The Top 10+ Rascal Flatts Songs

Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts have been entertaining country fans and sending hits to country radio for over 20 years. In early 2020, Rascal Flatts announced that they’d be ending their two-decade journey as a band with their Farewell Life Is A Highway Tour, which was set to kick off in June. Unfortunately, the tour was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and instead, they released their How They Remember You EP to say goodbye.

In honor of Rascal Flatts ending their journey as a band, here’s a look back at 10+ of their best songs throughout the years.

(Arranged chronologically)

1. “These Days” — from Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts released “These Days” as a single two years into their career in 2002. While they released a few other notable songs prior to this, including “Prayin’ For Daylight” and “I’m Movin’ On,” “These Days” was their first single to reach the No. 1 spot on the charts. As the last single released from their self-titled, debut album, “These Days” finds lead singer Gary LeVox telling a bittersweet story about running into a past love at an airport. In the verses, the two talk casually and catch up on life, and his ex even tells him about her now-husband. In the chorus, however, LeVox reveals that he wishes she’d come back to him. The song doesn’t exactly close with a happy ending, but that is what it makes it so relatable to real-life relationships.

2. “Mayberry” — from Melt

For the final single from their sophomore album, Melt, Rascal Flatts released “Mayberry,” a feel-good song looking back on simpler days. The song uses the fictional, sleepy town of Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show to showcase the kind of slow and simple lifestyle the band is missing. The song’s instrumentation, with its fiddle and banjo, also manages to exemplify the kind of life the group longs to find. Released in 2003, “Mayberry” found Rascal Flatts looking back on simpler days, and while the song is still relatable 13 years later, listeners today may find themselves looking back on the early 2000s as the “Mayberry” days.

3. “Bless The Broken Road” — from Feels Like Today

By 2004, Rascal Flatts were enjoying a very successful career with nine Top 10 hits and two No. 1 singles. However, with their 10th single, “Bless The Broken Road,” their career hit a new level. Released in November 2004, “Bless The Broken Road” is a romantic anthem thanking God for all the wrong turns and failed relationships that eventually led to true love. This positive sentiment is accompanied by piano, acoustic elements and, of course, Levox’s powerful voice. The song was a hit for Rascal Flatts, taking the No. 1 spot on the charts, earning Platinum status, and winning the group a Grammy Award for Best Country Song. The single also started a new era of unmitigated success for the group, which is seen in their subsequent releases.

4. “Skin (Sarabeth)” — from Feels Like Today

Rascal Flatts have a knack for inducing emotion in their music, and one of the songs that most exemplifies this is their 2005 single, “Skin (Sarabeth).” In this song, the listener is presented with a story about a high school girl named Sarabeth who has been diagnosed with cancer. The verses follow Sarabeth’s new realities of undergoing chemotherapy and losing her hair, but in the chorus, she escapes to a dream about dancing with her first love. Later in the song, Sarabeth is worried about going to the prom with no hair, and in the last tear-jerking verse, it is revealed that her prom date shaved his head so she wouldn’t feel alone. The final chorus ends on a high note, as Sarabeth’s dream of dancing the night away with her first love comes true. The song was such a hit for the Flatts that it started charting before it was even released as a single. Despite the high demand for the song, however, it fell short of the No. 1 spot, peaking at No. 2.

5. “What Hurts The Most” — from Me And My Gang

Rascal Flatts continued their release of emotional singles with “What Hurts The Most,” the debut single from their Me And My Gang album. On first listen, the song seems to be about the demise of a relationship, but the music video told another story about a high school girl grieving the death of her boyfriend. Mark Wills released the first version of the song and Faith Hill even recorded a version that was never released. The tune was also covered by British artist Jo O’Meara and German trio Cascada, but no version had the impact of Rascal Flatts’ version. “What Hurts The Most” went on to become the band’s biggest hit, taking the No. 1 spot on the country and adult contemporary charts, and reaching No. 6 on the Hot 100 chart. It has since been certified 5x Platinum.

6. “Life Is A Highway” — from Cars: The Soundtrack

Similar to “Skin (Sarabeth),” “Life Is A Highway” is a song that become a hit for the group even though it wasn’t originally released as a radio single. Rascal Flatts released this version of the 1991 Tom Cochrane tune for the animated movie, Cars, in 2006. It soon started taking off in digital downloads, and even though it wasn’t an official single, it picked up radio airplay and peaked at No. 18 on the country airplay charts. The tune is one of the group’s most recognizable singles and became another Platinum song for the band.

7. “My Wish” — from Me And My Gang

While “Life Is A Highway” was becoming an unexpected success at country radio, Rascal Flatts’ official single, “My Wish,” was also spinning on the airwaves. This single, the last from their Me and My Gang album era, is a positive song in which lead singer LeVox sings about all the things he wants to happen in the life of someone he loves. He lists some of these “wishes” in the chorus, singing, “My wish for you is that life becomes all that you want it to / Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small, you never need to carry more than you can hold.” The song proved as a success for the band, earning the No. 1 spot and Platinum status.

8. “I Won’t Let Go” — from Nothing Like This

After “My Wish,” Rascal Flatts went through a few years of more hits, including “Stand” and “Summer Nights,” but their next Platinum status single came in the form of a soft ballad called “I Won’t Let Go.” Released in 2011, this powerful song is an uplifting message to anyone who needs encouragement. The song has a similar message to that of The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You,” as LeVox sings, “I will stand by you, I will help you through when you’ve done all you can do and you can’t cope.” The emotional quality of the song is amplified by LeVox’s clear voice and simple piano accompaniment. The song peaked at No. 2 on the charts.

9. “I Like The Sound Of That” — from Rewind

In order to have a career as long and successful as Rascal Flatts’, artists must find a way to reinvent themselves while still staying true to the style their fans love. Rascal Flatts have done that over and over again in their career and the release of “I Like The Sound Of That” is just one example. Released in 2015 from their Rewind album, “I Like The Sound Of That” is a fun love song in which LeVox sings about all the sounds that makes him think of a love interest. The song was written by fellow country singer Shay Mooney, pop singer Meghan Trainor and songwriter Jesse Frasure. The song did very well at radio, taking the No. 1 spot on the country airplay chart and earning Platinum status.

10. “How They Remember You” — from How They Remember You

For the last song on this list, it is fitting to include Rascal Flatts’ current single “How They Remember You.” In this song, the group imparts wisdom on the listener, singing that it’s not important if people remember you, but it is how they remember you that is important. The song is especially poignant since the band has announced the end of their 20-year career. With that thought in mind, it almost becomes a message to their fans, as LeVox sings, “Did you make ‘em laugh or make ‘em cry? Did you quit or did you try? Live your dreams or let ‘em die? What did you choose? What did you choose? When it all comes down, it ain’t if, it’s how they remember you.”