List Of Billboard Number-one Country Hits
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Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine has published
charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...
ranking the top-performing
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
songs in the United States since 1944. The first country chart was published under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk Records in the issue of the magazine dated January 8, 1944, and tracked the songs most played in the nation's
jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...
es. The first number one was the song "
Pistol Packin' Mama "Pistol Packin' Mama" was a "Hillbilly"-Honky Tonk record released at the height of World War II that became a nationwide sensation, and the first "Country" song to top the Billboard popular music chart. It was written by Al Dexter of Troup, ...
", different recordings of which were bracketed together and treated as one entry. ''Billboard'' added a second chart in 1947 based on retail sales, and a third in 1949 based on radio airplay. The jukebox chart was discontinued in 1957, and the following year, the remaining two charts were dropped and replaced with a chart, initially entitled Hot C&W Sides, which combined sales and airplay data into one overall ranking. The chart was renamed Hot Country Singles in 1962, Hot Country Singles and Tracks in 1990, and Hot Country Songs in 2005. In 1990, its methodology changed to use only airplay data from country music radio stations. In 2012, this changed again to use data from stations of all formats as well as sales and streaming information. At the same time, a new
Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...
chart was introduced, which continued the former methodology of tracking plays on country stations only. In the late 1940s and early 1950s,
Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...
was the biggest star in country music and set several chart records, one of which endured for more than 60 years. His 1947 song "
I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)" is a 1947 song by Eddy Arnold. The song was Eddy Arnold's third number one on the '' Billboard'' Juke Box Folk Records chart. "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arm ...
" spent a total of 21 weeks at number one, a record that would be equaled twice over the next decade but not broken until 2013. He gained 28 number-one songs, a record that would stand until 1980, when it was broken by
Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...
, who ultimately gained 40 number ones.
George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...
broke Twitty's record in 2006 and by 2021 had achieved 44 chart-toppers. Long runs at number one became increasingly uncommon after the 1960s; in the entirety of the 1980s, no song spent longer than three weeks in the top spot, and in 1986 there was a different song at number one every week. This changed, however, in the 21st century, especially after the change in methodology of Hot Country Songs in 2012. The record for the longest-running country number one was broken by "
Cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
" by
Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line is an American country music duo founded in 2010 by Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was ...
, which spent 24 weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart in 2012 and 2013, a figure subsequently exceeded by "
Body Like a Back Road "Body Like a Back Road" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Sam Hunt. It was released to country radio, by MCA Nashville on February 2, 2017, as the lead single from his second studio album ''Southside''. The song is ...
" by
Sam Hunt Sam Lowry Hunt (born December 8, 1984) is an American singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played football in his high school and college years and once attempted to pursue a professional sports career before signing with MCA ...
(34 weeks in 2017) and " Meant to Be" by
Bebe Rexha Bleta Rexha (; born August 30, 1989), known professionally as Bebe Rexha ( ), is an American pop singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem's single " The Monster" (which later ...
and Florida Georgia Line (50 weeks in 2017 and 2018). The songs that have topped the chart have reflected the evolution of the country music genre over the decades. The
honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...
style of the 1940s and 1950s was overtaken in the 1960s by the "
Nashville Sound The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruses", "sophist ...
", a smoother style with a broader appeal. In the 1970s, the
country-pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...
style increasingly enabled country artists to achieve success on the pop music charts, and in more recent decades, some of the most successful songs have incorporated elements of hip hop music.


Chart history

:''Each entry in the "Year" column links to the list of number ones for that particular year.''


See also

*
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Hot Country chart This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on the weekly country music singles chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine. From January 8, 1944 to May 15, 1948, the only country music chart was the Juke Box chart. A Best Sell ...
* List of ''Billboard'' number-one country albums


References


External links


Current Hot Country chartCurrent Country Airplay chart
{{Billboard