1970
Johnny Cash was at #1 on the Country album chart with Hello, I’m Johnny Cash, his 33rd album release. The album featured “If I Were a Carpenter”, the famous duet with his wife, June Carter Cash, which earned the couple a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1971.
1980
Conway Twitty was at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with “I’d Love To Lay You Down”, his 24th Country #1.
1982
Dolly Parton released her twenty-fourth solo studio album Heartbreak Express. The album returned Parton to a more fully realized country sound (a process she had begun on the previous year’s 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs), after her late 1970s pop recordings.
1997
Reba McEntire was at #1 on the Billboard country chart with “How Was I To Know”, the second single released from her album, What If It’s You.
2011
Sara Evans was at #1 on the Country chart with her sixth album Stronger, the first studio album to be released by Evans in nearly six years. During this six-year period, Evans was involved in a high profile divorce with, her now ex-husband Craig Schelske. “A Little Bit Stronger” was released as the album’s lead-off single which became a #1 hit.
2020Grammy-winning country music star Joe Diffie died age 61 from complications of COVID-19. Diffie charted 35 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, five of which peaked at number one. He also co-wrote singles for Holly Dunn, Tim McGraw, and Jo Dee Messina, and recorded with Mary Chapin Carpenter, George Jones, and Marty Stuart.
