Kenny Chesney racks up his 30th No. 1 single this week as his “Get Along” reaches Billboard’s country airplay summit after a relatively quick 15-week ascent.
His first chart-topping song, “She’s Got It All,” came in 1997. He recently shared his 29th No. 1, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” with David Lee Murphy.
Luke Combs continues to reign on the country albums rankings with This One’s for You.
No albums break into the Top 50 this week, but there are three returning contenders—Elvis Presley’s ElvIs: 30 #1 Hits (back at No. 34), Taylor Swift’s Fearless (No. 47) and Jordan Davis’ Home State (No. 50).
However, chart watchers, there are four new songs to acknowledge. And they are Eric Church’s “Desperate Man” (bowing at No. 23), Riley Green’s “There Was This Girl” (No. 55), Abby Anderson’s “Make Him Wait” (No. 59) and Everette’s “Slow Roll” (No. 50).
Completing the Top 5 albums array, in descending order, are the self-titled Dan + Shay, Jason Aldean’s Rearview Town, the eponymous Kane Brown and Thomas Rhett’s Life Changes.
The No. 2 through No. 5 songs are Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” (last week’s No. 1), Jake Owen’s “I Was Jack (You Were Diane),” Combs’ “One Number Away” and Brown’s “Heaven.”
Although the charts aren’t very hot this week, the weather is—which brings to mind this heat-related country music story.
Many of you will have heard of the great Roger Miller, who, after shaking up country and pop music in the 1960s with such quirky tunes as “Dang Me, “ “Chug-a-Lug” and “King of the Road,” went on to write the soul-stirring music and lyrics for the Broadway hit Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Miller realized he was on a rocket to fame once his songs quickly earned him his own network television show in 1966. On a day when everything was still coming up roses for him, he strode into a room where his pals were sitting and uttered the now-famous line, “Is it hot in here, or is it just me?”
It was him—and it still is.
By: Edward Morris on cmt.com