"Earl Had to Die: The 20 Greatest Country Songs Depicting the Act of Killing Your Partner"
Murder-themed songs have always held a significant place in the history of traditional country music. Although they may not be as common today as they once were, there is still a substantial collection of exceptional songs that narrate the tales of men eliminating their female romantic counterparts. On the other hand, songs that reverse the roles are not as frequent, but rest assured, the country genre also boasts numerous songs about women who commit murder. We have compiled a comprehensive list to demonstrate this.
We excluded certain contenders from this list based on a few specific parameters. Our focus was on selecting only one song per artist, which means that even though Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert have multiple murder songs in their catalogs, we only included one song from each of them. While songs like "Before He Cheats," "Church Bells," "White Liar," and "Kerosene" are all excellent revenge anthems, they were ultimately replaced by even more popular songs in the final cut.
The theme of the list was quite specific, which further narrowed down the selection. Only murders with at least one male victim were considered, which is why Ashley McBryde's "Martha Divine," despite being a great modern murder song in the genre, didn't qualify. There are also some honorable mentions like Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" and The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love," but they didn't make it to this list either.
We have compiled a collection of country music's most powerful and wicked songs that revolve around killing someone. Take a look at our selected revenge hits and lesser-known tracks that focus on the theme of murder, particularly murdering the man in your life or persuading someone else to do it for you. Keep reading and don't forget to share in the comments if we overlooked your favorite song about getting rid of your man.
Earl Must Perish: The Top 20 Country Songs Depicting the Act of Killing Your Partner
Image Credit: Carena Liptak
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