Customer Reviews

Joel Whitburn Presents Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008

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I threw out my tatty copy of Top Country Singles, 1944-1988 during a clearance in the mid-nineties, not knowing that I would become a reviewer and therefore miss that book. I always intended to buy a new edition, but I saw bad reviews of Top Country Songs, 1944-2005, complaining that much-loved information relating to B-sides (which weren't in Top Country Singles, 1944-1988, but had been added later) and pop chart placings (which were in Top Country Singles, 1944-1988) had been deleted, and decided to hold off. Reassured that the important data had been restored, I purchased this edition. The songwriting information apparently included in Top Country Songs, 1944-2005 has been removed, but while I would have liked that data too, I'd rather have the pop chart placings if I have to choose between them. After all, this is a chart data book and I can find the songwriting information elsewhere.

The main part of the book gives the chart data for each artist including those restored pop placings and B-sides. For major artists, there is a mini-index of song titles at the end of their entry saying which year each song charted. This is particularly useful if a song charted more than once for the artist - for example, it serves as a reminder that Dolly Parton charted in 1974, 1982 and 1995 with I will always love you. Another new feature, which applies to major artists only, is the summary of top artist hits at the top of the listing of hits. For Dolly Parton, the five given (in order) are Here you come again, Heartbreaker, Islands in the stream, You're the only one and It's all wrong but it's all right. While that may be correct according to the mathematical formula used, some of these tracks aren't automatically included on greatest hits compilations, which shows the limits of using a mathematical formula, especially one that counts each recording separately. The real top five, based on their fame, would surely be I will always love you, 9 to 5, Islands in the stream, Here you come again and Jolene. But this feature isn't what I bought the book for and it at least provides a guide.

Following the main part of the book, there is a complete song title index, followed by a top artists section and a section containing chart facts and figures. In Top Country Singles, 1944-1988, there was a list of the top 200 artists of all time. In the intervening years, this has been expanded to a top 300 (and mentions the nine artists who dropped out of the top 300 in the years since the previous edition), while there are also top 50 lists for each decade. The top 300 list indicates which members have been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Most of the top 50 have been inducted, including all the top 10 and all but three of the top 20. In this edition, Reba McEntire has the dubious distinction of being the most successful artist not yet inducted, but her turn will surely come. Barbara Mandrell (no longer in the all-time top 50) was inducted in 2009 but that was too late for this edition.

Compared to the Joel Whitburn's Top Country Singles, 1944-1988, the typeface is smaller but still perfectly readable. With so much more data to squeeze in, this is inevitable. The time will come eventually when it is necessary to split the book into two volumes, but hopefully not for a while yet. In the meantime, it remains a single volume and is essential for all country music fans who are interested in chart data.

You cannot top the Whitburn Books for being authoritative and absolutely essential. You'll enjoy every morsel of facts, figures, chart history, etc., etc., etc.. Ten times worth the price if you are a country music and records fan. Very interesting rankings of the top country stars of all time, too. Who is ranked number one??? My guesses were way up there, but incorrect! I won't ruin the surprise!
Treat yourself to this wonderful volume! I have several Whitburn Books...Take it from a former radio DJ...There are the Whitburn Books, and then everybody else! The ONLY nitpik is that the print is small. A modest price to pay for such a motherlode of information and fun, and I don't cite this as a criticism (Such a wealth of chart treasures required the small font), but worth a mention for folks who might find the small print difficult to read for an extended period.

As a country music fan I found the book by Joel Whitburn to be very helpful and imformative. It is a good reference guide as to who, what and when. Now I have friends that rely on me to tell them who recorded what and when. They think I have an excellent memory. If only they knew.

"Hot Country Songs 1944 To 2008"
Compiled by Joel Whitburn
(Billboard/Record Research Inc., 2009)
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I really do love these Billboard books which, especially in the case of country music, are invaluable research tools for anyone who really wants to delve deep into the history of popular song. You have to learn to read between the lines, but what seems like a dry recitation of statistics is actually a rich trove of information about an industry that has gone through a lot of changes over the last sixty-plus years. Great stuff. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Guide To Country Music)