Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1985, 51 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles, in 52 issues of the magazine, based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. [1] Only "Lost in the Fifties Tonight (In the Still of the Night)" by Ronnie Milsap managed a second week at the top of the chart.
Alabama, one of the most successful bands in country music history, [2] had the highest number of chart-toppers by a single act in 1985, with four: "(There's A) Fire in the Night", "There's No Way", "40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" and "Can't Keep a Good Man Down". When the group achieved its third number one of the year in August, Billboard regarded it as Alabama's seventeenth consecutive Hot Country number one, breaking the record for consecutive chart-toppers previously held by Sonny James. [3] Alabama had released a Christmas single in late 1982 which only peaked at number 35, but the magazine disregarded this for the purposes of the band's number one streak, stating "only a Scrooge would count that against them". [3] The band would eventually extend its streak of consecutive number ones to 21 before its popularity began to wane in the 1990s. [2] [4] Earl Thomas Conley, Exile, the Judds and the Oak Ridge Boys each had three number ones in 1985. Additionally Willie Nelson achieved one solo number one, one in collaboration with Ray Charles, and one as a member of the supergroup the Highwaymen, in which he was joined by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. [5]
Having appeared regularly on the Hot Country chart since 1976, Mel McDaniel achieved his first and only number one in 1985 with "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On". [6] Ray Charles also topped the chart for the only time in 1985. [7] Although he was far more associated with the soul and rhythm and blues genres during his lengthy career, [8] [9] Charles placed several songs on the country chart during the mid-1980s. He went all the way to the top spot with the Willie Nelson collaboration "Seven Spanish Angels", taken from the album Friendship , on which Charles duetted with a range of contemporary country singers. [10] Gary Morris and Sawyer Brown were also first-time chart-toppers in 1985, with "Baby Bye Bye" and "Step That Step" respectively. [11] [12] "Have Mercy" by The Judds was the final number one of the year.
"Heartaches by the Number" is a popular country song written by Harlan Howard, and published in 1959. The sheet music was a best seller in both the US and Britain in January 1960.
The Highwaymen were an American country music supergroup, composed of four of country music's biggest artists who pioneered the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Between 1985 and 1995, the group recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the number one "Highwayman" in 1985.
Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales along with digital sales and streaming. The chart was first published in the issue of Billboard dated January 11, 1964, under the title Hot Country Albums, when the number one album was Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash by Johnny Cash.
"Highwayman" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. The song was influenced by the real-life hanged highwayman Jonathan Wild. Webb first recorded the song on his album El Mirage, released in May 1977. The following year, Glen Campbell recorded his version on his 1979 album Highwayman.
"Good Hearted Woman" is a song written by American country music singers Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
"Lovin' Her Was Easier " is a song written, composed, first recorded, and first released by Kris Kristofferson. It was also recorded and released by Roger Miller, who included it on his album The Best of Roger Miller and released it as a single in July 1971. Ten years later, it was recorded by Tompall & the Glaser Brothers for the album Lovin' Her Was Easier.
The following is a detailed discography of all singles released by American country music singer Waylon Jennings. A total of 16 Jennings' singles have reached number one on music charts.