Right now, Luke Bryan is. His current level of success is huge right now. Hunter has been very successful, but his success has been nowhere near where Luke's is at the moment. I'll wait for this upcoming sophomore album to come out and revise my opinion then. Hopefully it changes! I would love to see Hunter's success skyrocket.
Luke is currently the best selling male Country Artist. Jason Aldean is also doing very well in terms of sales and is starting to play stadiums. Kenny Chesney has the biggest tours in Country Music for Male Artists and one of the few Country Artists who can regularly fill stadiums. The few others being Taylor Swift and now Jason Aldean. At this moment Hunter is not yet able to outsell Luke in albums or sell more concert tickets than Kenny Chesney, so you cannot really call him the King of Country. Hunter is rising in popularity though and could be a future contender for Best Male Artist in the ACMs and CMAs.
Right now, Luke Bryan is. His current level of success is huge right now. Hunter has been very successful, but his success has been nowhere near where Luke's is at the moment. I'll wait for this upcoming sophomore album to come out and revise my opinion then. Hopefully it changes! I would love to see Hunter's success skyrocket.
Luke didn't find success with his debut. Hunter did.
Garth Brooks is the top country artist now. I guess you could make a case for Luke Bryan but I doubt he could sell more than 800k of a box set of covers.
Hunter Hayes is probably somewhere in the top 10 though.