Top 10 Dierks Bentley Songs

The first song from Bentley's 'Home' album may have ranked higher, but it hasn't had the benefit of time to assess how it will be preserved. His performance at the 2011 CMT Music Awards was one of the night's highlights. This was the Arizona native's eight No. 1 hit, falling in line with the sound he and producer Brett Beavers crafted with hits like 'Lot of Leavin' Left to Do' and 'Sideways.'

This may be the Dierks Bentley song best suited for a barroom, as it's about getting liquored up and lucky at the club. It's a little more direct than some of his other hits, but the return to the rowdy, trouble-making style of previous releases earned him his seventh No. 1. "And it’s hey now here we go / DJ don’t you play nothing slow / Keep those girls out on the floor / Gotta make them want to come back for more," he sings. It's not a lyric that one will find their brain hurting to comprehend, but sometimes simple is good. Very good.

Maybe one could call 'Long Trip Alone' Bentley's dark album, as the first two singles lacked the upbeat traveling rhythm for which he'd become known. This song about asking a girl to take him back was only a Top 10 hit, but it has maintained a place on country radio better than some of his other ballads. "So maybe you could walk with me a while / And maybe I could rest beneath your smile," he sings. Simple lyrics, yet from Bentley's lips there's so much more unspoken.

Bentley has always been able to bring a new artistry to his love songs. He never sounds like just another country boy whining because he got dumped. 'Every Mile a Memory' -- which fits well on our list of the Top 10 Dierks Bentley Songs -- was a No. 1 hit and his first single from 'Long Trip Alone.' It was also the first time fans got to hear him hurt on the radio. He continued to share his heart on two of the three followup singles.

Few artists are as influenced by their producer as Bentley is by Brett Beavers. Together, they've been enormously successful crafting a sound that borrows from Bakersfield but adds a whole lot of heart. For the first time, fans got an idea of how important bluegrass music is on this No. 1 hit and the 'Modern Day Drifter' album. He'd go on to include more and more pickin' and grinnin' before releasing an entire bluegrass album in 2010.

Bentley was well on his way to becoming a heartthrob before this 2009 Top 5 hit. It's a simple love song about falling into a woman's arms after a long day and then seeing where it goes from there. "You can make me work for it girl if you want to / Just leave a trail for me to follow you into the bedroom," he sings. While the 35-year-old might not be your typical country hunk, he sure sings that way in this song.

There are few better revenge songs that Bentley's hit from his 2003 self-titled album. What makes it wonderful is that the music absolutely matches the message. It's fun and unforgiving. "Well I don't know what you were thinking / Running 'round on me / Well now you say you're sorry ... well honey I agree," he sings just before the final chorus. This Dierks Bentley song is a cathartic slap to the face to any lover who's spurned you.

After four straight ballads, Bentley fans were ready to have fun again -- and they did during the summer of 2007 with this Top 5 hit. While this isn't the song that fans most identify Bentley with, it may be the one he seems most comfortable singing. The lyrics seem to fit his personality. "I could make a million or wind up broke / Free and easy down the road I go / Can't take it with you when you go so / Free and easy down the road I go," he sings. It's a great life philosophy.

The second single from 'Modern Day Drifter' found Bentley pouring on the romance a la Conway Twitty. Few women could resist the sultry message of this song. It was a surprising change of pace for a man who until then had mostly been about uptempo bluegrass inspired rockers. "Come a little closer baby / I feel like layin' you down / On a bed of sweet surrender / Where we can work it all out," he sings with poetic confidence to open the track, one of our top Dierks Bentley songs. 'Come a Little Closer' is one of two of his singles to go gold.

Few songs from a debut artist succeed in changing the sound of the radio quite like Bentley's 'What Was I Thinkin'' did. It was a song you waited around for and turned up to 11 when it finally played. The "little white tank top" lyric created a costume for his fan base who still shout every word to this song when he plays it live. The No. 1 hit was also his first to go gold with over 500K singles sold, but it gets the top spot on this Top 10 Dierks Bentley Songs list for the fever it created in the summer of 2003.