George Strait Outranks Garth Brooks in Billboard

“Eat it, Garth Brooks”? Is that any way to start a story? New York magazine thinks so, because that’s their lead into a little story about how George Strait is thebiggest country artist of the last 25 years. They say it because of a ranking that Billboard did by adding up numbers from the country songs and albums charts from 1985 to 2010. But while Strait and his 44 No. 1 hits did earn the very top spot, Brooks came in a very close second. And in a way, with Brooks holding the title of the top-selling U.S. album artist, with 68.4 million units sold since Nielsen Soundscan started reporting in 1991, comparing his sales to Strait’s ongoing airplay is a little bit of an apple-to-oranges situation. But I think most country fans would agree, there is room for at least two kings.