Every No. 1 Country Song on the Billboard Hot 100

'The Battle of New Orleans' – Jimmy Horton - June 1, 1959

This patriotic novelty track, written by Jimmy Driftwood and most associated with Johnny Horton, was dizzyingly popular in its day.

As was common at the time, the song had been recorded by numerous artists, but it’s Horton’s version that remains definitive.

‘El Paso’ – Marty Robbins – January 4, 1960

Marty Robbins topped both the pop and country charts with ‘El Paso’, the first No. 1 hit of the 1960s for both genres.

A melodramatic tale of love and loss on the frontier featuring an indelible melody and Spanish guitar flourishes, the song has become a towering classic and icon of the Tejano sound.

‘Big Bad John’ – Jimmy Dean – November 6, 1971

Legend has it that Jimmy Dean was on the verge of being dropped from Columbia Records when he came up with ‘Big Bad John’, a story song about an abnormally large miner that became Dean’s biggest hit.

Far from the first novelty track to top the charts, and certainly not the last, the song spent an impressive five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1975.

‘Honey’ – Bobby Goldsboro – April 13, 1968

The countrypolitan era was in full swing when Bobby Goldsboro recorded ‘Honey,’ a cloying track that finds a narrator pining for his absent wife.

With its sentimental lyrics and string-laden sound, the song predicted the success of several tracks that would take the No. 1 spot throughout the 70s.

‘The Most Beautiful Girl’ – Charlie Rich – December 15, 1973

Given Charlie Rich’s infamous envelope-burning incident at the 1975 CMA Awards — long interpreted as a protest of pop stars’ forays into country in the 70s — one might expect his music to embody a twangy, hard-edged country sound.

However, ‘The Most Beautiful Girl’, a crossover smash that spent two weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts and became Rich’s signature song, is about as smooth as they come.

‘(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’ – B.J. Thomas – April 26, 1975

B.J. Thomas’ ‘(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’ handily wins the award for the longest song title on this list.

The first of six country songs to top the Hot 100 in 1975, the song also won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1976.

‘Before the Next Teardrop Falls’ – Freddy Fender – May 31, 1975

Chicano legend Freddy Fender made history with this song – the first and thus far only bilingual country song to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.

‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy’ – John Denver – June 7, 1975

John Denver’s toe-tapping ode to the country lifestyle is notable today for how country it sounds. With heavy fiddle, plenty of banjo and unapologetic twang, the song may just be the most traditional-leaning track Denver ever recorded.

In an era of insipid country-pop, ‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy’ is a refreshing return to the genre’s roots.

‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ – Glen Campbell – September 6, 1975

Few artists more neatly typify country music’s crossover moment in the 1970s than Glen Campbell, a guitarist in the famed Wrecking Crew of session musicians who achieved massive success as a crossover act.

‘Rhinestone Cowboy’, with its polished sound and sardonic take on fame, has rightly earned its place as one of Campbell’s signature songs.

‘I’m Sorry’ – John Denver – September 27, 1975

John Denver’s second – and final – Hot 100 No. 1 hit is a somber track that finds the singer coming to terms with a relationship gone wrong.

Maudlin and self-pitying, with a string-heavy arrangement that strives not to offend, the song is as middle-of-the-road as they come.

‘Convoy’ – C. W. McCall – January 10, 1976

Easily the strangest song on this list is C. W. McCall’s ‘Convoy’, a novelty track about a group of truckers who use CB radios to rebel against regulatory restrictions and law enforcement.

The song was so popular that it inspired a movie adaptation starring Kris Kristofferson in 1978.

‘Southern Nights’ – Glen Campbell – April 30, 1977

Built atop an instantly memorable guitar riff that Glen Campbell learned from Jerry Reed, ‘Southern Nights’ represents 70s country pop at its most infectious.

The lyrics find Campbell waxing poetic about the joys of Southern life, and the banjo in the mix gives the song a down-home flair that balances out its pop leanings.

‘Lady’ – Kenny Rogers – November 15, 1980

The 80s ushered in another crossover era for country music.

Kenny Rogers seized the moment with ‘Lady’, a theatrical piano ballad written and produced by R&B stalwart Lionel Richie. Fueled by dramatic production choices and containing nary a trace of twang, the song nonetheless topped both the Hot Country Songs and Hot 100 charts.

‘9 to 5’ – Dolly Parton – February 21, 1981

More than 40 years after its release, Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ has become the stuff of legends.

Everything about the song, from its endlessly quotable lyrics and pro-worker message to its unabashed pop production have turned Parton’s chart-topper into an all-timer.

Is there a better first verse in all of country music?

‘I Love a Rainy Night’ – Eddie Rabbitt – February 28, 1981

The “Urban Cowboy” craze was in full swing when Eddie Rabbitt released ‘I Love a Rainy Night’, a song that remains a mainstay on classic country radio decades later.

With a warm, country-pop sound and repetitive (some might say maddeningly so) lyrics, the song feels tailor made to capitalize on the crossover craze happening in the genre at the time.

‘Islands in the Stream’ – Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton – October 29, 1983

The last country song to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in the 20th century also happens to be one of the most iconic country duets of all time.

Penned by various members of the Bee Gees, ‘Islands in the Stream’ became a massive hit and cemented itself as a go-to karaoke song for generations of country fans.

‘Amazed’ – Lonestar – March 4, 2000

True to its name, ‘Amazed’ is an impressive example of what happens when country meets power ballad.

The lyrics can verge on over-sentimental, but the song hits a country-pop sweet spot that makes it (in the eyes of this reviewer) impervious to cynicism. A mainstay on Adult Contemporary radio to this day.

‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ – Taylor Swift – September 1, 2012

It’s hard to overstate the seismic impact that Taylor Swift’s ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ made upon its arrival in 2012.

Everything about the song, from its word-conquering pop sound — Red marked Swift’s first time working with Swedish pop maestros Max Martin and Shellback — to the unforgettable we-eeeees of its chorus, is simply iconic.

‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)’ – Taylor Swift – November 27, 2021

With the release of Red (Taylor’s Version), the second of her albums to get the re-record treatment, Swift made history.

The masterful ten-minute version of ‘All Too Well,’ the existence of which was the stuff of Swiftie legend for nearly a decade, is both the longest song to ever hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 and marks the only time an artist on this list has appeared consecutively… albeit nearly a decade later.

‘Last Night’ – Morgan Wallen – March 18, 2023

Two years after being suspended from his label and dropping from radio stations for using a racial slur, Morgan Wallen scored his first No. 1 Hot 100 hit with ‘Last Night’. Built on a guitar loop and snap track, the song is more obviously indebted to hip hop than any other song on this list.

With a stunning 16 weeks at the top of the charts, the song broke the record for the most weeks at No. 1 for a non-collaboration and became a harbinger of country music’s unprecedented showing on the pop charts in 2023.

‘Try That in a Small Town’ – Jason Aldean – August 5, 2023

Easily the most controversial song to hit No. 1 (at least until Oliver Anthony’s ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’), ‘Try That in a Small Town’ arrived to little fanfare in early 2023.

When Aldean released the music video for the song months later, featuring stock footage of protests and filmed in front of a courthouse that was the site of a notorious lynching, the song became a national headline and rode a surge of digital downloads to the top of the charts.

‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ – Oliver Anthony – August 26, 2023

Industry pundits and casual listeners alike were puzzled when Virginia-native Oliver Anthony emerged from seemingly nowhere to become a viral sensation and national headline.

‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ is a rawly delivered song about the state of the American economy featuring some deeply out-of-pocket lyrics about poor people’s alleged abuses of social programs.

‘I Remember Everything’ – Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves – September 9, 2023

The second-ever country duet to top the Hot 100, ‘I Remember Everything’ has little in common with its predecessor. Where ‘Islands in the Stream’ is an over-the-top pop spectacle, ‘I Remember Everything’ is spare and stark.

The song finds Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves trading memories of a relationship gone wrong, with a resigned tone that suggests the song’s tortured narrators aren’t expecting a reunion any time soon.

‘TEXAS HOLD ‘EM’ – Beyoncé – February 26, 2024

The first country entry of 2024 and Queen B's first-ever country single, 'TEXAS HOLD 'EM' shot to the top of the charts nearly upon its release following the 2024 Super Bowl.

Taking shape as the first single from her debut country album, Renaissance: Act II, the song made history as it propelled Beyoncé to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, making her the first Black female to achieve this accomplishment.

Many fans have celebrated the superstar’s venture into the genre, but there have been several naysayers who've claimed the song isn't "country enough", spawning quite the debate as to whether its presence on country radio is justified or not.