2010 in country music

• January 31 – Taylor Swift becomes the youngest person to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her sophomore country album Fearless (2008). Fearless additionally wins the award for Best Country Album, while Swift's "White Horse" is awarded Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song.
• February 1 – Loretta Lynn marks 50 years since she signed her first recording contract.
• February 6 – Wynonna Judd announces that she will reunite with her mother, Naomi Judd, to tour and record a studio album for the final time as The Judds by the end of 2010.^[1]
  • George Hamilton IV celebrates his 50th Grand Ole Opry Anniversary
• February 13 – Two men in a small pickup truck die from injuries they sustained after colliding with one of Trace Adkins's tour buses. The truck was believed to have crossed the "no passing" line in the center of the road which resulted in the crash. Several members of Adkins' band were aboard the bus, but did not suffer any major injuries. Adkins himself was not on board the bus at the time.^[2]
• April 14 – Disney Music Group announces the closure of Lyric Street Records. The label's flagship act, Rascal Flatts, along with Bucky Covington, Kevin Fowler and Tyler Dickerson follow them within the label's parent company. Three other artists on the roster – Sarah Buxton, Love and Theft and The Parks – are released from the label.^[3]
• April 18 – Carrie Underwood becomes the first woman in history to win the Entertainer of the Year award at the Academy of Country Music Awards twice.^[4] Underwood previously won the award at the 2009 ceremony.
• May 3 – Chely Wright becomes the first major country artist to come out as homosexual.^[5]
• May 4 – Flooding on the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee, causes damage to the Grand Ole Opry House and Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, with several feet of water.^[6] Grand Ole Opry performances are moved to the Ryman Auditorium, War Memorial Auditorium and the Two Rivers Baptist Church; all of which were unaffected by the floods. The common areas of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel were destroyed, and parts of the hotel are under 10 feet of water.^[7]
• May 11 – Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert become engaged after five years of dating.^[8]
• May 26 – Country music legend Willie Nelson cuts his "trademark, waist-length braids."^[9]
• May 29 – The Lost Trailers announce that they will disband in September after the final date of their 2010 concert tour.^[10]
• June 23 – Kellie Pickler and songwriter Kyle Jacobs become engaged after two and a half years of dating.^[11]
• July 10 – Carrie Underwood and Ottawa Senators player Mike Fisher marry in a private ceremony in Georgia.^[12]
• October 12 – Martina McBride and Gretchen Wilson at The Recording Academy.
• October 26 – Billy Ray Cyrus and wife Tish file for divorce in Nashville. According to People magazine, the couple filed for divorce documents on Tuesday, October 26, 2010, citing irreconcilable differences^[13][14] Less than a year later, on March 18, 2011, Cyrus announces on The View that he has dropped the divorce.^[15]
• October 30 – Randy Travis and wife Elizabeth file for divorce. According to the Associated Press, Randy filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in Albuquerque, N.M. on Thursday, October 28, citing that a "state of incompatibility exists between the parties".^[16]
• November 10 – Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler at the 2010 CMA Awards.
• November 11 – The Nashville Scene publishes a report from representatives of British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project, alleging that the chorus of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" – which during 2010 became a major crossover smash hit in the U.S. and worldwide – has the same melody as the chorus of Parsons' "Eye in the Sky", a 1982 hit single that peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[17][18]
• December 5 – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honors Merle Haggard for his lifetime contributions to the arts.
• December – The song "Love Like Crazy" by Lee Brice, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in September, is named the No. 1 country song of 2010,^[19] and in doing so becomes the first non-No. 1 song in the chart's 66-year history to earn such an honor. Earlier in the year, "Love Like Crazy" broke the chart's longevity record, spending 55 weeks on the chart and surpassing (by one week) a 62-year-old record, established by Eddy Arnold's "Bouquet of Roses."^[20]

The following songs placed within the Top 20 on the Hot Country Songs or Canada Country charts in 2010:

The following albums placed within the Top 50 on the Top Country Albums charts in 2010:

• January 16 – Carl Smith, 82, honky tonk-styled star of the 1950s through 1970s.
• January 27 – Shirley Collie Nelson, 78, rockabilly artist, second wife of Willie Nelson.
• May 26 – Judy Lynn, 74, Nashville Sound artist of the 1960s and former beauty pageant queen.
• June 13 – Jimmy Dean, 81, popular country music singer, actor and entrepreneur, best known for his 1961 hit "Big Bad John" and his eponymously named sausage company.^[153]
• July 15 – Hank Cochran, 74, songwriter behind hits such as "I Fall to Pieces" and "The Chair" among others.
• July 17 – Fred Carter Jr., 76, session guitarist and father of country artist Deana Carter.
• July 22 – Margaret Ann Rich, 76, songwriter, wife of the late singer-songwriter Charlie Rich.
• July 26 – Ben Keith, 73, session pedal steel guitarist, record producer
• July 31 – George Richey, 74, songwriter and record producer; widower of Tammy Wynette. (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
• August 23 – Bill Phillips, 74, singer and songwriter best known for his 1966 country hit, "Put It Off Until Tomorrow", written by Dolly Parton.
• October 24 – Linda Hargrove, 61, singer and songwriter, wrote "Just Get Up and Close the Door" by Johnny Rodriguez.

• John Hartford
• Louise Scruggs

• Jimmy Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010)
• Ferlin Husky (December 3, 1925 – March 17, 2011)
• Billy Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015)
• Don Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017)

• Donna & LeRoy Anderson
• Willie P. Bennett
• Marie Bottrell
• Eddie Eastman
• Don Harron
• Fred McKenna
• Wayne Rostad
• Ray St. Germain
• Joyce Smith
• Tom Tompkins
• Hal & Ginger Willis