List of Hot Country Singles number ones of 1963

Johnny Cash, pictured performing with his band The Tennessee Three, had a long-running number one with "Ring of Fire".

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1963, 10 different singles 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] although there were 21 distinct runs at the top, as the majority of the singles had multiple spells at number one.

In the issue of Billboard dated January 5, Marty Robbins climbed to number one with "Ruby Ann", replacing "Don't Let Me Cross Over" by Carl Butler and Pearl, which had been in the top spot in the last issue of 1962.^[2] Robbins only held the number one position for a single week, however, before the husband-and-wife duo returned to the top of the chart. "Don't Let Me Cross Over" had three separate runs at number one during the spring, the last of which lasted for eight weeks, but it would be the only chart-topper of the duo's career.^[3] Separating the song's three runs in the top spot during the spring of 1963 were two spells at number one for "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the first bluegrass song ever to top the chart.^[4] The song, the theme from television sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies",^[5] was the only number one for the duo.^[6][7] In May Hawkshaw Hawkins also topped the chart for the first and only time with "Lonesome 7-7203".^[8][9] This was a posthumous number one for the singer, who had died in a plane crash two months earlier.^[10] In the fall, both George Hamilton IV and Ernest Ashworth achieved their first Hot Country number ones.^[11][12]

Another act to top the chart for the first time in 1963 was Buck Owens, who achieved a number of chart feats during the year. He spent the highest total number of weeks at number one in 1963, occupying the top spot for sixteen weeks with "Act Naturally" and "Love's Gonna Live Here". The latter song was number one for the final eleven weeks of the year, the longest unbroken run at the top of the chart during 1963. The song would remain at number one for a further five weeks in 1964 for a total run of sixteen consecutive weeks in the top spot, a new record for the longest unbroken run at number one on the Hot Country chart which would last until 2013, when Florida Georgia Line spent a seventeenth consecutive week atop the chart with "Cruise".^[13][14] Owens was also the only act to take more than one single to number one in 1963.

Chart history

Buck Owens began a record-breaking run at number one in the fall with "Love's Gonna Live Here".

George Hamilton IV (pictured in 2007) topped the chart for the first time with "Abilene".

Earl Scruggs (pictured in 2005) collaborated with Lester Flatt on the chart-topper "The Ballad of Jed Clampett".

See also

• 1963 in music
• 1963 in country music
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. country chart

References