It's Jason Aldean's birthday! Aldean turns 48 on Friday, February 28. It's hard to believe that Aldean has been part of country music for 20 years. In honor of Aldean's birthday, we're taking a closer look at four of Aldean's career-defining hits that prove his superstar status.
Videos by Wide Open Country
1. "Why"
"Why" is Aldean's second single, and Aldean's first No. 1 hit. From Aldean's self-titled debut album, "Why" was written by three well-known songwriters: John Rich, Rodney Clawson and Vicky McGehee. The fact that they allowed a relatively unknown singer to have the song shows that they saw something in him that would stand the test of time. Fortunately, their instincts proved correct.
2. "Don't You Wanna Stay" (with Kelly Clarkson)
11 years before Aldean released "If I Didn't Love You" with Carrie Underwood, Aldean released another duet. In 2010, Aldean dropped "Don't You Wanna Stay" with pop star, Kelly Clarkson. From his My Kinda Party record, released the same year,
"We had the song pitched to us and originally it wasn't a duet," Aldean recalls to the NY Post. "The more I was listening to the thing and learning the song, I realized it set itself up to be a duet if we wanted to go that route. When I called my producer about it he asked who I wanted to sing it with me and I said Kelly Clarkson, but I didn't think we'd be able to get her. I've always been a big fan of hers."
3. "Dirt Road Anthem"
Aldean proved he was willing to toe the line of country music as a genre with "Dirt Road Anthem." Also from My Kinda Party, Brantley Gilbert wrote it with Colt Ford, and first released it on his own. Aldean liked the song, but was worried about the speaking part, which sounds almost like rap. Thankfully, Aldean was willing to give the song a shot, making it a multi-platinum hit.
"Being from Georgia, I thought I'd be pretty bad at talking fast," Aldean admits (via Songfacts). "But apparently I'm pretty good at it."
4. "You Make It Easy"
"You Make It Easy" was also a bit of a departure for Aldean. From Aldean's 2018 Rearview Town record, the song was written by Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Morgan Wallen and Jordan Schmidt, and inspired by Hubbard thinking about his wife, Hayley. But it's not surprising that Aldean was thinking of his own wife, Brittany, when he decided to record it for himself.
"Maybe it's because I'm in a better place in life now, and I can relate to those songs more," Aldean tells ABC Radio. "Maybe that's it. I don't know. But I just know a great song when I hear it."
