1944 in country music

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1944.

List of years in country music (table)
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Events

January 8 — Billboard publishes its first "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" chart, the first widespread method of tracking the nationwide popularity of current country music songs. The first No. 1 song is "Pistol Packin' Mama" by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters. The new chart is the predecessor to today's Hot Country Songs chart.
February 26 — Less than two months after the chart's inception, jazz and rhythm & blues performer Louis Jordan becomes the first African-American performer to top the Most Played Juke Box Folk chart (with "Ration Blues"). It is a big year for African-American performers: Jordan has a second No. 1 hit later in the year with "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)," while the Nat King Cole-led trio reach the top with "Straighten Up and Fly Right." Jordan and Cole are the only black performers to have a No. 1 hit until 1969, when Charley Pride breaks the streak.

(As certified by Billboard magazine)

April 27 — Herb Pedersen, musician and member of The Desert Rose Band.
July 20 — T.G. Sheppard, pop-styled country performer and one of the most successful stars of the 1970s and 1980s.
August 19 — Eddy Raven, singer-songwriter who successfully fused elements of cajun music with contemporary country sounds.
December 4 — Chris Hillman, ex-member of The Byrds who formed the 1980s country-rock band The Desert Rose Band.
December 11 - Brenda Lee, "Little Miss Dynamite," pop-rockabilly singer who defected to country music in the late 1960s.