List of Hot Country Singles number ones of 1989

The Judds (pictured performing in 2008) were among a number of acts with three number ones in 1989, but in the case of the mother-daughter duo these would be their last chart-toppers.

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1989, 50 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles, in 52 issues of the magazine, with only "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" by Keith Whitley and "The Church on Cumberland Road" by Shenandoah spending more than a single week at number one. This was the final complete year in which Billboard used its longstanding methodology of compiling the chart based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. In January of the following year, the magazine began basing the chart on weekly airplay data from radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems,^[1] which led to an increase in the length of time songs spent in the top spot.^[2]

Alabama, George Strait, Randy Travis, Rodney Crowell, Shenandoah and The Judds each reached number one with three different songs in 1989. As one of Shenandoah's songs spent a second week at number one, this meant that the band was the only act to spend four weeks in the top spot during the year. In June Clint Black achieved his first number one single with "A Better Man", which made him the first artist since Freddy Fender in 1975 to top the chart with his first charted single.^[3] Other artists to reach number one for the first time in 1989 were Holly Dunn, Patty Loveless, and Garth Brooks, who achieved the first chart-topper of one of the most successful careers in country music history with "If Tomorrow Never Comes".^[4]

Rosanne Cash spent a week at number one in June with "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party", the only cover version of a song by The Beatles to top the country singles chart.^[5] Keith Whitley's second number one of the year, "I Wonder Do You Think of Me" was the first of two posthumous number ones for the singer, who died on May 9, 1989.^[6]

Chart history

Rosanne Cash (pictured in 2012) became the only artist to take a cover version of a Beatles song to number one on the country chart.

Cash's then-husband Rodney Crowell topped the chart three times in 1989.

Patty Loveless was a first-time chart-topper in 1989.

Garth Brooks topped the chart for the first time with "If Tomorrow Never Comes". He would go on to become one of the most successful artists in country music history.

See also

• 1989 in music
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. country chart

References