This week’s crop of fresh music, includes LeAnn Rimes‘ powerhouse ballad that connects with her current role on the series 9-1-1 Nashville. Rodney Crowell teams with Emmylou Harris and Lera Lynn for a powerful collaboration about finding hope in despair. Elsewhere, Joe Nichols gets vulnerable on his latest release, while Avery Anna and Trey Pendley also offer up new music.

Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of some of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.

LeAnn Rimes, “Wild Things Run”

LeAnn Rimes returns with a deeply affecting new ballad about exalts a love both passionate and untamed one that manages to silence any doubters. The song, inspired by her role as Dixie on the series 911: Nashville, the song unfolds over an expansive melody, blending it with Rimes’ powerhouse soprano, proving that she remains one of country music’s most dynamic vocalists.

Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris & Lera Lynn, “Go Light a Candle”

After anonymously releasing this song last year, Rodney Crowell teams up with Emmylou Harris and Lera Lynn for an official release. The song centers on finding hope in times of frustration and despair, and keeping in community with those who can offer comfort. Harris, Lynn and Crowell trade off verses and offer up luxurious harmonies on lines that both acknowledge pain and hope for a better future, such as “We’ll taste the bitter tears till the darkness disappears/ While we’re leaning on each other ’til we can hold our own.” Together, they create a stirring song of conviction and hope.

Joe Nichols, “Fighting the Good Fight”

Joe Nichols’ latest pairs a laid-back vocal and instrumentation with vulnerable, personal lyrics about overcoming his own childhood with a parent whose “tough love was a little too rough,” and ultimately finding a way to ensure his own children grow up experiencing a relationship marked by love, kindness and gentleness. As always, Nichols’ rich country vocal shines.

Avery Anna, “Man Downstairs”

Avery Anna follows recent collabs with Sam Barber and Max McNown with her newest release, which initially feels like a moody, post-breakup ballad, but quickly surges into a rage-fueled rocker with careening electric guitar and unyielding percussion. “I hope you have fun with the man downstairs,” she sings in a voice that brings a duality of honeyed sweetness and acerbic rage, making for a release that’s both elegant and assertive.

Trey Pendley, “Like a River”

On his new Podunk EP, Pendley includes this bluesy, romantic track. Over a mesh of banjo, pedal steel and organ, Pendley turns in one of his most soulful vocals to date turning a laid-back melody into a declaration of his adoration for a lover who showed up at the perfect time. “I’ll go where you wanna take me/ Couldn’t go backwards if I tried,” he sings. Straightforward and earnest, this intimate track is nicely delivered.

Megan Moroney earns her first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as Cloud 9 debuts atop the list dated March 7. The set is the singer-songwriter’s third studio effort and starts with 147,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending Feb. 26, according to Luminate. That marks the biggest week for a country album by a woman in nearly two years.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Hilary Duff’s first album in more than a decade, luck… or something, starts at No. 3; Baby Keem notches his highest-charting album yet with the No. 4 arrival of Ca$ino; and Mumford & Sons score their sixth top 10 with the No. 10 bow of Prizefighter.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 7, 2026-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of Cloud 9’s 147,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, album sales comprise 78,000 (Moroney’s best sales week; it debuts as her first No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 69,000 (equaling 71.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks, her best streaming week; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Cloud 9 is the second top 10, and third chart entry, for Moroney. She previously hit the chart with Am I Okay? (No. 9 in 2024) and Lucky (No. 38 in 2023). Cloud 9 also marks the first country album by a woman to be No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Beyoncé spent two weeks atop the list with her first country effort, Cowboy Carter, on the charts dated April 13 and 20, 2024.

Among country albums by women, Cowboy Carter tallied the last larger week by units (407,000 in its debut week; April 13, 2024, chart) and streams (90.08 million in its third week; April 27, 2024, chart).

Few country albums by women have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the past 10 years (dating to March 2016): just seven albums by five women. They are: Cloud 9, Cowboy Carter, Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in 2023, Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021 and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty in 2018 and Shania Twain’s Now in 2017. In the same 10-year span, 17 country albums by 11 different men have hit No. 1.

Cloud 9’s first-week sales got a boost from its availability across five vinyl variants (including a signed edition and a Target-exclusive version with two bonus tracks), three CD variants (including a signed edition, and a Target-exclusive version with two bonus tracks) and four deluxe boxed sets containing a piece of branded clothing and a copy of the CD.

The album was preceded by four charting tracks on Billboard’s charts, all of which reached the top 40 on the Hot Country Songs chart (“6 Months Later,” “Beautiful Things,” “Wish I Didn’t” and the title track). “6 Months Later” also scored Moroney her highest-charting hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 when it reached No. 29 in January.

Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS falls to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, with 85,000 equivalent album units earned (down 37%).

After more than a decade, Hilary Duff returns to the Billboard 200 chart with luck… or something debuting at No. 3. The set, her first studio album since 2015’s Breathe In. Breathe Out., arrives with 84,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 73,000 (her best sales week since 2007;  it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 11,000 (equaling 11.51 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

In total, luck… or something gives the singer-actor her fifth top 10, following Breathe In. Breathe Out. (No. 5 peak in 2015), Dignity (No. 3, 2007), Most Wanted (No. 1, 2005), her self-titled effort (No. 2, 2004) and Metamorphosis (No. 1, 2003).

The new album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across seven vinyl variants (including a signed edition), three CD variants (including a signed edition, and a Walmart-exclusive edition with seven bonus tracks), a deluxe boxed set containing a branded shirt and a signed CD, and a deluxe digital download edition with 11 bonus tracks (including the seven bonus Walmart tracks, plus four additional cuts).

The new album was preceded by the chart hit “Roommates,” which has reached the top 20 of the Adult Pop Airplay chart and the top 30 of Pop Airplay.

Baby Keem clocks his second top 10 — and highest-charting album yet — as Ca$ino cashes in with a No. 4 debut. The set earned 72,000 equivalent album units in its first week. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 55,500 (equaling 56.67 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 5 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 16,500 (his best sales week, it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Ca$ino is the rapper’s third chart entry, following The Melodic Blue (No. 5 peak in 2021) and Die for My Bitch (No. 162, 2020). The new album’s first-week sales benefited from its availability on vinyl, CD and two deluxe boxed sets (each containing branded merch and a copy of the CD).

Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping I’m the Problem moves 4-5 on the latest Billboard 200 (nearly 71,000 equivalent album units earned, down 8%) and Don Toliver’s former No. 1 OCTANE falls 3-6 (68,000 units, down 13%). Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving dips 5-7 (61,000 units, down 15%) while two former No. 1s follow, as J. Cole’s The Fall-Off slides 2-8 (53,000 units, down 34%) and Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl is a non-mover at No. 9 (44,000 units, down 13%).

Rounding out the top 10 is Mumford & Sons’ Prizefighter, punching in at No. 10 with nearly 44,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the sixth top 10-charted effort for the band, and comes less than a year after its previous studio release, Rushmere. Of the new album’s first-week units, album sales comprise 25,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 18,500 (equaling 18.69 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, it debuts at No. 32 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 500.

The album was preceded by the radio-promoted single “Rubber Band Man” (featuring Hozier), which notched 10 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Adult Alternative Airplay chart from November through February. It also peaked at No. 2 on Alternative Airplay.

Prizefigher’s first-week sales got a lift from its availability across seven vinyl variants (including a signed edition) and four CD variants.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.