My Kind of Country

Country music from a fan's point of view since 2008

Week ending 2/24/18: #1 singles this week in country music history

2 Comments Posted by on February 25, 2018

1958 (Sales):  Ballad of a Teenage Queen — Johnny Cash (Sun)

1958 (Disk Jockeys): Ballad of a Teenage Queen — Johnny Cash (Sun)

1968: Skip A Rope — Henson Cargill (Monument)

1978: Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You — Margo Smith (Warner Bros.)

1988: Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star — Merle Haggard (Epic)

1998: Just To See You Smile — Tim McGraw (Curb)

2008: Letter To Me — Brad Paisley (Arista)

2018: Meant To Be — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line (Big Machine)

2018 (Airplay): Legends — Kelsea Bellerini (Black River)

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2 responses to “Week ending 2/24/18: #1 singles this week in country music history”

  1. Ken February 25, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    30 years ago this week Merle Haggard scored his 38th – and final – number one hit. Merle notched his first #1 single in early 1967 with “The Fugitive.” Twenty years later he struggled to compete with a new generation of young country acts spearheading the New Traditionalist movement in country music. Merle also found himself at odds with a record label that often questioned his choice of songs and musical direction. Hits became inconsistent to the extent that by early 1988 he had gone a year and a half without a top ten hit and almost twice that long since his last #1 single.

    Merle turned his fortunes around with a song that he wrote on his northern California house boat. He had attempted to create lyrics for a old fiddle tune he remembered hearing by his hero Bob Wills titled “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” But when his efforts failed to pan out he switched gears and wrote “Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star” to a brand new melody reminiscent of a 1950’s rock & roll doo-wop ballad. Merle co-produced the session backed by his band The Strangers and included a trumpet solo by his horn player Don Markham. The retro sound clicked with country fans and returned Merle to the top of the charts one last time.

    During the next year-and-a-half Merle added two top-ten hits to close out the hit-making portion of his career – “Chill Factor” [#9 in 1988] and “A Better Love Next Time” [#4 in 1989]

    Reply
  2. Paul W Dennis February 25, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    Although his charting days ended at the end of 1990, and his subsequent output could be a little erratic at times, the Hag was still releasing albums that were usually well-crafted and far more substantial that virtually everything being released by Nashville. I think I purchased all of his post Epic albums and I found gems within all of them.

    Reply

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