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]

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 and only 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]

Chart history

See also

• 1961 in music
• 1961 in country music
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. country chart

Notes and references

Notes
A. ^ The last issue of 1960 was dated December 31, but the next issue was dated January 9 due to a change in how Billboard dated its issues.

References