1990 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1990.
Events
- January 20 — Billboard magazine begins basing the Hot Country Singles chart entirely on radio airplay through Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which uses a computerized system to detect actual radio spins. The number of chart positions is reduced from 100 to 75. The new system has an immediate effect on how long the year's biggest songs stay at No. 1:
- February 3 — "Nobody's Home" by Clint Black becomes the first three-week No. 1 since Randy Travis' "Forever and Ever, Amen" in 1987.
- April 7 — Travis' "Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart" breaks the four-week barrier, the first since 1978's "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
- July 7 — "Love Without End, Amen" by George Strait is Billboard's first five-week No. 1 song, matching 1977's "Here You Come Again" by Dolly Parton. Incidentally, "Love Without End, Amen" is Strait's first multi-week chart-topper, after his first 18 No. 1s had spent just one week on top.
- Just 23 songs would reach the chart's summit in 1990, 13 of them multi-weekers; this was fewer than half the number that reached the top of the chart a year earlier, and the fewest since 1972.
No dates
- The release of Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection continues a trend toward issuing chronicling the genre's history via compact disc during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Time-Life Music's Country USA series continued to issue new albums, while Columbia Records issues its five-volume Country Classics series during the summer. Rhino Records also releases ten volumes of Billboard Top Country Singles, each depicting the top 10 songs from the years 1959 through 1968.
Top hits of the year
Singles released by American artists
Singles released by Canadian artists
| US |
CAN |
Single |
Artist |
Reference |
| — |
20 |
After All |
Anita Perras |
|
| — |
20 |
Ain't No Trains to Nashville |
Dick Damron |
|
| — |
9 |
Always Hum a Song in Your Soul |
Morris P. Rainville |
|
| — |
4 |
Bachelor Girl |
George Fox |
|
| — |
12 |
The Colour of Your Collar |
Gary Fjellgaard |
|
| — |
19 |
Couldn't See the Gold |
Tommy Hunter with Janie Fricke |
|
| — |
10 |
Daddy, Sing to Me |
Lisa Brokop |
|
| — |
10 |
Dreamin' Ain't Cheatin' |
Carroll Baker |
|
| 5 |
6 |
Feed This Fire |
Anne Murray |
|
| 62 |
3 |
Goodbye, So Long, Hello |
Prairie Oyster |
|
| — |
9 |
Here Comes My Baby |
Anita Perras |
|
| — |
3 |
How Many Times |
Family Brown |
|
| — |
17 |
I Broke His Heart |
Jenny Lee West |
|
| 70 |
5 |
I Don't Hurt Anymore |
Prairie Oyster |
|
| — |
9 |
I Want to Fly |
Errol Ranville |
|
| — |
9 |
I'll Accept the Rose |
Rita MacNeil |
|
| — |
10 |
In My Heart |
Gary Fjellgaard with Linda Kidder |
|
| — |
10 |
Lime Rickey |
George Fox |
|
| — |
14 |
Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young |
The Good Brothers |
|
| — |
10 |
Luck in My Eyes |
k.d lang |
|
| — |
16 |
Never Be Sorry |
Greg Paul |
|
| 32 |
4 |
New Kind of Love |
Michelle Wright |
|
| — |
10 |
No Trespassing |
George Fox |
|
| — |
19 |
Once the Magic's Gone |
Cindi Cain |
|
| — |
13 |
Pioneers |
Family Brown |
|
| — |
8 |
Quittin' Time |
Michael Dee |
|
| — |
9 |
Rosanne |
Albert Hall |
|
| — |
17 |
Rumour |
Dan Rogers |
|
| — |
10 |
She Told Me So |
The Good Brothers |
|
| — |
17 |
Since the Rain |
Ian Tyson |
|
| — |
7 |
Somewhere on the Island |
Gary Fjellgaard |
|
| — |
6 |
Start of Something New |
Terry Carisse with Tracey Brown |
|
| — |
10 |
This Time |
Patricia Conroy |
|
| 55 |
9 |
Three Days |
k.d. lang |
|
| — |
10 |
Touch My Heart |
Anita Perras |
|
| — |
17 |
Why Do I Think of You Today |
Rita MacNeil |
|
| 72 |
14 |
Woman's Intuition |
Michelle Wright |
|
Top new album releases
Other top albums
On television
Regular series
Births
No dates
Deaths
Hall of Fame inductees
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Major awards
Grammy Awards
- Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Where've You Been," Kathy Mattea
- Best Male Country Vocal Performance — "When I Call Your Name," Vince Gill
- Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — Pickin' on Nashville, The Kentucky Headhunters
- Best Country Collaboration with Vocals — "Poor Boy Blues," Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler
- Best Country Instrumental Performance — "So Soft, Your Goodbye," Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler
- Best Country Song — "Where've You Been," Don Henry and Jon Vesner
- Best Bluegrass Recording — "I've Got That Old Feeling," Alison Krauss
Juno Awards
Academy of Country Music
Canadian Country Music Association
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