"Earl Had to Die: The 20 Greatest Country Songs About Killing Your Partner"
Traditional country music has a long history of featuring murder ballads as a prominent theme. Although these songs may not be as common in today's country music, there is still a noteworthy collection of exceptional songs that revolve around men killing their female romantic partners. However, it is rarer to find songs that depict women as the ones committing the act. Nevertheless, the country music genre does offer a selection of songs about women who take the life of their partners, and we have compiled a list to showcase them.
We had to eliminate certain contenders for this list based on a few specific criteria. Our focus was on including only one song per artist, which meant that popular country artists Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, who have multiple murder songs in their repertoire, were only allotted one spot each. Songs like "Before He Cheats," "Church Bells," "White Liar," and "Kerosene" are excellent examples of revenge anthems, but ultimately, we had to prioritize even more popular songs over them in the final selection.
The topic was defined in a way that made it more specific. In order for a murder song to be included on this list, it had to involve at least one male victim. Therefore, even though Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine" is considered one of the best modern murder songs in the genre, it wasn't included. Other notable mentions include Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" and The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love," but they also didn't make the final list.
What remains is an extraordinary and wicked collection of the top songs in country music that express the desire to harm or kill someone. Take a look at the pictures below to discover our selection of the most satisfying revenge songs and lesser-known tracks that revolve around the idea of murder, particularly murdering a man in your life or persuading someone else to do it for you. Keep reading and don't forget to tell us in the comments if we overlooked your favorite song about getting rid of your man.
Earl Had to Go: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting Harming Your Partner
Credit for Gallery: Carena Liptak
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