The star also said he played the Toby Keith song “How Do You Like Me Now?!” over and over in his head
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Riley Green at an event in Nashville in November 2025.
When Riley Green was named Sexiest Country Star Alive in PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive Readers’ Choice Poll last year, he thought maybe he’d hear from a few ex-girlfriends.
But Green, 37, told Taste of Country Nights that he was surprised when no one reached out.
“I was expecting ex-girlfriends to text me about it… I don’t know. Because I won, or something. I mean, geez, who you gonna text? That’s like, a ‘Yeah, you know, like, take that,’” he said. “It wasn’t that, it was just a bunch of my buddies back home giving me a hard time.”
The “Worst Way” singer added that he at least had a hit 1999 country single to relate to.
“You remember ‘How Do You Like Me Now?!,’ Toby Keith? That was playing in my head over and over,” he said.
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Riley Green at the 2024 CMA Awards in Nashville.
Keith’s song features lyrics about him being overlooked by a girl he was crushing on in high school, only to wonder years later if she’d be into him now that he’s famous.
In November, Green spoke to PEOPLE at the 2025 CMA Awards in Nashville, and shared a similar story about his friends ragging on him for being crowned Sexiest Country Star Alive.
“I haven’t gotten anything for that yet other than a bunch of texts from my buddies giving me a hard time,” he said.
The star — who has been linked to duet partner Ella Langley and Megan Moroney – also spoke about how his busy schedule puts a damper on his dating life.
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Riley Green performing in Franklin, Tenn. in June 2025.
“Any girl that meets me, after about two weeks of seeing how much I’m gone on tour, she’s ready to go the other way, so it’s no big deal,” he said, adding that fending off women is “not as hard as you think.”
His most recent album, Don’t Mind If I Do, came out in October 2024. At the CMAs, he took home three wins, all for his Langley duet “You Look Like You Love Me”: Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Music video of the Year.
