Most Stations In Country’s Top 20? Texas Holds ‘Em.

As Day 1 of CRS 2026 begins in Nashville, Inside Radio salutes the top 20 country stations based on persons 6+ cume delivery in PPM markets during Nielsen’s fall 2025 wave (October-to-December three-month average), as compiled by ACT 1 Systems. 

Inside Radio’s TOP 20 rankings are based on actual listenership and are not a popularity contest decided by a few dozen individuals.

Six markets claim two stations each, and three of those markets are in the same state — that’s right, Texas. Two of those Texas markets, Dallas and Houston, each send two stations into the top five.

Side note: Even Ella Langley is “Choosin’ Texas,” as the ACM and CMA winner with the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song is one of the featured artists for Day 2’s keynote session “The Conversation.”

The top five country stations each score a cume of 700,000 or higher, with both of the top two near the 900,000 mark. On top is Cumulus Media “99.5 The Wolf” KPLX Dallas, closely followed by Urban One “93Q” KKBQ Houston. Both are multiple “Station of the Year” award winners, whether from ACM, CMA, Marconi or Billboard.

Houston and Dallas stations also place fourth and fifth, respectively, with Audacy “100.3 The Bull” KILT-FM and Cumulus’ “New Country 96.3” KSCS. The latter’s one of the four longest-running country stations ranked in the top 20, in the format since 1973, and it’s represented on CRS Day 1 by APD/MD and PM drive host Al Farb, a panelist on today’s “Expanding the Audience” session.

Audacy lands two of its five top 20-ranked stations in the top five as “US 99” WUSN Chicago — a three-time winner of CMA’s “Major Market Station of the Year” — comes in third.

The other Texas market with two stations in country’s top 20 is San Antonio, with Cox Media Group “Y100” KCYY ranked 10th and iHeartMedia “KJ97” KAJA 12th. Both have also been “Station of the Year” award winners, from Marconi and CMA respectively.

The other three markets with two stations each are: Atlanta, with iHeartMedia “94.9 The Bull” WUBL and Cumulus Media “New Country 101-Five” WKHX in at 16th and 18th; Minneapolis, with iHeartMedia “K102” KEEY and Audacy “102.9 The Wolf” KMNB placing 11th and 20th; and St. Louis, with iHeartMedia “93.7 The Bull” KSD-FM and Hubbard Radio WIL-FM (92.3) 13th and 17th. In that group are two more of the four oldest country stations listed, as WIL-FM debuted during the early 1970s, while WKHX goes back the furthest, to 1968, when it was WBIE-FM.

iHeartMedia claims the most stations in country’s top 20, with six. Its highest-ranked, at ninth, is KNIX (102.5) Phoenix, which was owned by country legend Buck Owens when the format debuted in 1969, while at 19th is “US 103.5” WFUS Tampa.

Audacy comes in second with five stations, including eighth-ranked WYCD Detroit (99.5), a two-time Marconi “Country Station of the Year,” and in 15th, “Kiss Country 99.9” WKIS Miami.

Aside from iHeartMedia, Audacy and Cumulus, the only other station owner with two or more stations in the top 20 is Beasley Media Group, placing WXTU Philadelphia (92.5) — Marconi’s 2024 “Country Station of the Year” — at seventh, and “Country 102.5” WKLB Boston 14th.

Four owners land one station each: Urban One, CMG, Hubbard and Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters, the latter with “Go Country 105” KKGO Los Angeles right outside the top five, at sixth.