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]