50 Best Country Songs About Islands
Country Hits Set on Island Shores
There’s a strange pull in songs that plant you right on an island, even if you’re listening from a landlocked apartment. It’s not pure relaxation, not full escape either, but something murky and sunstained in between. You picture the worn dock, the salt on the air, the slow hum of waves mixing with a steel guitar. Then a track drops in that shifts the whole mood. Suddenly it’s less postcard-perfect and more like the odd mix of calm and restlessness you get when the mainland feels far away. These are the tracks that hit that limbo. The drift, the grit, the impossible-to-pin-down feeling of being halfway in a dream and halfway watching the tide take something with it.
Nobody lives every island song like a cruise commercial. It’s late nights with the water looking black instead of blue, bars with too many ceiling fans spinning at once, and voices blending under neon beer signs while someone’s guitar keeps slipping out of tune. And in that haze, there’s a hook that digs in. It might be Kenny Chesney leaning lazy into a chorus. It might be Kacey Musgraves with a melody that feels like warm wind before a storm. Or Zac Brown Band steering toward something that feels deeper than a beach day playlist. These tracks don’t fake the setting, they live inside it. Sometimes you want a song that lets the salt sting instead of smoothing it over.
Not every island moment feels like a perfect escape. Some are messy, quiet, full of contradictions that only make sense later. A few tilt toward party energy, others toward lonely midnight walks with the surf chewing at the sand. The ones that stick bring their own strange current, pulling you in without warning. They hum with that same restless pulse you can hear in pop, rock, country, and R&B songs when they stumble into something honest. Here are the best country songs for an island state of mind.
Top 10 Island Country Songs
1. 'Margaritaville'—Jimmy Buffett
2. 'Knee Deep'—Zac Brown Band featuring Jimmy Buffett
3. 'No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems'—Kenny Chesney
4. 'Some Beach'—Blake Shelton
5. 'Toes'—Zac Brown Band
6. 'Islands in the Stream'—Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
7. 'When the Sun Goes Down'—Kenny Chesney featuring Uncle Kracker
8. 'Somewhere on a Beach'—Dierks Bentley
9. 'Coconut Tree'—Kenny Chesney featuring Willie Nelson
10. 'The Seashores of Old Mexico'—George Strait
Top Country Beach Hits #11—20
11. 'Beachin''—Jake Owen
12. 'Pontoon'—Little Big Town
13. 'Redneck Yacht Club'—Craig Morgan
14. 'One Margarita'—Luke Bryan
15. 'Summertime'—Kenny Chesney
16. 'Vacation'—Thomas Rhett
17. 'Buy Me a Boat'—Chris Janson
18. 'Guitars and Tiki Bars'—Kenny Chesney
19. 'Long Hot Summer'—Keith Urban
20. 'Chattahoochee'—Alan Jackson
Top Country Seaside Songs #21—30
21. 'Down on the Beach'—Russell Dickerson
22. 'Island Song'—Zac Brown Band
23. 'Barefoot Blue Jean Night'—Jake Owen
24. 'Day Drinking'—Little Big Town
25. 'Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)'—Big & Rich
26. 'Get Along'—Kenny Chesney
27. 'Boots On'—Randy Houser
28. 'Cruise'—Florida Georgia Line
29. 'Sunshine and Summertime'—Faith Hill
30. 'Beer in Mexico'—Kenny Chesney
Top Country Coastal Songs #31—40
31. 'Suntan City'—Luke Bryan
32. 'Where the Boat Leaves From'—Zac Brown Band
33. 'Pirate Flag'—Kenny Chesney
34. 'Mexico, Tequila, and Me'—Alan Jackson
35. 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'—Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett
36. 'Toes in the Water'—The Steeldrivers
37. 'Be As You Are'—Kenny Chesney
38. 'The Sea of Galilee'—Kenny Chesney
39. 'Saltwater Gospel'—Eli Young Band
40. 'On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful'—Kenny Chesney
Top Country Shoreline Songs #41—50
41. 'Livin' a Dream'—Kenny Chesney
42. 'Key West Time'—Pirate Sessions
43. 'Down In Mexico'—Jerrod Niemann
44. 'Coastal'—Kenny Chesney
45. 'All Summer Long'—Kid Rock
46. 'I Shall Return'—Billy Currington
47. 'Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes'—Jimmy Buffett
48. 'Mexico'—James Taylor
49. 'Havana'—Camila Cabello
50. 'Burning Man'—Dierks Bentley
© 2025 Carson McQueen
