List Of Hot Country Singles Number Ones Of 1963
In the issue of Billboard dated January 5, Marty Robbins climbed to number one with "Ruby Ann", replacing "Don't Let Me Cross Over" by Carl Butler and Pearl, which had been in the top spot in the last issue of 1962. Robbins only held the number one position for a single week before the husband-and-wife duo returned to the top of the chart. "Don't Let Me Cross Over" had three separate runs at number one during the early part of the year, the last of which lasted for eight weeks, but it would be the only chart-topper of the duo's career. Separating the song's three runs in the top spot during the spring of 1963 were two spells at number one for "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the first song in the bluegrass genre to top the chart. The song, the theme from television sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies", was the only number one for the duo. In May, "Lonesome 7-7203" by Hawkshaw Hawkins topped the chart, his first and only single to reach number one. This was a posthumous success for the singer, who had died in a plane crash two months earlier. Later in the year, both George Hamilton IV and Ernest Ashworth achieved their first Hot Country number ones.
Another act to top the chart for the first time in 1963 was Buck Owens, who achieved a number of chart feats during the year. He spent more weeks at number one in 1963 than any other act, occupying the top spot for a cumulative total of sixteen weeks with "Act Naturally" and "Love's Gonna Live Here". The latter song was number one for the final eleven weeks of the year, the longest unbroken run at the top of the chart during 1963. The song remained at number one for a further five weeks in 1964 for a final total of sixteen consecutive weeks in the top spot. This set a new record for the longest unbroken run at number one on the Hot Country chart which would last for nearly 50 years, when Florida Georgia Line spent a seventeenth consecutive week atop the chart with "Cruise" in 2013. Owens was also the only act to take more than one single to number one in 1963; he went on to become one of the most successful recording artists of the mid-1960s, achieving 15 country number ones in a five-year period.
Chart history
![A fair-haired middle-aged man](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Buck_Owens.jpg/170px-Buck_Owens.jpg)
![A balding man in a check shirt and dark vest playing a guitar and singing into a mirophone](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/George_Hamilton_IV_crop.jpg/170px-George_Hamilton_IV_crop.jpg)
Issue date | Title | Artist(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
January 5 | "Ruby Ann" | Marty Robbins | |
January 12 | "Don't Let Me Cross Over" | Carl Butler and Pearl | |
January 19 | "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" | Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs | |
January 26 | "Don't Let Me Cross Over" | Carl Butler and Pearl | |
February 2 | "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" | Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs | |
February 9 | |||
February 16 | "Don't Let Me Cross Over" | Carl Butler and Pearl | |
February 23 | |||
March 2 | |||
March 9 | |||
March 16 | |||
March 23 | |||
March 30 | |||
April 6 | |||
April 13 | "Still" | Bill Anderson | |
April 20 | |||
April 27 | |||
May 4 | "Lonesome 7-7203" | Hawkshaw Hawkins | |
May 11 | "Still" | Bill Anderson | |
May 18 | |||
May 25 | |||
June 1 | "Lonesome 7-7203" | Hawkshaw Hawkins | |
June 8 | |||
June 15 | "Act Naturally" | Buck Owens | |
June 22 | "Lonesome 7-7203" | Hawkshaw Hawkins | |
June 29 | "Act Naturally" | Buck Owens | |
July 6 | "Still" | Bill Anderson | |
July 13 | "Act Naturally" | Buck Owens | |
July 20 | |||
July 27 | "Ring of Fire" | Johnny Cash | |
August 3 | |||
August 10 | |||
August 17 | |||
August 24 | |||
August 31 | |||
September 7 | |||
September 14 | "Abilene" | George Hamilton IV | |
September 21 | "Love's Gonna Live Here" | Buck Owens | |
September 28 | "Abilene" | George Hamilton IV | |
October 5 | |||
October 12 | "Talk Back Trembling Lips" | Ernest Ashworth | |
October 19 | "Love's Gonna Live Here" | Buck Owens | |
October 26 | |||
November 2 | |||
November 9 | |||
November 16 | |||
November 23 | |||
November 30 | |||
December 7 | |||
December 14 | |||
December 21 | |||
December 28 |
See also
- Billboard Top Country Singles of 1963
- 1963 in music
- 1963 in country music
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. country chart