Tyler Hubbard

Tyler Hubbard has long spearheaded the shiny, good-time sound of bro country, both in the 2010s as the Georgia half of Florida Georgia Line and later as a solo artist. After dissolving FGL in the early 2020s, Hubbard continued the duo's legacy, modernizing their signature sunny sound on the 2022 number one hit "5 Foot 9," which was the first single pulled from his inaugural EP Dancin' in the Country. His eponymous full-length debut arrived the next year, followed swiftly by the sophomore set Strong in 2024.

A native of Monroe, Georgia, Hubbard attended college at Belmont University in Nashville, where he met Florida-born singer/songwriter Brian Kelley in a campus worship group. The pair eventually parlayed their friendship into a successful music career under the banner Florida Georgia Line. Emerging in 2010, the duo found mainstream success two years later with the release of their debut single, "Cruise," which became the first country song ever to receive diamond certification from the RIAA. The wide-ranging Grammy Award winners spent the rest of the decade at the forefront of the country-pop scene, releasing gold- and platinum-selling efforts like Here's to the Good Times, Anything Goes, and Dig Your Roots.

In 2021, Hubbard and Kelley announced that they would be embarking on dual solo careers while remaining part of Florida Georgia Line. Hubbard's collaborations with Tim McGraw ("Undivided") and rapper Lathan Warlick ("My Way") appeared later that year. In early 2022, he signed with EMI Nashville and began work on his debut album, which embraced both his country and Christian roots, and saw him working with a host of regional hitmakers, including Ross Copperman, Keith Urban, and Thomas Rhett. "5 Foot 9," the first single from the sessions, appeared later that June, eventually climbing to number four on Billboard's Country Airplay charts. Hubbard followed the hit with Dancin' in the Country, his debut solo EP, in August. The set provided the seeds of Tyler Hubbard, the eponymous full-length debut that appeared in January 2023 and reached the upper echelons of the Billboard Country charts. Later in the year, Hubbard followed up with "Back Then Right Now" and "A Lot with a Little," a pair of singles that anchored his second album, Strong. Released in April 2024, Strong bore Hubbard writing credits on every one of its 13 songs; the singer co-produced the record with Jordan Schmidt. ~ James Christopher Monger