Loretta Lynn

While the fight for the title of true Queen of Country is a contentious one, Loretta Lynn's name is indisputably one of the frontrunners.

Enjoying an over six-decades-long career, which included over 50 Top 10s and 24 chart-toppers across her 54 studio albums, Lynn was never one to shy away from her truth and telling it how it is.

Beginning with 1966's self-penned 'Dear Uncle Sam', which addressed the controversial Vietnam War, and her hit, 'You Ain't Woman Enough', Lynn's music started to evolve as she was writing songs from a feminist viewpoint and her lyrical prowess became more autobiographical, most notably on 'Coal Miner's Daughter'.

Becoming synonymous with the country legend, the song spawned her autobiography of the same name in 1976, as well as a screen adaptation.

Across her lengthy discography, she refused to let a man walk over (‘Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’’, ‘Your Squaw Is on the Warpath”’), challenged female rivals (‘Fist City’), showed blue-collar pride (‘You’re Lookin’ at Country’) and altogether was unafraid of singing about topics that were deemed off limits.

One of the most decorated, influential, and iconic voices in country music, Loretta Lynn spent more of her career blazing new trails for women, making history and breaking records.

For her groundbreaking role in country music, Lynn received numerous awards from both the CMA and ACM, as well as 4 Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1962, she made history in 1972 as the first woman to be nominated and ultimately be named the CMA Entertainer of the Year and is the only female to be honored as the ACM Artist of the Decade.

Lynn was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.

She received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for her lifetime contributions to the arts in 2003 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013.