"The Most Beautiful Girl" is a song recorded by

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country music, country, sou ...

and written by

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gle ...

Norro Wilson Norris Denton "Norro" Wilson (April 4, 1938 – June 8, 2017) was an American country music singer-songwriter, producer, and member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Wilson wrote or co-wrote numerous hit songs during more than 40 yea ...

, and

Rory Bourke Rory Michael Bourke (born July 14, 1942 in Cleveland, Ohio is an American country music songwriter and music publisher. Bourke moved to Nashville in 1964 and worked for a period in the promotional department of Mercury Records. His songwritin ...

. The

countrypolitan The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough Honky tonk, honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruse ...

ballad reached No. 1 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1973 on three ''

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 ...

'' music charts: the pop chart (two weeks), the country chart (three weeks), and the adult contemporary chart (three weeks), as well as in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on three ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' charts: the ''RPM 100'' Top Singles chart, the Country Tracks chart, and the Adult Contemporary chart. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 23 song for 1974. The song is actually a merging of two songs previously recorded by Wilson: "Hey Mister" (from 1968). which forms a major part of the song; and "Mama McCluskie”, used in part in the chorus. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, Rich's own "I Feel Like Going Home”, was later covered by

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and t ...

and was released on her 1974 album '' Fall into Spring''. British pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck covered "The Most Beautiful Girl" on his 1973 album ''Engelbert: King of Hearts''. "The Most Beautiful Girl" was also recorded by

Slim Whitman Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), known as Slim Whitman, was an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. He claimed he had sold in excess of ...

in the 1970s.

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

released a version in 1974 on his album ''

The Way We Were ''The Way We Were'' is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Arthur Laurents wrote both the novel and screenplay based on his college days at Cornell University and his ...

''. In 1975

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

singer

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss, Countess of Plauen (born Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad on 15 November 1945), also known by her nickname "Frida", is a Norwegian-born Swedish singer, songwriter and environmentalist, who is best known as one of the foun ...

recorded a Swedish-language version called "Vill du låna en man?" (with Swedish lyrics by

Stig Anderson Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997), better known as Stikkan Anderson, was a Swedish music manager, lyricist and music publisher. He was the co-founder of Polar Music, and is best known for managing the Swe ...

) on her solo album ''

Frida ensam ''Frida ensam'' ( en, Frida Alone) is the second studio album by Swedish singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad. It was first released by Polar Music in 1975 while Lyngstad was a member of the pop group ABBA and produced by her then-fiancé and fellow ABBA mem ...

''.

Sergio Franchi Sergio Franchi (born Sergio Franci Galli; April 6, 1926 – May 1, 1990) was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA Vict ...

recorded the song on his 1976 DynaHouse album ''20 Magnificent Songs''. Country music boy band

South 65 South 65 (also spelled South Sixty-Five) was an American country music boy band. The group was composed of vocalists Lance Leslie, Brent Parker, Stephen Parker, Jerimy Koeltzow, and Doug Urie. Between 1997 and its disbanding in 2001, South 65 chart ...

recorded an updated version of the song, titled "The Most Beautiful Girl (2001 Version)”. on their 2001 album ''Dream Large''. The song receives a very brief airing by

Brenda Fricker Brenda Fricker (born 17 February 1945) is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Awar ...

in the film '' So I Married an Axe Murderer''.

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' Se ...

offered a rendition as his character

George Costanza George Louis Costanza is a fictional character in the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), played by Jason Alexander. He is a short, stocky, balding man who struggles with numerous insecurities, often dooming his romantic rela ...

on the December 16, 1992, episode of the sitcom ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'' titled "

The Pick "The Pick" is the 53rd episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It is the 13th episode of the fourth season, and first aired on December 16, 1992. In this episode, Elaine mistakenly mails out a Christmas card in which her nipple is exposed to all he ...

", where he bemoaned the loss of his girlfriend, Susan. The song is featured prominently in the 2018 horror film '' The Ranger''.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Adverts

In 1989 the song featured in a advert for Telecom Eireann.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Beautiful Girl, The 1973 singles Songs written by Norro Wilson Songs written by Rory Bourke Songs written by Billy Sherrill Charlie Rich songs South 65 songs Andy Williams songs Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Epic Records singles Atlantic Records singles 1973 songs