First Billboard Country Music Chart Song
On January 8, 1944, Billboard magazine began tracking the popularity of country music songs and later that month, Billboard published its first Country Music popularity chart. Pistol Packin’ Mama was the first song to make the chart. Prior to 1944 the chart was called the Hillbilly Records Chart.
Pistol Packin' Mama is a 1942 song composed by Al Dexter. The song is notable in that it was the first number one on the Juke Box Folk Records chart, which was later known as the Hot Country Songs chart. The version performed by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters was the first number on the Juke Box Folk records charts followed by the original version (recorded March 18, 1942) performed by Al Dexter released on Okeh 6708. The song peaked at number one on Billboard in January 1944 and was Dexter's only gold record.
From 1944-1948, Billboard used just one chart to track songs' popularity, Most Played Juke Box Folk Records. There was no standard chart length; a given week had from two to eight positions. A Best Sellers chart (first titled Best Selling Retail Folk Records) was added with the May 15, 1948 issue, while a Jockeys (first known as Country & Western Records Most Played by Folk Disk Jockeys) first appeared on December 10, 1949.
From 1949-1957, there were three charts that measured the popularity of country music songs. The Jukebox chart was dropped after the June 17, 1957 chart, while the final Best Sellers and Jockeys charts ended with the October 13, 1958 issue.
Starting October 20, 1958, there was one all-encompassing chart, combining both retail sales and radio airplay. First known as Hot C&W Sides, the chart name changed to Hot Country Singles on November 3, 1962; Hot Country Singles & Tracks on January 20, 1990 and Hot Country Songs on April 30, 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Source Wikipedia, 2012.
