By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
An AI ‘artist’ known as Breaking Rust made history in November, as its song “Walk My Walk” hit number on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart.
It is the first time an AI-created song has topped a Billboard chart, although it does not mean it was the most listened to country song in America. That honor goes to Morgan Wallen’s “I Got Better,” which topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart during the same time period, and Cody Johnson’s “Travelin’ Soldier,” which led among U.S. country tracks on streaming platforms.
Still, it’s an impressive result for Breaking Rust, an AI artist depicted as a soulful, gravelly-voiced cowboy, wandering sad and alone through a black-and-white, hard-scrabble America.
While Breaking Rust may not have the top country song in America, the AI creation’s rise on the country charts is another sharp reminder of how quickly AI music creators are infiltrating streaming services like Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music.
Breaking Rust first appeared in mid-October in a series of short clips on Instagram, where the character now has more than 35,000 followers.
More importantly, the AI bot posted more than 2 million monthly listeners, with multiple songs surpassing 1 million streams. “Livin’ on Borrowed Time” alone has been played more than 4 million times. That song also hit number two on the digital country chart, right behind “Walk My Walk.”
According to Billboard, at least six AI acts have surged into the Billboard charts this year; the first year this has occurred.
“AI music is no longer a fantasy or niche curiosity among internet sleuths; it’s here, and it’s already beginning to have an impact on Billboard’s charts,” the music authority reported. “In just the past few months, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have debuted on various Billboard rankings. That figure could be higher, as it’s become increasingly difficult to tell who or what is powered by AI, and to what extent.”
The songs on Spotify are credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, at this point still a fairly unknown figure who has been connected both to Breaking Rust and a separate AI music project called Defbeatsai.
AI ‘Musicians’ Like Xania Monet Are Appearing on Billboard Charts
While artists have been calling for strict regulations to protect the interests of human musicians, AI generated songs are flooding streaming services. Companies like Spotify have announced new policies to protect artists from AI-generated spam and impersonation, but streaming services are accepting songs from creators using AI programs like Suno to create music from simple text commands.
As is the case with many of the AI creations popping up on Apple Music or Spotify these days, Jones writes the lyrics and uses the AI app Suno to create the music.
Monet and Jones were briefly considered the hottest AI commodity on the Billboard charts. They made headlines in September when Monet debuted on multiple Billboard charts, including Number 3 on the ‘Hot Gospel Songs’ chart for the song “Let Go, Let Go,” and the Hot R&B Songs with “How Was I Supposed to Know?”, which peaked at Number 20.
Earlier this year, the mysterious rock band Velvet Sundown drew attention for reaching 550,000 Spotify listeners in a month, despite evidence that its members were AI-generated.