Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1961, nine different singles topped the chart, which at the time was published under the title Hot C&W Sides, C&W being an abbreviation for country and western. Chart placings were based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. [1]
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Each of the nine number ones during the year was by a different artist. In the first issue of 1961, dated January 9, [A] Johnny Horton reached number one with "North To Alaska", replacing Ferlin Husky's "Wings Of A Dove", the final chart-topper of 1960. [2] Horton's single spent five weeks at number one before Husky's song returned to the top of the chart for two further weeks. "North to Alaska" was a posthumous number one for Horton, who had died in an automobile accident the previous November. [3] Following Husky's spell in the top spot, Marty Robbins had the longest unbroken run at number one of the year, spending ten consecutive weeks atop the chart with "Don't Worry". Immediately after this run, Faron Young had a nine-week spell atop the listing with "Hello Walls", an early songwriting success for Willie Nelson, who would go on to be one of the most successful and celebrated singers in country music history. [4] Despite continuing to chart regularly, Young would not reach number one again until 1972. [5]
The final number one of the year was "Walk On By" by Leroy Van Dyke. The song first reached the top spot in September and by the end of the year had spent ten non-consecutive weeks atop the chart in three separate spells. It would go on to hold the position for a further nine weeks in 1962 for a cumulative total of nineteen weeks at number one. [6] This figure set a record for the most weeks at number one by a song since Billboard combined country music sales and airplay into a single chart in 1958. [6] It would retain the record for more than 50 years, until Florida Georgia Line spent 24 weeks at number one between December 2012 and August 2013 with the song "Cruise". [6] Despite its huge success, "Walk On By" was Van Dyke's first and only number one single. [7] Two other acts gained the first country number one singles of their respective careers in 1961. Patsy Cline spent two weeks at the top with "I Fall To Pieces", the first of two number ones which she would achieve before her death in a plane crash in 1963. [8] [9] Jimmy Dean spent a similar length of time in the peak position with his first number one, "Big Bad John", which also topped the all-genre Hot 100 chart. [10] [11] It was the only song to top both charts in 1961. [12]
