AI-Generated Hit Reaches No. 1 On Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales Chart

For the first time in history, the number one country song in the digital sales category on the Billboard charts is AI-generated.

“Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust currently holds that honor despite not being attached to any human artist. There’s not much information available about the “musician” beyond an artist’s bio on Linktree that says, “Music for the fighters and the dreamers.”

Breaking Rust has more than 39,000 followers on Instagram. The profile includes videos and stills of a man in a cowboy hat standing in the rain.

News of the song topping the Billboard chart got mixed reactions on social media.

“80% of songs are auto-tuned, single-beat, 2-minute tracks. No sympathy there. But for the remaining 20% of artists who can actually sing, challenge, and surprise listeners? This is tragic,” one person wrote in response to the news. 

“I have a feeling that Spotify might be PRO AI as they won’t have to pay royalties or any other fees in case the music is AI generated,” another observed. “But it’s bad for listeners. Bad for artists.”

“A lot of people like AI music, and I don’t think any amount of shaming is gonna change that,” a third argued. “Just ask the vegans.”

The debate over using AI in creative endeavors has been raging for years and is back in the spotlight as it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI-generated content and human-generated content.

The media labor union SAG-AFTRA recently spoke out against a 100% AI-generated “actress” being touted by its creators as “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman.”

The “synthetic performer,” which goes by the name Tilly Norwood, was concocted by the U.K.-based production studio Particle6.

Tilly Norwood’s creator, Eline Van der Velden, argued that the AI-generated character “is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art.”

“I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool, a new paintbrush,” Van der Velden said, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories. I’m an actor myself, and nothing — certainly not an AI character — can take away the craft or joy of human performance.”