1987 in country music

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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

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Top hits of the year

[edit] 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 Schuyler, Knobloch, & Overstreet 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.

[edit] Other major hits

[edit] Top new album releases

[edit] Other

[edit] Christmas albums

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

[edit] On television

[edit] Regular series

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

[edit] Specials

[edit] Births

[edit] Deaths

[edit] Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

[edit] Major Awards

[edit] Grammy awards

[edit] Academy of Country Music

[edit] Country Music Association

[edit] 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.

[edit] Other links

[edit] External links

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