This is part 2 of the country hits of 1985. The discussion here describes the weird things that happened on the charts, especially in the 1980s.
Tim Neely’s observations are particularly on point:
Sometime in the 1980s, the Billboard country singles chart became… almost entirely, airplay-based… Billboard always relied on airplay lists received by radio stations in that genre. They were almost as ‘scientific’ as the lists from retailers on which they based sales-related charts…. It sure seemed as if, through the 1980s, country radio station lists had a habit of removing songs or dropping them to the bottom as soon as a song hit #1. This probably didn’t reflect what actually happened on the station, but without proof to the contrary, Billboard could only go on what was reported to it.
“On January 20, 1990, the Billboard country charts were one of the first to convert entirely to the BDS method of compilation, which used actual airplay on actual stations to determine the charts. Two things happened as a result, both almost immediately:
“– The size of the chart shrank from 100 spots to 75, because hardly anyone was actually playing those indie-label records in the lower 25 positions.
“– Songs began to stay at #1 for more than one week again on a regular basis. Indeed, the very first chart-topper on the BDS-based country chart, ‘Nobody’s Home'” by Clint Black, stayed on top for three weeks.
“As it turned out, what radio said it was playing, and what it was actually playing, were two different things.”
The second half of 1985
These are all songs, charting from July through December, that charted for exactly one week.
She’s A Miracle – Exile
Forgiving You Was Easy – Willie Nelson
Dixie Road – Lee Greenwood
Love Don’t Care (Whose Heart It Breaks) – Earl Thomas Conley
Forty Hour Week (For A Living) – Alabama
I’m For Love – Hank Williams, Jr.
Highwayman – Highwaymen. The legendary quartet of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and the still living Willie Nelson.
Real Love – Dolly Parton (with Kenny Rogers)
Love Is Alive – The Judds
I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me – Rosanne Cash
Modern Day Romance – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I Fell In Love Again Last Night – The Forester Sisters. I have one of their albums from 1990.
Meet Me In Montana – Marie Osmond with Dan Seals
You Make Me Want To Make You Mine – Juice Newton
Touch A Hand, Make A Friend – The Oak Ridge Boys
Some Fools Never Learn – Steve Wariner
Can’t Keep A Good Man Down – Alabama
Hang On To Your Heart – Exile
I’ll Never Stop Loving You – Gary Morris
Too Much On My Heart – The Statler Brothers
I Don’t Mind The Thorn (If You’re The Rose) – Lee Greenwood
Nobody Falls Like A Fool – Earl Thomas Conley
The Chair – George Strait
I wonder how many of these songs would have made it to #1. Many of the hits are tied to romance, so I surmise that the songs NOT about affairs of the heart, such as Forty Hour Week or The Highwayman, would have been #1 regardless..