Wikipedia:

1987 in country music

See also: 1986 in country music, 1987 in music, other events of 1987, 1988 in country music and the List of years in Country Music

Events

  • June 13 — Randy Travis' "Forever and Ever, Amen" spends three weeks at No. 1 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It is the first multi-week chart-topping song since "Lost in the Fifties Tonight (In the Still of the Night)" by Ronnie Milsap spent two weeks atop the chart in September 1985; in that time span, 85 songs would rotate in and out of the chart's top spot. Incidentally, only three other songs during the entire 1980s decade — all of them in 1980 — would spend more than two weeks at No. 1, owing much to how Billboard compiled the chart data at the time.
  • September — Dolly Parton's much anticipated TV variety series, Dolly, premieres on ABC in September. Despite a promising start (due to strong ratings in its early weeks), the show was panned by critics and its audience began to lose interest. After a continual decline on viewership, the series was cancelled at the end of the 1987-1988 season.

No dates

  • 46-year-old singer-songwriter K.T. Oslin becomes the success story of the year with her hit "80s Ladies," a Grammy Award-winner which told the story of three friends from childhood who stayed together through an era of social change. The song spawned an award-winning video as well and despite only reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, was one of the most played songs of the year. Oslin's rise to fame in her mid-40s came at a time when mainstream country radio was beginning to shun older female artists in lieu of younger, more attractive stars.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

(As certified by Billboard magazine)

Date Song Name Artist Wks. No. 1 Spec.
Note
January 10 Give Me Wings Michael Johnson 1 1, A
January 17 What Am I Gonna Do About You Reba McEntire 1
January 24 Cry Myself to Sleep The Judds 1
January 31 You Still Move Me Dan Seals 1
February 7 Leave Me Lonely Gary Morris 1
February 14 How Do I Turn You On Ronnie Milsap 1
February 21 Straight to the Heart Crystal Gayle 1 B
February 28 I Can't Win for Losin' You Earl Thomas Conley 1
March 7 Mornin' Ride Lee Greenwood 1 B
March 14 Baby's Got a New Baby SKO 1 C
March 21 I'll Still Be Loving You Restless Heart 1
March 28 Small Town Girl Steve Wariner 1
April 4 Ocean Front Property George Strait 1
April 11 You've Got "The Touch" Alabama 1
April 18 Kids of the Baby Boom The Bellamy Brothers 1 B
April 25 Rose in Paradise Waylon Jennings 1 B
May 2 Don't Go to Strangers T. Graham Brown 1
May 9 The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder Michael Johnson 1 B
May 16 To Know Him Is To Love Him The Trio (Emmylou Harris,
Linda Ronstadt,
and Dolly Parton)		 1 B - Linda Ronstadt
C - The Trio
May 23 Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You The O'Kanes 1 C
May 30 It Takes a Little Rain
(To Make Love Grow)		 The Oak Ridge Boys 1
June 6 I Will Be There Dan Seals 1
June 13 Forever and Ever, Amen Randy Travis 3
July 4 That Was a Close One Earl Thomas Conley 1
July 11 All My Ex's Live in Texas George Strait 1
July 18 I Know Where I'm Going The Judds 1
July 25 The Weekend Steve Wariner 1
August 1 Snap Your Fingers Ronnie Milsap 1
August 8 One Promise Too Late Reba McEntire 1
August 15 A Long Line of Love Michael Martin Murphey 1 B
August 22 Why Does It Have to Be
(Wrong or Right)		 Restless Heart 1
August 29 Born to Boogie Hank Williams, Jr. 1 B
September 5 She's Too Good to Be True Exile 1
September 12 Make No Mistake, She's Mine Kenny Rogers
with Ronnie Milsap		 1
September 19 This Crazy Love The Oak Ridge Boys 1
September 26 Three Time Loser Dan Seals 1
October 3 (I'd Choose) You Again The Forester Sisters 1 B
October 10 The Way We Make a Broken Heart Rosanne Cash 1
October 17 Fishin' in the Dark The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 1 B
October 24 Shine, Shine, Shine Eddy Raven 1
October 31 Right From the Start Earl Thomas Conley 1
November 7 Am I Blue George Strait 1
November 14 Maybe Your Baby's Got the Blues The Judds 1
November 21 I Won't Need You Anymore
(Always and Forever)		 Randy Travis 1
November 28 Lynda Steve Wariner 1
December 5 Somebody Lied Ricky Van Shelton 1 A
December 12 The Last One to Know Reba McEntire 1
December 19 Do Ya' K.T. Oslin 1 A
December 26 Somewhere Tonight Highway 101 2 A
  • 1 - No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard magazine.
  • A - First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
  • B - Last Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.
  • C - Only Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.

Other major hits

Top new album releases

Other

Christmas albums

  • Christmastime With the Judds - The Judds (RCA/Curb)

On television

Regular series

  • Dolly (1987-1988, ABC)
  • Hee Haw (1969-1993, syndicated)

Specials

Births

Deaths

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

Major Awards

Grammy awards

Academy of Country Music

Country Music Association

Further reading

  • Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
  • Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947-1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 (ISBN 0-8118-3572-3)
  • Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-273244-7)
  • Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition." 2005.

Other links

External links


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