If you’ve spent any time at all on country music TikTok lately or caught a set at a festival this year, you’ve probably seen the guy with the mustache and the voice that sounds like 1994 called back from the dead. Zach Top is basically the poster child for the "neotraditional" revival right now. But because he looks like he could have stepped right off a George Strait album cover from thirty years ago, people are constantly asking: how old is this guy? And more specifically, when was zach top born?
Zach Top was born on September 26, 1997.
That means he’s currently 28 years old. It’s a bit of a shock to people who hear that deep, resonant baritone and assume he’s been drinking whiskey in a neon-lit bar since the Reagan administration. He hasn't. He’s just a product of a very specific upbringing in Sunnyside, Washington, that was way more about ranching and bluegrass than it was about whatever was topping the pop charts in the late nineties.
The Sunnyside Origins
Sunnyside isn’t exactly a Nashville pipeline. It’s a small town in the Yakima Valley, known more for agriculture than hit records. Growing up on a ranch there, Zach wasn't exactly listening to the Spice Girls or Backstreet Boys, despite those being the massive hits the year he was born. Honestly, his parents had him on a steady diet of the legends. We’re talking Marty Robbins, Keith Whitley, and Randy Travis.
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By the time he was seven—around 2004 for those doing the math—he wasn't playing video games. He was fronting a bluegrass band with his siblings called "Top String." They weren't just some garage hobby, either. They played a legit circuit of festivals across the Pacific Northwest. While most kids his age were figuring out long division, Zach was learning how to command a stage and flatpick a guitar.
You can actually find old clips of him on the internet from this era. It’s wild to see a kid who hasn’t even hit puberty yet singing with the kind of phrasing you’d expect from a seasoned pro. That "old soul" vibe people love today? It wasn't manufactured in a Nashville boardroom. It’s literally how he was raised.
Why Everyone Thinks He's Older
There's a funny thing that happens when an artist commits this hard to a throwback sound. We tend to associate that sound with a specific age. When Zach Top dropped his debut self-titled EP in 2022, and then the massive Cold Beer & Country Music in 2024, the industry sort of tilted on its axis.
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People kept asking, "Wait, when was zach top born again?"
It’s the mustache. It’s the Wranglers. It’s the fact that he doesn’t use snap tracks or "boyfriend country" tropes. He’s 28, but he carries himself like a guy who’s seen a few more miles than that. Even his 2025 release, Ain't In It For My Health, leaned even harder into the grit. It’s a bold move for a guy who was born in the same year Titanic came out.
The Career Timeline (It's Faster Than You Think)
Even though he started at seven, his solo "mainstream" rise has been a bit of a whirlwind.
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- 2015: He moved to Colorado, briefly thinking about mechanical engineering. That didn't last. Music was too loud in his head.
- 2019: He signed his first real deal with RBR Entertainment and started hitting the bluegrass charts.
- 2023: This was the pivot. He signed with Leo33 and moved fully into the country space.
- 2024: "Sounds Like the Radio" became a legitimate anthem. He wasn't just a niche bluegrass guy anymore; he was a CMA nominee for New Artist of the Year.
- 2025: He actually won that CMA New Artist of the Year award. He also snagged a gold record for "I Never Lie," a song that basically broke the internet because of how "country" it felt compared to everything else on the radio.
What's Next for the Sunnyside Kid?
As we sit here in 2026, Zach Top is no longer just a "rising" star. He’s a headliner. He’s booked for the 2026 Coors Light Birds Nest and is playing massive stadiums with guys like Chris Stapleton and George Strait.
It’s interesting to think that when he was born in late '97, George Strait was winning CMA Album of the Year for Carrying Your Love with Me. Now, Zach is the one carrying that torch. He’s proof that you don't have to follow the current trend to be successful—you just have to be incredibly good at what you do.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into his music, don't just stick to the hits. Go back and listen to the Top String recordings if you can find them. It puts his current success in perspective. He didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be a country star. He’s been working toward this since he was a seven-year-old kid in Washington state.
Actionable Step: If you want to see if the hype matches the talent, check out his live acoustic performances on YouTube. Specifically, look for his cover of Randy Travis’s "1982." It’s one thing to sound good with studio magic, but watching him play lead guitar while singing those runs live is where you really see why he’s dominating the genre right now.