Katie Peterson
Table of Contents
Clay Walker made a splash on the country music scene in 1993, and for the last 30 years he has proved a force to be reckoned with. With more than thirty charted singles, six of which took the number one spot, it wasn’t easy to pick out those that stood out the most.
Here’s our list of the 22 best Clay Walker songs for anyone looking for a night soundtracked with authentic, classic country tunes.
22. “Where Do I Fit in the Picture?”
We’re starting off our list of the top Clay Walker songs with one of his more unique songs over the years.
“Where Do I Fit in the Picture,” recorded for his self-titled debut album, is a haunting ballad of love lost and clearly established Walker as a perfect fit for country music.
21. “Rumor Has It”
One of the most recognizable and signature things about all Clay Walker’s most popular songs is the clever way the singer gets his point across.
“Rumor Has It,” released in 1997, does that as the upbeat tempo ends in a hook that we won’t soon forget. “Rumor Has It” that we love this song, and it couldn’t be more accurate.
20. “Who Needs You, Baby”
Sometimes you just want to feel a little sassy, and “Who Needs You Baby” does that while maintaining that twist of wanting to win over the one they love anyway.
The catchy chorus has us singing along every time, and it will always be one of our favorite Clay Walker songs.
19. “Like We Never Said Goodbye”
You know the old saying, “As if no time has passed.” That’s the sentiment you’ll get when you listen to Clay Walker’s 2012 single, “Like We Never Said Goodbye.”
Sometimes it’s all about timing to make a relationship work; this song certainly pays tribute to that.
Tara Seetharam of Country Universe described it best: “As with the best Walker singles, there’s an intangible sparkle somewhere within its melody, pulse, and sparse piano lines – evocative enough to match the magnitude of rediscovered love, but gentle enough to remind us that country music is about finding the magic in the simplest of stories.”
It’s no wonder it’s become one Clay Walker’s most popular songs.
18. “You’re Beginning to Get Me”
“You’re Beginning to Get Me” was one of two new singles fans were given when Clay Walker released his Greatest Hits album in 1998, and it has been imprinted in our brains as one of the top Clay Walker songs ever since.
For those of us who have been in love, we know what it’s like in those early days as the infatuation builds and you finally have to concede to the feelings of love that are building. This is one we’ll always queue up whenever a new lover takes hold of our hearts.
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17. “Hypnotize the Moon”
Clay Walker was already off and running with his career by the time he released the title track off his 1995 album, Hypnotize the Moon. This song hypnotized listeners even more to Walker’s sound, peaking at number two on the charts behind Lonestar’s “No News.”
“The pretty melody and sentimental lyrics should prove popular with country radio listeners,” Billboard’s Larry Flick said of the song.
16. “This Woman and This Man”
Clay Walker earned yet another number-one single when he released “This Woman and This Man” as the second single from his second album If I Could Make a Living, in 1994.
Love is a beautiful thing, but it’s not perfect, as Walker demonstrates in this mid-tempo hit. It’s just another example of how country music produces songs that are relatable to anyone and everyone.
How could this one not be included as one of Taylor Dayne’s most popular songs.
15. “Fall”
Sometimes what makes a person feel more secure than anything in a relationship is knowing that you have a partner that is there for you when things are at their toughest.
Recorded for his eighth studio album, “Fall” is the perfect sentiment of the importance of being that moral and emotional support for the one you love, and Clay Walker’s delivery only makes the message more poignant.
14. “Say No More”
“Say No More” set an excellent standard for the Clay Walker songs to come when he released it as the lead single off his sixth studio album of the same name.
While the “Say No More” lyrics are undoubtedly catchy, what earns the track its place on our best Clay Walker songs list is the creative melodic line that accompanies it.
“It’s one of those songs that makes you keep listening because the chord changes are very different,” Walker said, noting it as “probably the most different song we’ve ever cut.”
With great risk comes great reward, and this song proves it.
13. “Watch This”
Embellished with a steel-string acoustic guitar, piano, and even a little Dobro and fiddle, “Watch This” became a top 10 hit for good reason. There’s nothing sweeter than when the one you love genuinely wants you to be open to that trusting, loving relationship.
12. “One, Two, I Love You”
“One, Two, I Love You” is one of those top Clay Walker songs that always brings a smile to our faces as it tells the story of two people who met while they were only in kindergarten and, despite all the odds, are still in love as they grow older.
The second single off his Rumor Has It album, we couldn’t agree more with Rick Mitchell of the Houston Chronicle, who said: “With its sweet sentiment, cute rhyme, and catchy melody, it sounds like a can’t-miss smash.”
11. “I Can’t Sleep”
“I Can’t Sleep,” recorded for Clay Walker’s A Few Questions album, is heartbreaking to listen to as it seems to bring life to the sentiment that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.
Co-written with Chely Wright and released in 2004, the song may have only peaked at number nine on the charts, but Walker said it received a standing ovation during an annual charity fundraiser.
Wright said of the impromptu writing session on Walker’s tour bus one night in Colorado: “It’s moments like that which are the most exciting … a song pops out because you love music.”
10. “The Chain of Love”
Talk about an inspiring title for our best Clay Walker songs list.
“The Chain of Love” was the third single off the singer’s Live, Laugh, Love album and remains one whose relevance is just as poignant more than 20 years after its release.
Written by Rory Feek and Jonnie Barnett, the song beautifully expresses how simply showing kindness toward and performing a good deed for your neighbor has a chain reaction and will maybe even come back to bless you.
Related: 10 Joey + Rory Facts: Inspirational Things You Never Knew
9. “Only on Days That End in ‘Y’”
When Clay Walker released his third studio album, Hypnotize the Moon, in 1995, fans were in for a new twist on a timeless country theme.
“Only on Days That End in ‘Y’” may not have been a chart-topper, but it did peak at number five on the charts as the narrator tells the woman he loves that he misses her every second of every day that she’s not by his side.
Walker only makes it better by doing this in an upbeat way that will have anyone wanting to get out on the dance floor with their partner as it plays.
8. “She Won’t Be Lonely Long”
“She Won’t Be Lonely Long” is one of the more recent songs on our list of the best Clay Walker songs, but it has earned its place.
Released in 2009 for his ninth studio album of the same name, the moderate tempo song hears the narrator admiring a woman who had just been left by her ex and notes his own interest in her as he states, “If she’s lonely now, she won’t be lonely long.”
The song’s best part isn’t the “swooping in prince charming kind of feel” but the female empowerment of not letting a jerk get you down that the narrator seems to admire. Walker said it best, as he noted his life playing in bars and clubs and witnessing such encounters.
“What makes it so real is that if a guy does a girl wrong, the first things she wants to do is go out, look great, show him that you’re not the best I ever had; I’m the best you ever had.”
7. “Once in a Lifetime Love
This entry on our best Clay Walker songs list may be one you might not have expected to see relatively so high, considering it was his first to miss the Top 40 and was the one that charted the lowest throughout his career.
“Once in a Lifetime Love” may not have been a huge commercial success, but the vocal performance Walker gives to this beautiful ballad is easily one of his best as he emotionally sings of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that change everything.
Walker said he was inspired to write the song after listening to Whitney Houston’s version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” and he said, “Man, I want to write something like that.”
We’re glad he took the leap because the repertoire of the best Clay Walker songs wouldn’t be complete without it.
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6. “If I Could Make a Living”
Clay Walker was rolling with the big boys when he recorded his 1994 single “If I Could Make a Living” for his second studio album.
Written by Alan Jackson, Roger Murrah, and Keith Stegall, the song proved to be Walker’s fourth number-one hit as the narrator boldly proclaims that he’d be a millionaire in no time if he could make a living out of loving his woman.
We think that’s easily a sentiment that many can relate to.
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5. “Ordinary People”
By 1998, we already had so many of the best Clay Walker songs that he released his Greatest Hits compilation album. Bam, country music fans were not only able to relive all of Walker’s classics, but they also got to hear a brand new one as “Ordinary People” were praised as being able to have “extraordinary love.”
Of the Top 40 hit song, Larry Flick of Billboard said it best: “Cynics might be quick to dismiss the lyrics as being too syrupy. However, it’s a sentiment that country music’s core audience can relate to,” and “Walker turns in a plaintive, heartfelt performance.”
4. “She’s Always Right”
It’s the phrase that every girl wants to hear her guy use.
“She’s Always Right” was the first single off Clay Walker’s fifth studio album, Live, Laugh, Love, released in 1999, and it’s been one of our favorite love songs ever since.
Walker apparently felt the same, telling Country Weekly: “I love this song from the moment I heard it. I love it when men are able to let their women be in control because, to me, that’s a sign of strength. I also love the lyrics. My favorite line is, ‘She likes chocolate about as much as she likes me.’ In my case, that’s probably true.”
3. “Live Until I Die”
Clay Walker’s debut album proved to be the one that gave us some of the best Clay Walker songs to grace our list, and “Live Until I Die” is no exception.
With a timeless message about living each day to the fullest because no one knows what the future holds, this up-tempo song continues to inspire us with every listen.
Walker once called the single his “autobiography put to music,” penning it when he was just 17 years old. To us, this just proves that this country singer was destined to gift the world with his music.
2. “Dreaming with My Eyes Open”
We can’t imagine anyone, but Clay Walker giving us this 1994 hit single off his self-titled debut album, but alas, “Dreaming with My Eyes Open” was almost never one of the many Clay Walker songs we’ve come to know and love.
Years after it was recorded, the singer admitted that he almost didn’t record it.
“It didn’t strike me as a song I could sing great, by my producer talked me into. It became one of the most played songs of that year, and today, every time I sing it, it gets more and more special to me,” Walker said. “It says I’m going to do my dreaming with my eyes wide open. That’s what we all have to do with MS,” referring to his multiple sclerosis, which he was diagnosed with two years after the single dropped. “Dreaming with eyes open is a vision. When you close ’em, it’s just a dream.”
This sentiment makes us love this entry on our best Clay Walker songs list all the more.
1. “What’s It to You”
We don’t think there is any better choice for the top spot of our best Clay Walker songs list than this 1993 single. “What’s It to You” is the very definition of a classic upbeat country tune as the narrator expresses his feelings for the woman he loves while letting her know just what love means to him.
This debut single became the catapult of Walker’s career as it reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart and was praised by critics.
Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe even said that Walker “infuses his performance with such raw, electric energy that the song becomes an invigorating anthem for those who couldn’t be more convinced of their love for someone. And that final clap-along chorus? Pure joy.”
It’s no wonder this song had us all singin’ “I know what love is, what’s it to you” to everyone we met.
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