2017–2020: Beginnings, DeAnn and Elisabeth Bryan started uploading his music to
YouTube in 2017, with his friends recording him performing using his
iPhone. Bryan's first song uploaded to YouTube was the single "God Speed" which ended up being a track on his debut album. Many of the songs Bryan would upload to his YouTube were written and recorded by him while serving in the Navy. Bryan uploaded 16 songs of varying popularity onto his YouTube channel before "
Heading South" went viral. His debut album,
DeAnn, was dedicated to his late mother and released on August 24, 2019. It was written in two months and recorded with his friends in an Airbnb located in Jacksonville, Florida. He has since made his debut at the historic
Ryman Auditorium, among other noteworthy appearances. A second album,
Elisabeth, was released on May 8, 2020. He recorded the album in a repurposed barn behind his home in Washington. The album is named after his wife at the time (div. 2021). The album contains 19 tracks, including the tracks "Heading South" and "Revival". Bryan released his first EP,
Quiet, Heavy Dreams, on November 27, 2020. On October 14, 2021, Bryan announced that he was
honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after eight years of service to pursue his career in music just ahead of his nationwide Fall 2021 "Ain't For Tamin' Tour". He said, "If it was my decision, I would never get out of the world's greatest Navy, but here I am and they kindly honorably discharged me to go play some music." On April 22, 2022, Bryan released the hit single "
Something in the Orange", which became a mainstream hit and is regarded as one of Bryan's most recognizable and identifiable songs. The song was Bryan's breakthrough onto the
Billboard Hot 100 debuting at position 55 on May 7, 2022, and peaking at 10.
American Heartbreak debuted at number five on the U.S.
Billboard 200 with over 70,000
album-equivalent units, marking the biggest first week for a country album in 2022. The album consisted of 34 tracks including "Something in the Orange – Z&E's Version" a more raw and acoustic version of the hit song. On July 15, 2022, Bryan released his second EP,
Summertime Blues, which featured collaborator
Charles Wesley Godwin. The EP contained nine tracks including the charting song of "Oklahoma Smokeshow" which peaked at number 75. On September 8, 2022, Bryan released the single "
Burn, Burn, Burn" followed by the single "Starved" on October 10. These were followed by the two singles "Fifth of May" and "The Greatest Day of My Life" on November 11, 2022. On December 25, 2022, he released a live album called
All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live from Red Rocks), recorded at
Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Bryan's single "Something In The Orange" was nominated for
Best Country Solo Performance at the
65th Annual Grammy Awards marking Bryan's first career
Grammy Awards nomination. On January 27, 2023, Bryan collaborated with
Maggie Rogers and released "
Dawns", his first single of the year. The single reached a peak of 42 on the
Billboard Hot 100. In May 2023, Bryan received the
Academy of Country Music Award for New Male Artist of the Year. On August 25, 2023, Bryan released his
self-titled fourth album. It debuted at number one on the
Billboard 200. The album also contained Bryan's first number one single, "
I Remember Everything", featuring
Kacey Musgraves, which debuted on the
Billboard Hot 100 at the top spot. All sixteen tracks of the album charted on the
Billboard Hot 100 with "I Remember Everything", "Hey Driver" (featuring
The War and Treaty), "Spotless" (featuring
The Lumineers), "East Side of Sorrow", and "Tourniquet" all appearing in the top 20. All five tracks on the EP charted on the
Billboard Hot 100 with "Sarah's Place" featuring Kahan peaking at 14. Bryan was named
Billboards top new artist of 2023 for his increased popularity through the year, such as his first appearance at the top of both the
Billboard 200 and
Billboard Hot 100. At the
66th Annual Grammy Awards, Bryan was nominated for three categories. His self-titled fourth album was nominated for
Best Country Album. "I Remember Everything" featuring Musgraves was nominated for the
Best Country Song. The song was also nominated and won the
Best Country Duo/Group Performance marking Bryan's first Grammy award win of his career.
2024–present: The Great American Bar Scene and With Heaven on Top ,
Melbourne, Australia in 2023 In early 2024, Bryan began teasing and announcing his fifth studio album,
The Great American Bar Scene. On May 24, 2024, Bryan released the lead single from the album, "
Pink Skies". The single would debut at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the second highest charting single of his career up until this point. Bryan released the second single from the album titled "
Purple Gas" which featured
Noeline Hofmann, on June 7. The album was released on July 4, 2024. It contains 19 tracks including songs featuring artists Noeline Hofmann,
John Moreland,
John Mayer,
Bruce Springsteen, and
Watchhouse. In early November 2024, following his breakup with
Barstool Sports podcaster Brianna LaPaglia, Bryan released two songs, "High Road" and "This World's a Giant". Both songs were commercial successes; "High Road" peaked at number 28 in Canada and number 29 in the US and Ireland, while "This World's a Giant" peaked at number 32 in Ireland, number 41 in Canada, and number 49 in the US. On December 20, 2024, roughly two years after he released
All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live from Red Rocks), Bryan released
24 (Live), a compilation live album recorded during his 2024 Quittin' Time Tour. After
the NFC divisional playoff game between the
Philadelphia Eagles and the
Los Angeles Rams on January 19, 2025, which the Eagles won, Bryan announced he would release a new song, "Blue Jean Baby", if the Eagles won the
2025 NFC Championship on January 26; the Eagles beat the
Washington Commanders 55–23. "Blue Jean Baby" was released at midnight on January 27. In an Instagram post announcing the release of the song, Bryan promised to release an EP and an album by the end of the year. He headlined
Stagecoach Festival on April 25, 2025. On July 2, he released the songs "Streets of London", "River Washed Hair", and "A Song For You" as a three-song single. On July 18, he collaborated with Gabriella Rose and released “Madeline”. He released “Bowery”, a collaboration with Kings of Leon, on August 8. On September 27, 2025, Bryan performed a concert at
Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, breaking the record for the largest attendance at a ticketed concert by a single headlining act in the United States. He played to an announced crowd of 112,408. It was only the second concert in the 98-year history of the venue, and the first by a headlining act. He broke the previous record set by George Strait on June 15, 2024, when Strait played a concert at Kyle Field at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, to 110,905 fans in attendance. In October 2025, Bryan posted a snippet of a recording of a song called "
Bad News" with lyrics apparently critical of the tactics used by
ICE agents deployed in cities around the country. Supporters of the
Donald Trump administration were reportedly displeased with the song. Bryan later related a statement through social media saying the intention of the song had been "misconstrued". Among the ensuing controversy, Bryan has attempted to explain that the song had not intended to be partisan or "take sides". On January 9, 2026, Bryan released his sixth studio album,
With Heaven on Top, which debuted atop the
Billboard 200 making this his second album to peak at number 1 on the chart. Three days later Bryan released a stripped-back, acoustic version of the album. ==Personal life==