2016 in country music

• January 7 – Rachel Reinert announces that she is leaving the band Gloriana.[1]
• January 26 – Thomas Rhett's "Die a Happy Man" spends a sixth week at No. 1 on Country Airplay, becoming the first artist to spend six or more weeks atop that chart since Taylor Swift did so with "Our Song" in late 2007.[2]
• February 11 – Charles Kelley and wife Cassie McConnell welcome first child, son Ward Charles Kelley.[3]
• March 1 – Don Williams announces his retirement after six decades in the music business.[4] He died in September 2017 at age 78.
• March 4 – Loretta Lynn releases her album Full Circle. This album is the first album from Lynn in over a decade since 2004s Van Lear Rose
• March 7 – Dolly Parton announces plans for her first major North American tour in 25 years.[5]
• May 12 – ABC cancels musical drama Nashville after four seasons.[6] One month later, the series is picked up by CMT.[7]
• June 1 – The Dixie Chicks begin their DCX MMXVI World Tour, the first time the band has toured North America in ten years.[8][9]
• July 11 – The body of Craig Morgan's 19-year-old son, Jerry Greer, is recovered from Kentucky Lake.[10]
• September 16 – A total of 30 artists gather to record "Forever Country", a single released in honor of the 50th annual Country Music Association awards.[11] The song immediately debuted on country radio and reached the Hot Country Airplay's top 40 in its first week on the chart; on the all-encompassing Hot Country Songs chart, the song debuted at No. 1 the week of October 8, the third song to do so since its inception in 2012.[12]
• December 17 – Benny Birchfield, the widower of country music singer Jean Shepard, is injured following an attack at his home, where two others died. One of the victims was Icie Hawkins, granddaughter of Shepard and Hawkshaw Hawkins.[13]

The following songs placed within the Top 20 on the Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay or Canada Country charts in 2016:

The following albums placed on the Top Country Albums charts in 2016:

• January 8 – Red Simpson, 81, singer-songwriter best known for the 1971 hit "I'm a Truck." (heart attack)[36]
• January 18 – Glenn Frey, 67, founding member of the Eagles (numerous complications)[37]
• February 22 – Sonny James, 87, singer and Country Music Hall of Fame member (natural causes).[38]
• March 4 – Joey Martin Feek, 40, one-half of husband-and-wife duo Joey + Rory (cervical cancer)[39]
• March 9 – Ray Griff, 75, Canadian singer-songwriter (aspiration pneumonia)[40]
• March 18 – Ned Miller, 90, singer of the 1960s, best known for "From a Jack to a King."
• April 6 – Merle Haggard, 79, singer-songwriter with many hits between the 1960s and 1980s, known as a pioneer of the Bakersfield sound (pneumonia).[41]
• May 16 – Emilio Navaira, 53, Tejano and country music singer, best known for the 1995 hit "It's Not the End of the World" (heart attack).[42]
• May 17 – Guy Clark, 74, singer-songwriter best known for hits recorded by Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and others (cancer).[43]
• June 23 – Ralph Stanley, 89, legendary bluegrass pioneer who was a member of The Stanley Brothers and the Grand Ole Opry (skin cancer)[44]
• July 16 – Bonnie Brown, 77, member of The Browns (lung cancer)[45]
• August 5 – Richard Fagan, 69, songwriter best known for co-writing two of John Michael Montgomery's number one hits: "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" and "Be My Baby Tonight" (liver cancer).[46]
• September 1 – Kacey Jones, 66, singer-songwriter and humorist, writer of the Mickey Gilley hit "I'm the One Mama Warned You About", cancer.[47]
• September 21 – John D. Loudermilk, 82, singer and songwriter.
• September 25 – Jean Shepard, 82, pioneering female country artist and the only woman to be a member of the Opry for sixty years (Parkinson's disease).[48]
• October 30 – Curly Putman, 85, songwriter, known for writing or co-writing classics such as "Green, Green Grass of Home", "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today".
• November 14 – Holly Dunn, 59, singer-songwriter and former Opry member best known for this hits "Daddy's Hands", "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" and "You Really Had Me Going" (ovarian cancer).[49]
• December 2 – Mark Gray, 64, singer-songwriter and member of Exile from 1979 and 1982.[50]
• December 18 – Gordie Tapp, 94, comedian and longtime cast member of the television series Hee Haw.[51]

• Country Music Association
• Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame