Zach Top Reveals What He Stopped Doing After His First No. 1 Hit

Zach Top earned his first no. 1 hit with his song "I Never Lie," and he told us what has changed for him since attaining his first hit record.

Top was a guest on Taste of Country Nights, where he spoke on how he and his music have evolved since topping the charts.

"I've grown more into having my own thing. For a long time, as a younger artist, everything you like, you try to emulate," he reflects.

"You know, when I sang a Merle Haggard song, I tried to sing it like Merle Haggard," he elaborates. "When I sang a Keith Whitley song, I tried to sound like Keith Whitley. But at some point, if it's gonna work you need your own thing."

It's the classic case of singing cover songs until you are popular enough to start mixing in your own songs, and eventually eliminate all cover songs from your set. But for Top -- a traditional-minded artist -- that once meant emulating the exact sound of whichever artist he is covering.

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Once he saw that he could have success, and No. 1 songs, by just being himself, that's when he and his career took off into outer space.

Top says, "I found some amalgamation of all the different things that influenced me and that I was a fan of and made it into my own thing."

Top certainly has his own thing going now as he is headlining, not opening anymore. Top's Cold Beer and Country Music Tour kicks off in September and runs all the way through November.

Wanna know more about Top and his secret backstory? We dive into that here.

Here Are Keith Whitley's Top 10 Songs

Keith Whitley died on May 9, 1989, but his music lives on. The traditional country singer's smooth baritone-tenor marks his best songs from a half-decade worth of records and many more years' worth of proper romanticizing. Whitley is perhaps more cherished by the current generation of country stars than he was at the time of his death, leading to his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2022.

Radio hits, an under-appreciated album cut, a vintage cover song and one fine duet mark this list of the Top 10 Keith Whitley songs.

Gallery Credit: Sterling Whitaker

The Top 26 Country Songs of 2025, Ranked

The Top 25 Country Songs of 2025 list is not a roll out of the biggest radio hits of the year. Original duets, Christian cross-overs, meaningful deep cuts and breakout independent artists also help shape the year's best.

The Top 5 songs on this list rely on meaningful lyrics and an original arrangement. A great hook and popular presentation just isn't going to get it done any longer and a few artists (Zach Top, Jelly Roll, Ella Langley) have figured that out X2.

Airplay charts, sales data and streaming numbers helped make this list of country music's Top 25 songs of 2025, but staff and Taste of Country reader opinion were also influential.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

Filed Under: Zach Top