George Strait Tied With Conway Twitty For Most Number 1 Singles

I like both Conway Twitty and George Strait but it’s hard to evaluate things such as records for most #1 singles. During the 1970s and 1980s there seemed to be a conspiracy afloat to have a new #1 each week. Using the Billboard charts, the start of this “trend” seemed to be 1973 when 35 songs made it to #1. After that:
1974 – 40
1975 – 43
1976 – 36
1977 – 30
1978 – 31
1979 – 33
1980 – 43
1981 – 47
1982 – 47
1983 – 50
1984 – 50
1985 – 51
1986 – 51
1987 – 49
1988 – 48
1989 – 49

It should be noted that Billboard only printed 51 charts per year so the song that was #1 during week 51 was also listed at #1 for week 52.

This insanity stopped in 1990 as only 24 songs made it to #1 that year. During this period all 18 of George’s #1 records stayed there for just one week. Without the spinning game played at the time some of these songs might have stayed #1 longer, but some of them would not have made it to #1. During this same period Conway had 21 songs reach #1 for one week but he also had four that got there for multiple weeks, only one of which got the week 52 bonus (but it spent 3 weeks at #1 so it was a legitimate multi-week #1)

Prior to 1973 the most #1 singles in a year was 26 in 1972 with most years being in the mid-teens to low 20s in terms of #1 records

The top two artists in terms of weeks at #1 remain Eddy Arnold with 145 total weeks and Webb Pierce with 113 weeks. All 113 of Webbs weeks happened with the space of five years !

Let me add that this latest Strait #1′s record is clearly based on Radio & Records. Weren’t we just celebrating him breaking Conway’s record of 40 #1 Billboard country singles last year? This one is far less impressive, given that a Billboard #1 was much harder to come by in the last 17 years.

Since organizations such as Clear Channel are in bed with the promtional people at the major labels I am not sure monitored spins is any more accurate than any other method of measuring chart success. Many songs get more airplay than their actual popularity with listoners would warrant. Moreover , many stations either don’t take listoner requests, or will only accept requests off an approved playlist. If a million listoners across the USA called in requesting to hear the latest Dale Watxon or Johnny Bush songs, I doubt many stations would honor the request or make the Billboard charts

I agree with Kevin – sales should be a major component of any chart. Actually I would give it heavier weight than airplay. I suspect that “Blue” was indeed the most popular and most requested song of its year – even if it did top out at #10 on Billboard

I think that Strait’s success is the result of his consistancy and the mystique he has created by playing so few dates.

Strait’s worst records would rate a B- and his best records would typically rate a B+ (there are two or three A’s scattered among his hits). Consequently, Strait never, ever disappoints his fan base.

For much of his reign George has been among the few whose records were recognized as country even by old timers like myself. I buy each new Strait disc as it comes out whereas there are some gaps in my collection of artists such as Rodney Crowell, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Faith Hill and others. For those artists I pick up the occasional album and otherwise wait out the Greatest Hit collections.

I have purchased all of Alan Jackson’s albums thus far, but if he issues another turkey like the last album, I may find myself waiting for Greatest Hits V3 before making any further purchases