List of (U.S.) Billboard country chart chart achievements

This article highlights significant milestones and achievements based upon Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs (and its titled predecessors) chart, and accomplishments on the Hot Country Albums chart.

This list spans from the issue dated January 8, 1944 to the present. Billboard magazine began tracking the popularity of country music songs at that time, and it is widely considered to be the standard music popularity chart in the United States.

From 1944-1948, Billboard used just one chart to track songs' popularity - "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records." There was no standard chart length; a given week had anywhere from two to eight positions. A "Best Sellers" chart (first titled "Best Seling Retail Folk Records") was added with the May 15, 1948 issue, while a "Jockeys" (first known as "Country & Western Records Most Played by Folk Disk Jockeys") first appeared on December 10, 1949. From 1949-1957, there were three charts that measured the popularity of country music songs; the Jukebox chart was dropped after the June 17, 1957 chart, while the final Best Sellers and Jockeys charts ended with the October 13, 1958 issue.

Starting October 20, 1958, there was one all-encompassing chart, combining both retail sales and radio airplay. First known as "Hot C&W Sides," the chart name changed to "Hot Country Singles" on November 3, 1962; "Hot Country Singles & Tracks" on January 20, 1990; and "Hot Country Songs" on April 30, 2005. The chart length varied through the years: 30 (1958-1964), 50 (1964-1966), 75 (1966-1973), 100 (1973-1990), 75 (1990-2000) and 60 (since January 6, 2001).

The artists

Artists with the most chart entries

Artists with the most Top 40 hits

• 145 — George Jones
• 128 — Eddy Arnold
• 105 — Johnny Cash
• 93 — Merle Haggard
• 92 — Waylon Jennings

Artists with the most Top 10 singles

• 92 — Eddy Arnold
• 78 — George Jones
• 75 — Conway Twitty
• 75 — George Strait
• 71 — Merle Haggard

Artists with 25 or more No. 1 hits

• 42 — George Strait
• 40 — Conway Twitty
• 38 — Merle Haggard
• 35 — Ronnie Milsap
• 32 — Alabama
• 29 — Charley Pride
• 28 — Eddy Arnold
• 25 — Dolly Parton

Artists with the most consecutive No. 1 hits

Note: Billboard and statistician Joel Whitburn disregard all non-No. 1 duets and Christmas releases in determining No. 1 streaks. If Christmas songs and duets were to be included in No. 1 streaks, however, Sonny James would continue to hold the standard with 16; Alabama's streak would be eight and 13 (with the 1982 Christmas song "Christmas in Dixie" splitting the pair of streaks) and Conley's streak split into nine and seven (broken up by the 1986 duet "Too Many Times" with Anita Pointer).

Most weeks at No. 1

• 145 — Eddy Arnold
• 111 — Webb Pierce
• 82 — Buck Owens
• 82 — Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys
• 81 — George Strait

Self-replacement at No. 1

Eddy Arnold holds the record, scoring five straight No. 1 songs in 1947-1948 without being replaced by another artist. The songs were:

• "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms)" (21 weeks)
• "Anytime" (9 weeks)
• "Boquet of Roses" (18 weeks Jukebox, 19 weeks Best Seller)
• "Texarkana Baby" (3 weeks Jukebox, 1 week Best Seller)
• "Just A Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long, Long Way)" (8 weeks Jukebox, 4 weeks Best Seller).

Others who have replaced themselves at Number One include:

Longest span between first and most recent No. 1 hits

Artists who have appeared in the Top 40 in at least five different decades

6 decades

5 decades

^*Note: Ernest Tubb was not credited on the Billboard chart in 1983 when he appeared as one of two guest vocalists on Hank Williams Jr.'s 1983 Top 10 hit, "Leave Them Boys Alone." However, the song appears as the last chart entry under Tubb's listing (and thus, is given credit) in Joel Whitburn's book "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits" 2nd ed. (ISBN 0832082911).

Artists who have hit No. 1 posthumously

• Hank Williams^A (d. January 1, 1953) — with His Drifting Cowboys, scored four of his 11 career No. 1 songs after his death: "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," "Kaw-Liga," "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "Take These Chains From My Heart," all 1953; "Kaw-Liga" was the No. 1 song of 1953
• Betty Jack Davis (d. August 2, 1953) — As a member of The Davis Sisters, went to No. 1 with "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" in the fall of 1953.
• Johnny Horton (d. November 5, 1960) — "North to Alaska" (1961).
• Hawkshaw Hawkins (d. March 5, 1963) — "Lonesome 7-7203" (1963).
• Jim Reeves^A (d. July 31, 1964) — Had six No. 1 songs after his death: "I Guess I'm Crazy" (1964); "This is It" and "Is it Really Over" (1965); "Distant Drums" and "Blue Side of Lonesome" (1966); and "I Won't Come In While He's Here" (1967).
• Elvis Presley^{A, B} (d. August 16, 1977) — "Guitar Man" (1981).
• Keith Whitley^A (d. May 9, 1989) — "I Wonder Do You Think of Me" (1989) and "It Ain't Nothin'" (1990).

^ANote: In addition to their No. 1 hits, each of the artists have scored a number of Top 10 hits after their deaths.

^BPresley's "Way Down" charted at No. 1 the week of his death.

Age records

Youngest Male

• Artist with a top 40 hit — Billy Gilman, who was 12 years, 3 months in September 2000 when he reached No. 20 with "One Voice."
• Artist with a No. 1 hit — Phil Everly, who was 18 years, 6 months in July 1957 when, as a member of the Everly Brothers, reached the top with "Bye Bye Love."

Oldest male

• Artist with a top 40 hit — George Burns, who was 84 years old in March 1980 when he peaked in the Top 15 with "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again."
• Artist with a No. 1 hit — Willie Nelson, who was 70 years, 1 month and 2 weeks when he hit No. 1 with "Beer for My Horses", a duet with 41-year-old Toby Keith on June 14, 2003.

Youngest Female

• Artist with a top 40 hit — Ashley Gearing, who was 12 years old when she hit with "Can You Hear Me When I Talk to You?", which peaked at #37 in 2003. It is unknown how many months and days past her 12th birthday she was, but it has been confirmed that she broke the record previously held by Brenda Lee, who was 12 years, 3 months and 27 days old when she first hit in April 1957 with "One Step at a Time", which peaked at #15. Its appearance on the Best Sellers chart was the only week the song charted.
• Artist with a No. 1 hit — Marie Osmond, who was 14 years, 27 days when she hit with "Paper Roses" on November 10, 1973.

Oldest Female

• Artist with a No. 1 hit — Dolly Parton, who was 60 years, one month and 14 days when she hit with "When I Get Where I'm Going," a duet with 33-year-old Brad Paisley, on March 4, 2006. She also holds the distinction of being the oldest female artist with a top 40 hit.

First artist born in a decade to have a No. 1 hit

The songs

Most weeks at No. 1*

Overall

^* In years where there were multiple charts, the most weeks spent on a particular chart is considered.

^A Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" breaks the tie among the three 21-week chart toppers (most weeks in the Top 10, at 44) and has been given Billboard's No. 1 honor; "I'll Hold You In My Heart" spent 41 weeks in the Top 10, "In the Jailhouse Now" 34 weeks.

By decade*

• 1940s - "I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms)" by Eddy Arnold (1948) (21 weeks)
• 1950s - "I'm Movin' On" by Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys (1950); and "In the Jailhouse Now" by Webb Pierce (1955), (21 weeks each)
• 1960s - "Walk On By" by Leroy Van Dyke (1961) (19 weeks)
• 1970s - "My Hang-Up Is You" by Freddie Hart (1972); "Convoy" by C.W. McCall (1976); and "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love" by Waylon Jennings (1977) (6 weeks each)
• 1980s - "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers (1980); "My Heart" by Ronnie Milsap (1980); "Lookin' for Love" by Johnny Lee (1980); and "Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis (1987) (3 weeks each)
• 1990s - "Amazed" by Lonestar (1999) (8 weeks)
• 2000s - "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett (2003) (8 weeks)

^* In years where there were multiple charts, the most weeks spent on a particular chart is considered.

Most weeks at No. 2

Most total charted weeks

Most No. 1 songs from an album

Songs that have hit No. 1 by multiple artists

Three times

• "She (He) Thinks I Still Care" - George Jones (1962), Anne Murray (1974) and Elvis Presley (1977, flip side to "Moody Blue")

Two times

• "Pistol Packin' Mama" - Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, and Al Dexter (both 1944)
• "Smoke on the Water" - Red Foley (1944) and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1945)
• "Shame on You" - Spade Cooley, and Lawrence Welk Orchestra with Red Foley (both 1945)
• "Slippin' Around" - Ernest Tubb, and Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely (both 1949)
• "Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes" - Slim Willet and Skeets McDonald (both 1952)
• "I Don't Care" - Webb Pierce (1955) and Ricky Skaggs (1982)
• "Why Baby Why" - Webb Pierce and Red Sovine (1956), and Charley Pride (1983)
• "Heartbreak Hotel" - Elvis Presley (1956), and Willie Nelson and Leon Russell (1979)
• "City Lights" - Ray Price (1958) and Mickey Gilley (1975)
• "She's Got You" - Patsy Cline (1962) and Loretta Lynn (1977)
• "Together Again" - Buck Owens (1964) and Emmylou Harris (1976)
• "It's Just a Matter of Time" - Sonny James (1970) and Randy Travis (1989)
• "(Lost Her/His Love On Our) Last Date" - Conway Twitty (1972) and Emmylou Harris (1983)
• "That's the Way Love Goes" - Johnny Rodriguez (1974) and Merle Haggard (1984)
• "It Must Be Love" - Don Williams (1979) and Alan Jackson (2000)

In addition

Dolly Parton was the only artist to have a No. 1 song with two different recorded versions of the same song. Her original recording of "I Will Always Love You" went to No. 1 in 1974. A re-recording of the song, for the movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, reached No. 1 in 1982.

Songs that reached No. 1 on both the country and pop charts

This section is a listing of all songs which reached No. 1 on the Billboard country - or prior to 1958, at least one of the component charts (best sellers, jukebox and/or jockey) - and Billboard Hot 100 (or, before 1958, one of the component charts (best sellers, jukebox, jockey and/or Top 100)).

*Note: For pre-1958 songs, the most weeks spent atop any one of the component charts is considered

Song length

Shortest overall charted hits

Shortest No. 1 hits

Longest overall charted hits

Longest No. 1 hits

The charts

Most and fewest No. 1s in a given year

• Most: (tie) 1985 and 1986, when 51 different No. 1 songs peaked in each year.^*
• Least: 1960, when just four different songs (five, if "El Paso" by Marty Robbins is counted) topped the chart. Each of the new No. 1 songs that year spent 10 or more weeks atop the chart.

^* Note: In 1985 and 1986, the No. 1 hit for the last week of December of each year spent two weeks in that position, in part due to the second week being a "frozen" week. This was at a time when Billboard "froze" the charts during the final week of the year due to its publication of the year-end issue). In addition, one song in 1985 — Ronnie Milsap's "Lost in the Fifties Tonight (In the Still of the Night)" — spent two weeks at No. 1 that October.

Biggest leap to No. 1

Early Hot Country Singles era (1958-1973)

1973 to inception of BDS in 1990

• 15 to 1 — "Convoy" -- C.W. McCall (December 20, 1975)

BDS-era (1990-present)

• 9 to 1 - "Keep It Between the Lines" -- Ricky Van Shelton (October 12, 1991)

Biggest fall from No. 1

Prior to inception of BDS in 1990

• 1 to 43 (tie)

:*"Feels So Right" — Alabama (August 1, 1981)

:*"Tight Fittin' Jeans" — Conway Twitty (October 3, 1981)

After inception of BDS in 1990

• 1 to 16 - "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)" - Pam Tillis (February 18, 1995)

Quickest climb to No. 1

Since the introduction of the 100-position chart in 1973

Prior to inception of BDS in 1990

• 4 weeks — "Convoy" by C.W. McCall (December 20, 1975)

After inception of BDS in 1990

• 1 week — "More Than a Memory" by Garth Brooks (September 15, 2007)

Slowest climb to No. 1

• 41 weeks — "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" by Tracy Lawrence (June 23, 2007)

Highest chart debut

Since the introduction of the 100-position chart in 1973

All six of these songs set their records after the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1990.

Male artists

Note: These three songs also hold the record for the top three highest debuts overall.

• 1 - "More Than a Memory" - Garth Brooks (September 15, 2007)
• 16 - "Don't Blink" - Kenny Chesney (September 8, 2007)
• 17 - "Once in a Lifetime" — Keith Urban (September 2, 2006)

Female artists

• 20 - "So Small" -- Carrie Underwood (August 18, 2007)
• 21 - "All Jacked Up" -- Gretchen Wilson (August 13, 2005)
• 24 - "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" -- Shania Twain (October 19, 2002)

Most year-end No. 1 songs of the year

See Billboard Year-End for more information.

• 3 — Alan Jackson (1991, 1993, 2003)

— Tim McGraw (1997, 1998, 2004)

— Willie Nelson (1978, 1982, 1984)

— Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys (1949, 1951, 1953)

• 2 - Rodney Atkins (2006, 2007)

— Bill Anderson (1963, 1969)

— Clint Black (1989, 1990)

— Brooks & Dunn (1996, 2001)

— Freddie Hart (1971, 1972)

— Waylon Jennings (1977, 1978)

— Ronnie Milsap (1980, 1985)

— John Michael Montgomery (1994, 1995)

— Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys (1950, 1954)

— Conway Twitty (1970, 1973)

The albums

Most year-end No. 1 albums

See Billboard Year-End for more information.

• 4 — Garth Brooks (1991, 1992, 1995, 1998)

— Shania Twain (1996, 1999, 2003, 2005)

• 3 — Willie Nelson (1976, 1978, 1982)
• 2 — Alabama (1983, 1985)

— Glen Campbell (1968, 1969)

— Tim McGraw (1994, 2001)

— Charley Pride (1970, 1972)

— Charlie Rich (1973, 1974)^*

— Kenny Rogers (1979, 1980)^*

— Randy Travis (1987, 1988)

— Carrie Underwood (2006, 2007)^*

^*Note: Accomplished feat with the same album (Rich's "Behind Closed Doors", Rogers' "The Gambler" and Underwood's "Some Hearts").

Most weeks on the chart

Most charted albums by one artist at one time

See also

• List of Hot 100 (U.S.) chart achievements and trivia

References and sources

References

Sources

• Bronson, Fred, "The Billboard Book of Number One Hits" 5th ed. Billboard Publications, New York, 2003. ISBN 0823076776.
• Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits," Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)
• Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
• Whitburn, Joel, "Top Pop Singles: 1955-2006," 2007.

:*Additional information obtained can be verified within Billboard magazine's online archive services and print editions of the magazine.