An artificial intelligence-generated country song topped a Billboard chart last fall, raising questions about the future of music production and the ability to discern human-created content from that of a machine. “Walk My Walk,” released under the name Breaking Rust, reached No. 1 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart in November 2025, according to Billboard and confirmed by multiple news outlets.
Breaking Rust is not a traditional artist. The project was created in 2025 by Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, using generative AI tools to produce vocals, instrumentation and lyrics, with no human performers involved, according to Wikipedia. The act’s persona is represented through AI-generated imagery, depicting a rugged cowboy in dystopian settings. Taylor previously created music under the alias Defbeatsai, focusing on AI-generated country tracks, as detailed in the Wikipedia entry.
The song’s success, however, was driven by a relatively small number of sales. Time magazine reported that it only took a few thousand purchases to reach the top of the Country Digital Song Sales chart, a metric increasingly susceptible to manipulation. Kyle Coroneos, founder of the website Saving Country Music, told Time that the permissiveness of Billboard’s charts has been a “systemic problem for many years, especially in country music.”
Despite topping one chart, “Walk My Walk” did not achieve widespread popularity on major streaming platforms. Time reported the song was not found on updated daily streaming country charts on Spotify or Apple Music. However, the initial chart position generated a “flywheel effect,” driving the song to No. 2 on Spotify’s Viral 50 USA chart, as listeners clicked to either support or criticize the AI-generated track.
The rise of AI-generated music has prompted platforms to consider how to address transparency. Apple announced this month that it will introduce “Transparency Tags” – a metadata framework covering track, composition, artwork, and music video – to indicate when AI has been used in the creation of music. According to a TechCrunch report, the tags are currently optional but will eventually become mandatory. The framework relies on labels and distributors to voluntarily declare the leverage of synthetic content, with no independent verification or enforcement mechanism.
Spotify’s approach is similarly reliant on self-reporting. Co-CEO Gustav Söderström stated in a February earnings call that the platform should not “decide what kind of tools you are allowed to use,” but acknowledged consumer demand for clarity regarding the tools used in music creation. Spotify intends to allow creators and labels to include metadata indicating AI usage, which the platform will then surface to users.
The volume of AI-generated music being uploaded to streaming services is rapidly increasing. Deezer reported in January that it receives over 60,000 fully AI-generated tracks daily, up from 10,000 when it first deployed its detection tool in early 2025, according to Music Business Worldwide. Deezer also found that up to 85% of streams on AI-generated music were fraudulent in 2025, used to inflate royalty payouts.
Meta has taken a different approach, launching Vibes in September – a dedicated feed within the Meta AI app for short-form AI-generated video. This separates AI-generated content from the main content environment, unlike Apple’s labeling approach.
Breaking Rust has amassed over 35,000 followers on Instagram, where the character is presented with a cowboy persona, according to Wikipedia. The act debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart dated November 1, 2025, driven by “Walk My Walk” and “Livin’ on Borrowed Time.”
