Customer Reviews

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits

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4 star:		(5)
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Want to know how many Top 40 hits Connie Smith or Red Sovine had? Where those their real names? What were their hometowns? How many Top 40 songs did Tammy have with George? How often and by which artists did "I Take the Chance" make the charts? (Answers below!). Compiler Whitburn has produced the ultimate toy for country music lovers. Also included is each chart hit, singer by singer, song by song. There is an alphabetical listing of each hit, showing who recorded them and another menu of the Top 100 singles going back to 1944. Readers will learn the Top Artists according to decade and all #1 songs cataloged chronologically. Plus more! What is not to like? This reviewer has found the listings for each artist VERY helpful in deciding to buy CDs. We all know some compilations are better than others. Armed with Whitburn's information, one can tell how many tracks on a given album made it in the world and which fizzled. Apparently this gem is only available as "used". I would not hesitate. Amazon does a good job on used books. Whitburn belongs on the shelf of any serious country fan-or any who would like to be. The answers from above are 39, 13, Constance June Meadows from Elkhart, Indiana, Woodrow Wilson Sovine from Charleston, West Virginia, 13 and 2 (by Ernest Ashworth in '63 and The Browns in '56.) Haven't you placed an order yet?

In keeping with the overall quality of his series of Billboard Top 40 books, Joel Whitburn has once again provided an excellent compendium of the top charting country hits and artists, dating all the way back from 1944 to 2006. Whether you're a died-in-the-wool country music fan or just a big fan of music, this book is a delight to simply peruse or to use as your bible for country music.

Organized like the other books in this series (e.g., Top 40 Hits, Top 40 R&B Hits), the book lists all the charted songs by each artist, organized alphabetically by artist. For each song, the date, number of weeks, highest chart position, and record label are provided. Likewise, for each artist or group, some brief biographical information is provided. Interspersed throughout the book are pages with pictures of album or singles covers from sample artists and brief narratives about those artists or songs. The back of the book also includes an alphabetical index of all charted songs, as well as listing the artist, year, and highest chart position.

And for people who are interested in rankings of the best songs and artists, additional tables at the back of the book list the Top 100 songs of the era, the top singles by decade, the Top 100 artists of the era, the top artists by decade, the biggest top 40 artist achievements (e.g., most #1 hits), and a chronological list of all #1 songs by year.

I started many years ago with Joel Whitburn's book of popular Top 40 hits and have purchased multiple editions of that book in subsequent years. I found those books so enjoyable as handy references and to help me get deeper into many artists catalogues of hits, that I eventually also purchased the Book of Top 40 R&B Hits and this Book of Top 40 Country Hits as my musical interests expanded and deepened in these genres.

I would think that books like this one would be "must-have's" for disc jockeys and music historians. For died-in-the-wool music fans like myself, books like this one are a pure delight that I keep handy whenever I am listening to music, adding songs to my iPod, creating personal playlists of songs, or simply wanting to expand or refresh my knowledge about particular artists and songs over the years.

I highly recommend this book as being up to the same high standards as the other books in Joel Whitburn's series of Billboard Top 40 hits. It's a great reference book for any serious music fan to keep handy when listening to or thinking about all these delightful (and not-so-delightful) songs and artists that made it into the enviable weekly "top 40" lists on the music charts.

If you are a country music disk jockey, you must have this book. The way the book is compiled is very helpful to the country DJ. It would be great if this book could be updated every year or two.

This book, as well as Top 40 Hits, are essential for anyone in radio or multi-format disc jockey businesses. I own a disc jockey business and these 2 books are like bibles. Just wished they'd get updated yearly or every other year.

This is a first class research tool. This book is perfect for the music collector who wants to know what songs charted and when by any given artist. What is really great about this book is it covers songs from 1944 through 2005. It also has sections to rank the top singles and artists from Billboard publishing. This is not a fan club book. This is a factual report of actual recording success by artist.

An excellent reference for any music enthusiast. Well written, informative and accurate. Another typical Whitburn product worth every penny.The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits

A great informative reference book! It was a gift that was greatly appreciated and seems to be used daily. The shipping was prompt and without problems. Thanks!

There is a lot of detail and information in this book. So good to see how the REAL country artists ranked with the more recent artists. Connie Smith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, the best is all there!!!

Joel Whitburn does a great job compiling country chart and artist information. I'm a radio dj and I need all the information at my fingertips. It's very quick and easy - and I'm searching for the newest update! Where is it, Joel?!?

"Book Of Top 40 Country Hits 2006" is a long waited edition for my old one from 1996.
I have used the old one very much as "a bibel in country music" in my weekly local radio show.
I'm sure that the new edition will be used in the same way.
When I'm saying this, I will not leave the oppotunity to mension, that
Joel Whitburn's "Top Country Singles" 2002, 5th. edition have been used in the same way, or maybe more, because it's going to the 100 most sold.
Now I'm waiting to see a renewing of this book.