Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1990, 24 different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine. The chart was published under the title Hot Country Singles through the February 10 issue and Hot Country Singles & Tracks thereafter. [1] With effect from the January 20 issue, Billboard discontinued its longstanding methodology of compiling the chart based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores and instead began basing the chart on weekly airplay data from radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. [1]
At the start of the year, the number one song on the chart was Highway 101's "Who's Lonely Now", which had been at the top of the chart since the issue of Billboard dated December 30, 1989. [2] It remained in the top spot for one further week in 1990 before being replaced by "It Ain't Nothin'" by Keith Whitley. This was the second of two posthumous number ones for Whitley, who had died in May of the previous year. [3] Three months later, Whitley's widow Lorrie Morgan topped the chart for the first time with "Five Minutes". [4] Other artists who topped the chart for the first time in 1990 were Travis Tritt, who spent one week at number one with "Help Me Hold On", [5] and Joe Diffie, who reached number one with his debut single "Home". [6]
The change in the chart's methodology led to an increase in the length of time songs spent in the top spot; [7] in 1990, thirteen songs spent more than one week at number compared with just two in the previous year. [8] When Randy Travis spent four weeks at the top of the chart in March and April with "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart", it was the first time that a song had spent as long in the top spot since "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson in 1978. [8] George Strait's "Love Without End, Amen", which topped the chart for five weeks in June and July, was the nineteenth number-one country song of his career but the first to spend more than one week at the top. [9] The five weeks spent at the top by the song was the longest run at number one by a song. Strait also spent four weeks at number one with "I've Come to Expect It from You" to give him a total of nine weeks at the top of the chart in 1990, the most by any artist. Clint Black, Dan Seals, Garth Brooks and Alabama were the only other acts to place two songs at number one during the year. Strait's "I've Come to Expect It from You" was the final number one of the year.
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.
The discography of Pam Tillis, an American country music singer, consists of 13 studio albums and 45 singles. Her first release, Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey in 1983, did not produce any major hits. Between 1990 and 2001, she recorded for Arista Nashville, achieving two gold albums and three platinum albums. 33 of her singles for Arista, plus a cut for the soundtrack to Happy, Texas, all made the Hot Country Songs in that timespan. Her only number one was "Mi Vida Loca ", although twelve other songs reached the top 10 on the same chart.
"If You Want Me To" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Joe Diffie. It was released in December 1990 as the second single from his debut album A Thousand Winding Roads. The song reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The song was written by Diffie and Larry Williams.
"I'm No Stranger to the Rain" is a song recorded by American country music artist Keith Whitley. It was released in January 1989 as the fifth and final single from his album Don't Close Your Eyes, and was the last single released during Whitley's lifetime. It peaked at number-one in both the United States and Canada. Joe Diffie covered the song on Whitley's 1995 tribute album. It was written by Sonny Curtis and Ron Hellard.
"Overnight Success" is a song written by Sanger D. Shafer and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in November 1989 as the fourth and final single from his album Beyond the Blue Neon.
"It Ain't Nothin'" is a song written by Tony Haselden, and recorded by American country music artist Keith Whitley. It was posthumously released in October 1989 as the second single from the album I Wonder Do You Think of Me. His fifth and last No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, the song was his second posthumous chart-topper, reaching the top of the chart seven months after his death.
"'Til a Tear Becomes a Rose" is a single by American country music artist Leon Everette. It was released in 1985 from his Mercury Records album Where's the Fire. His version of the song peaked at number 44 on Hot Country Songs.
Prior to the Hot Country Song’s implementation in January 1990 of monitored radio airplay by Nielsen BDS, titles on those lists had shorter reigns at No. 1 and shorter chart lives.