written by Zac Brown and Wyatt Durette, “Chicken Fried” has been around the block a time or two. It first appeared on the Zac Brown Band’s 2005 album Home Grown. A year later, The Lost Trailers took a crack at it with modest results. Zac and the boys re-recorded it for their 2008 album, The Foundation, a move that paid off handsomely when it became their first No. 1 Country hit.