Who Was Country Music's Most Popular '00s Artist?

Toby Keith and Alan Jackson were the two biggest country hitmakers early in the '00s, but groups such as Lonestar and Rascal Flatts came up quickly. Later, artists including Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban would start to dominate country radio. But who topped the decade?

Taste of Country recently tallied every No. 1 song from 1980-2020 to show who had the most No. 1 hits by decade. The '80s were dominated by Alabama, while the '90s belonged to George Strait. The '00s were ruled by Urban, right up to the very end when another superstar passed him. Can you guess who?

Multi-week No. 1 hits for Tim McGraw (think "Live Like You Were Dying") gave him a big boost on this list, while old faithful Strait continued to churn out chart-topping hits like flapjacks. His last No. 1 song came in 2009 with "River of Love" — at least, that's his last until now. We're not going to be the ones to count the King out.

Before you guess, remember that contemporaries such as Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean were just getting started in the later part of the decade, so neither factors into the Top 10 on this list. But stay tuned — both will battle Blake Shelton and more for the most No. 1 hits of the 2010s.

Taste of Country's list of the artists with the most weeks at No. 1 by decade was compiled using data from Billboard. The chart was created with the Flourish app.

WATCH: Think Garth Brooks Was the '90s' Biggest Country Star? Think Again!

LOOK: The 50 Most Essential Songs of the 2000s