It was inevitable.

Over the past couple years we’ve seen AI-generated music take off like a rocket on TikTok and other platforms. With advances in technology, a lot of these songs are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, which obviously poses a risk to actual artists, songwriters, and fans who value real art over AI slop.

Plenty of artists have spoken out against AI-generated songs that attempt to copy their own voices, with Tennessee even passing legislation to prevent the spread of these “deep fakes.” But when it comes to creating original music entirely with AI, there’s not many barriers to entry – which means that we’re only going to see it happen more often.

A year or so ago I wrote an article here about a bunch of AI-generated “artists” posting covers of popular country songs on Spotify. (Fun fact, a lawyer for whoever was behind it sent me an email trying to intimidate me into issuing a retraction. I didn’t issue a retraction at the time, and I still stand by it today).

But since then, things have only gotten worse – and now an AI country artist is topping a *Billboard *country chart.

The #1 song on this week’s *Billboard *Country Digital Song Sales chart is a song called “Walk My Walk,” by an artist called Breaking Rust.

Now, if you’ve never heard of Breaking Rust, it’s because they’re not a real artist. The song is credited to someone named Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, who is also behind an “artist” called Defbeatsai which posts some…well, pretty raunchy AI-generated songs.

While the Instagram page for Defbeatsai discloses that the songs are AI-generated, the IG for Breaking Rust describes it as only “Outlaw Country” and “Soul Music for Us,” with no mention of that music being created entirely by a machine.

So how can we be sure that Breaking Rust is also AI-generated? Well, *Billboard *themselves admitted it in an article just this week on other AI artists appearing on the charts.

Breaking Rust has racked up over 30k followers on Instagram since joining back on October 15, although a quick look through the followers and comments makes it seem like a lot of those may be bots too. But even more disturbing, Breaking Rust is up to 1.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

For comparison, Colby Acuff, an actual artist who puts his heart and soul into his life’s work and just released an incredible album last month, has just over a million monthly listeners. Charley Crockett, who releases new music at such a rapid pace that even a computer couldn’t keep up, has only 1.4 million monthly listeners. Somehow, this AI-generated slop is getting more listeners than either of these guys. And that’s infuriating.

What’s even more infuriating, though, is that *Billboard *is legitimizing this AI slop by including it on their charts.

And look, I get that computers have had a place in music for a long time. EDM music is largely created using computers, but it also requires an actual artist, with actual talent, to mix and create the music. Argue over the quality of the art if you want, but you can’t argue that there are massively successful EDM artists putting in work to create that art.

With these AI songs, it’s simply a computer spitting them out.

Another issue, as I’ve pointed out in the past, is that these AI-generated songs are taking attention – and money – away from actual songwriters and artists. Ella Langley is directly behind Breaking Rust at #2 on the *Billboard *Country Digital Song Sales chart with her latest single, “Choosin’ Texas,” meaning that she would have the top song on the chart if it weren’t for some AI-generated slop that, I suspect, is being boosted by fake streams and followers. (To be clear, I don’t have any evidence of that other than the massive numbers that these songs are doing for an unknown – and fake – artist).

It’s not just a problem in country music. *Billboard *has identified at least six “AI or AI-assisted artists” who have charted in the past few months. And even they admit that number could be higher because it’s so difficult to spot AI songs these days. (If you listen to Breaking Rust’s song it’s pretty clear that it’s AI, from its bland lyrics to its soulless music).

But it doesn’t seem that *Billboard *has any problem with the trend, or any plan to distinguish AI songs from those created by real, living & breathing artists.

I reached out to *Billboard *for comment on Breaking Rust’s single topping the chart, and asked whether the publication has any policy regarding AI songs on their charts, and to this point have not gotten a response. But in their article listing the AI artists who have appeared on the charts, there’s no indication that they see it as a problem or something that needs to be reigned in.

If that’s the case, they’re dead wrong.

Not only should artists be infuriated that AI songs are beating them on the charts, but fans should be upset about the trend too. The more the industry rewards AI, the more of it we’re going to see, and the less incentive actual artists have to create music the old-fashioned way: By, you know, actually creating it themselves.

We’re barreling towards a point where the music industry, from streaming platforms to the weekly charts, rewards not those who create the best music and get the most spins/sales (which in itself is a terrible metric for the quality of music, but that’s a rant for another time), but instead can replace actual artists with AI-generated slop that can be churned out far faster than an artist can write, record and release a song.

There’s no question that AI generated music lacks the heart and soul you find from artists who live and breath their music. There’s no depth to the lyrics, no intricacies to the music, and nothing particular interesting about the crap they’re putting out. But if people are streaming it and *Billboard *is ranking it on their charts, there’s also no incentive to stop making it.

Ultimately, the people who get screwed by the rise of AI are the artists and fans. Spotify doesn’t care, because as long as you’re streaming it they’re making money. And it won’t be long before we see labels promoting their own AI “artists” too, because it’s easy money for them too. (I’m sure the labels will deny they would ever do this, but mark my words: It’s going to happen, and probably sooner rather than later).

We can’t continue to incentivize the lazy creation of AI-generated songs over actual artists making music. But unfortunately, it seems like that’s exactly what *Billboard *is doing with their chart – which just slowly moves us closer to the point of no return.