Consumer data shows that country music is the third most popular music genre. Just about half of all music listeners say they listen to country music. Only rock and pop are more popular. Perhaps that’s why these top country love songs for weddings keep getting requested as first dance songs.
“I will always love you”
Without doubt, the most wildly successful top country song requested for weddings is Dolly Parton’s iconic “I will always love you.”
Ms. Parton topped the chart with this song on two occasions, and Whitney Houston on another.
The lyrics are bittersweet in the verses:
If I should stay, I would only be in your way
So I’ll go, but I know
I’ll think of you every step of the way
But the refrain unleashes the fierce hold that love has on our souls”
And I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you
I will always love you
I, I will always love you.
Here is Dolly singing it on tv back in 1974:
Dig that wig!
By contrast, here is how Whitney sang it without the country vibe:
“Ring of Fire”
Billboard ranks Parton’s gem as the top country love song of all time, followed by Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
June Carter and Merle Kilgore actually wrote the song, and it describes the feeling June Carter felt as she fell in love with her future husband, Johnny Cash. The refrain captures the passion of love:
I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher,
And it burns, burns, burns,
The ring of fire, the ring of fire.
Cash’s unique arrangement, complete with mariachi band, makes “Ring of Fire” irresistibly danceable:
“I Swear”
Billboard puts John Michael Montgomery’s “I Swear” at number three on the list of top Country love songs:
The lyrics are pitch-perfect for your first dance song:
“And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky (I’ll be there)
I swear (and I swear) like the shadow that’s by your side
I’ll be there (I’ll be there)
For better or worse, till death do us part
I’ll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear
I swear.”
The country genre has a legacy of soul-searing love songs. Columbus Pro DJs can play the song and version you like best for the dance that defines your Columbus wedding celebration. Even more, we can bathe the dance floor with beautiful decor lighting to heighten the romance and make a great song even better.
