Top-25 Country Music Recording Artists (1944 ~ 1993)
It's been decades since Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, Hank Snow, Carl Smith, Ray Price, Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells were household names. To honor their unparalleled contributions to country music, we've sourced the Billboard Country Singles Chart to rank and recognize the Top-25 Country Music Recording Artists from 1944-1993. These artists are ranked according to their Billboard chart activity. The following is the Billboard chart summary of the Top-5 artists, followed by the complete listing.
Eddy Arnold (1) Country Music Hall of Famer (1966) Eddy Arnold, who holds several all-time Billboard records, tops our list. His 145 Billboard chart songs are the second most by any artist during the period 1944 – 1993. Eddy took the lead position by placing 92 singles in the Billboard Top-10. Two of those songs are among the ten biggest songs of all-time. I’ll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms) and Bouquet of Roses, respectively, are the 2nd and 6th biggest songs in country music. At the time his career ended, Eddy had charted 126 Billboard Top-40 songs, the 2nd most in country music.
George Jones (2) Placing No. 2, Country Music Hall of Famer (1992) George Jones, holds several Billboard records, including 154 Billboard chart songs, the most by any artist during the period 1944 – 1993. During his stunning career, George racked up 138 Billboard Top-40 songs, the most in country music during the period 1944 – 1993. He also charted 79 Billboard Top-10 singles, the 2nd most in country music for the same period.
Johnny Cash (3) Johnny is considered one of the most influential singers of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country music artist, his music spanned many genres including rockabilly and rock and roll, especially early in his career, as well as blues, folk and gospel. This crossover appeal led to Cash being inducted in both the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During his career, Cash racked up 101 Billboard Top-40 songs, the 3rd most in country music during the period 1944 – 1993. Johnny also charted 52 Billboard Top-10 singles, the 10th most in country music for the same period. Cash also had 52 Billboard crossover hits.
Conway Twitty (4) Conway enjoyed minor success in early rock and roll and pop music, before switching to country music in 1965. Conway held the record for the most Billboard No. 1 hits (40) until George Strait broke the record in 2006. Twitty also charted 75 Billboard Top-10 singles the 3rd most in country music during the period 1944 – 1993. From 1971–76, Twitty received a string of Country Music Association awards for duets with Loretta Lynn. A former member of the Grand Ole Opry, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1999).
Merle Haggard (5) Merle was the most important country artist to emerge in the 1960s and he became one of the leading figures of the Bakersfield country music scene in the '60s. While his music remained hardcore country, he pushed the boundaries of the music quite far. Like his idol, Bob Wills, his music was a melting pot that drew from all forms of traditional American music; country, jazz, blues and folk and in the process, he developed a distinctive style of his own. Merle charted 38 Billboard No. 1 singles, the 2nd most in country music during the period 1944 – 1993. Merle also charted 71 Billboard Top-10 singles, the 4th most in country music during the same period. Merle was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994.
Top-25 Country Music Recording Artists (1944 ~ 1993)
- Eddy Arnold
- George Jones
- Johnny Cash
- Conway Twitty
- Merle Haggard
- Webb Pierce
- Ray Price
- Dolly Parton
- Willie Nelson
- Buck Owens
- Waylon Jennings
- Marty Robbins
- Jim Reeves
- Hank Williams, Jr.
- Charlie Pride
- Ernest Tubb
- Loretta Lynn
- Sonny James
- Hank Snow
- Faron Young
- Ronnie Milsap
- Carl Smith
- Tammy Wynnette
- Bill Anderson
- Mel Tillis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Oct. 2011
