I spend my days sitting at a desk typing away for minimum wage, and often thinking how nice it would be to win the lottery and never have to worry about money again. Sure, I may not have heaps of cash right now, but I do know a lot of great songs about it, and I’d love to share them with you today! From having no money to a lot of it, to spending it on lovers or heartbreak, here are my top five country songs about money, including a few new ones for you. In no particular order…

1.     Tip Jar – Jackson Michelson

Let me introduce you to a brand new song that I know you’re going to love. Tip Jar is all about spending your hard-earned money wisely, particularly when it comes to helping you get over your ex – “I’ll toss a 20 in the tip jar, I gotta keep ’em playing all night long. Tell all my buddies I won’t miss her if I just keep ’em playing all our songs. Ain’t reckless behaviour, I gotta replace the memories we made here in this bar, and if the band can fix my broken heart, I’ll toss a 20 in the tip jar.” I think we have more than enough sad heartbreak songs in country music, so put this one on if you’re looking for something a lot more fun and upbeat, and with some great advice too. Memories of your ex clogging up your brain? Drown them out with country songs. Sounds like a plan to me.  

2.     Rich – Maren Morris

One of the OG money songs for me. In Rich, Maren Morris takes the age old adage of ‘if I had a dollar for every time…’ and turns it up to eleven – “If I had a dollar every time that I swore you off, and a twenty every time that I picked up when you called… Boy I’d be rich, head to toe Prada, Benz in the driveway, yacht in the water, Vegas at the Madarin, high roller gambling, me and Diddy drippin’ diamonds like Marilyn.” I find it a very humorous song that has more than an ounce of truth behind it – I know for sure that if I was cashing in for all the romantic infractions that Maren mentions, I’d be doing pretty well for myself. It’s fun, light-hearted, and honestly, quite unlike a lot of songs in country music with it’s reggae/hip hop undertones. Well worth a listen for the composition and the lyrics!  

3.     Summer Job Money – Chris Lane

Another new one for you! Chris Lane rarely misses with his songs, and Summer Job Money is no exception. A young Chris is told that he probably better start thinking about saving up some money for college, so he gets a summer job, singing that it’s a good thing he didn’t know his girl back then, because “Seventeen me would probably blow all of this summer job money on you on an I love you necklace, Friday night light halftime concessions, gas for the tank, Bud Light to drink down at a high school party or two.” It’s a super cute summer song that gets you thinking about splashing a little cash on your SO just because you can, and if this isn’t one of the big songs of Summer ’21, I want my money back.

4.     Minimum Wage – Blake Shelton

I know what you’re thinking: ‘A country megastar singing a song about minimum wage? Hmm, okay,’ but hear me out – we have a tendency to forget that country superstars had to make their start somewhere, and that was probably playing for pennies in dive bars and the like. I like to think of Blake as a man of the people, and I think his songs have a way of being pretty relatable. This song is less about making or spending money than how the right person can make you feel rich, in more ways than one. He sings “You can make a one bedroom apartment feel like a house up on the hill, you can make my truck out in the driveway roll like a cleaned up Cadillac. Girl, lookin’ at you, lookin’ at me that way can make a man feel rich on minimum wage.” It’s a rockier side of Blake that we don’t always see, and a gentle reminder that there are more important things in life than money.

5.     Check Cashin Country – Midland

Now this is exactly what I’m talking about. In an era when more and more people seem to want to get famous just to be rich, it’s refreshing to hear that there are still a few out there doing it for the love of the music. Check Cashin’ Country is a song about those authentic country bands playing anywhere and everywhere to try and make their mark, sharing their songs just because it’s what they love to do. In the song, Midland reassure us that they “sure ain’t in it for the money, this ain’t check cashin’ country…I hear that tip jars got a jingle cause we ain’t got a single on the radio, we make ‘em go dance wherever we go, tryin’ to turn a nickel to solid country gold.” And that’s exactly what they’ve done – made solid country gold with genuine songs and Wild West style. I’m sold.

I hope you enjoyed today’s Top 5! What money songs get you feeling rich? Kip Moore’s Beer Money? Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler? Chris Janson’s Buy Me A Boat? Let us know on Twitter @Think_Country and @CiarasCountry, and if you want to hear even more connected country songs, tune in for Ciara’s Country Connections every Friday from 5-8pm on www.UKCountryRadio.com. Thanks for reading!