This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1987. [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 [edit] United States (as certified by Billboard) - Notes
- 1^ No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard.
- A^ First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
- B^ Last Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
- C^ Only Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.
[edit] Canada (as certified by RPM) | Date | Single Name | Artist | Wks. No.1 | U.S. peak | Spec. Note | | January 17 | Mind Your Own Business | Hank Williams, Jr. featuring
Reba McEntire, Tom Petty,
Reverend Ike, & Willie Nelson | 1 | | [A] - Reba McEntire
[C] - Tom Petty
[C] - Reverend Ike | | January 24 | What Am I Gonna Do About You | Reba McEntire | 1 | | | | January 31 | The Carpenter | John Conlee | 1 | 6 | [B] | | February 7 | You Still Move Me | Dan Seals | 1 | | | | February 14 | Leave Me Lonely | Gary Morris | 1 | | [B] | | February 21 | How Do I Turn You On | Ronnie Milsap | 1 | | | | February 28 | I'll Come Back as Another Woman | Tanya Tucker | 1 | 2 | | | March 7 | No Place Like Home | Randy Travis | 2 | 2 | [1] | | March 21 | Mornin' Ride | Lee Greenwood | 1 | | [B] | | March 28 | Small Town Girl | Steve Wariner | 1 | | | | April 4 | I'll Still Be Loving You | Restless Heart | 1 | | [A] | | April 11 | Ocean Front Property | George Strait | 2 | | | | April 25 | 'You've Got' The Touch | Alabama | 1 | | | | May 2 | Rose in Paradise | Waylon Jennings | 1 | | [B] | | May 9 | Don't Go to Strangers | T. Graham Brown | 1 | | | | May 16 | To Know Him Is to Love Him | Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt,
and Dolly Parton | 2 | | | | May 30 | Can't Stop My Heart From Loving You | The O'Kanes | 1 | | [C] | | June 6 | It Takes a Little Rain
(To Make Love Grow) | The Oak Ridge Boys | 1 | | | | June 13 | I Will Be There | Dan Seals | 1 | | | | June 20 | Forever and Ever, Amen | Randy Travis | 4 | | | | July 18 | All My Ex's Live in Texas | George Strait | 1 | | | | July 25 | I Know Where I'm Going | The Judds | 1 | | | | August 1 | The Weekend | Steve Wariner | 1 | | | | August 8 | Snap Your Fingers | Ronnie Milsap | 1 | | | | August 15 | One Promise Too Late | Reba McEntire | 1 | | | | August 22 | A Long Line of Love | Michael Martin Murphey | 1 | | | | August 29 | Whiskey, If You Were a Woman | Highway 101 | 1 | 2 | [A] | | September 5 | Why Does It Have to Be
(Wrong or Right) | Restless Heart | 1 | | | | September 12 | Born to Boogie | Hank Williams, Jr. | 1 | | [B] | | September 19 | She's Too Good to Be True | Exile | 1 | | | | September 26 | Make No Mistake, She's Mine | Kenny Rogers and Ronnie Milsap | 1 | | [B] - Kenny Rogers | | October 3 | Three Time Loser | Dan Seals | 1 | | | | 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 | Little Ways | Dwight Yoakam | 1 | 8 | | | October 31 | Shine, Shine, Shine | Eddy Raven | 1 | | | | November 7 | Maybe Your Baby's Got the Blues | The Judds | 1 | | | | November 14 | Right From the Start | Earl Thomas Conley | 1 | | | | November 21 | Am I Blue | George Strait | 1 | | | | November 28 | I Won't Need You Anymore (Always and Forever) | Randy Travis | 1 | | | | December 5 | Try | Blue Rodeo | 1 | — | [A] | | December 12 | Lynda | Steve Wariner | 1 | | | | December 19 | Those Memories of You | Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt,
and Dolly Parton | 2 | 5 | [B] - Linda Ronstadt | - Notes
- 1^ No. 1 song of the year, as determined by RPM.
- A^ First RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
- B^ Last RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
- C^ Only RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
[edit] Other major hits [edit] Singles released by American artists [edit] Singles released by Canadian artists [edit] Top new album releases [edit] Other top albums [edit] On television [edit] Regular series [edit] Specials [edit] Births [edit] Deaths [edit] Hall of Fame inductees [edit] Country Music Hall of Fame inductees [edit] Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees [edit] Major awards [edit] Grammy Awards [edit] Juno Awards [edit] Academy of Country Music [edit] Canadian Country Music Association [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 |
