See also: 1997 in country music, 1998 in music, other events of 1998, 1999 in country music, 1990s in music and the List of years in Country Music

Events

• January 10 – "Retro Country USA," a weekly two-hour syndicated radio program spotlighting major country hits of the 1980s (along with some from the 1970s and early 1990s), premieres. The show is hosted by Tampa radio personality Ken Cooper.
• February 25 – Johnny Cash's album, Unchained, wins a Grammy Award for Best Country Album. The album had been a critical success but was largely ignored by mainstream country radio, a fact Cash and producer Rick Rubin pick up on when they purchase a full-page advertisement in Billboard magazine. The ad, which appeared in March, featured a young Cash displaying his middle finger and sarcastically "thanking" radio for supporting the album.
• June 30 – The divorce of Vince and Janis Gill (of Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is finalized.
• December – The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honors Willie Nelson for his lifetime contributions to the arts. Nelson is the first primarily country performer so honored.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

(As certified by Billboard magazine)

• ¹ – No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard magazine.
• ^A - First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
• ^B - Last Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.
• ^C - Only Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.

Other major hits

• "26 Cents" — The Wilkinsons (#3)
• "Absence of the Heart" — Deana Carter (#16)
• "Angel in My Eyes" — John Michael Montgomery (#4)
• "Between the Devil and Me" — Alan Jackson (#2)
• "A Chance" — Kenny Chesney (#11)
• "Come Some Rainy Day" — Wynonna (#14)
• "Commitment" — LeAnn Rimes (#4)
• "Cover You in Kisses" — John Michael Montgomery (#3)
• "The Day She Left Tulsa (In a Chevy)" — Wade Hayes (#5)
• "Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)" — Shania Twain (#6)
• "Don't Laugh at Me" — Mark Wills (#2)
• "Dream Walkin'" — Toby Keith (#5)
• "Everything's Changed" — Lonestar (#2)
• "Forever Love" — Reba McEntire (#4)
• "From This Moment On" — Shania Twain with Bryan White (#6)
• "Getcha Some" — Toby Keith (#18)
• "Happy Girl" — Martina McBride (#2)
• "He's Got You" — Brooks & Dunn (#2)
• "High on Love" — Patty Loveless (#20)
• "The Hole" — Randy Travis (#9)
• "Holes in the Floor of Heaven" — Steve Wariner (#2)
• "A House with No Curtains" — Alan Jackson (#18)
• "How Do You Fall in Love" — Alabama (#2)
• "How Do You Sleep at Night" — Wade Hayes (#13)
• "I Can Love You Better" — Dixie Chicks (#7)
• "I Do (Cherish You)" — Mark Wills (#2)
• "I Might Even Quit Lovin' You" — Mark Chesnutt (#18)
• "I Said a Prayer" — Pam Tillis (#12)
• "I Wanna Fall in Love" — Lila McCann (#3)
• "I Wanna Feel That Way Again" — Tracy Byrd (#9)
• "I Wanna Remember This" — Linda Davis (#20)
• "I'll Go on Loving You" — Alan Jackson (#3)
• "I'm from the Country" — Tracy Byrd (#3)
• "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" — Toby Keith with Sting (#2)
• "If I Never Stop Loving You" — David Kersh (#3)
• "If You Can't Be Good (Be Good at It)" — Neal McCoy (#22)
• "If You Ever Have Forever in Mind" — Vince Gill (#5)
• "Imagine That" — Diamond Rio (#4)
• "It Would Be You" — Gary Allan (#7)
• "It's Your Song" — Garth Brooks (#9)
• "Just Between You and Me" — The Kinleys (#12)
• "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" — Faith Hill (featuring Tim McGraw) (#3)
• "A Little Past Little Rock" — Lee Ann Womack (#2)
• "Little Red Rodeo" — Collin Raye (#3)
• "Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone" — Trace Adkins (#11)
• "Loosen Up My Strings" — Clint Black (#12)
• "Love of My Life" — Sammy Kershaw (#2)
• "Love Working on You" — John Michael Montgomery (#14)
• "A Man Holdin' on (To a Woman Lettin' Go)" — Ty Herndon (#5)
• "Matches" — Sammy Kershaw (#22)
• "Nothin' New Under the Moon" — LeAnn Rimes (#10)
• "Now That I've Found You" — Terri Clark (#2)
• "On the Side of Angels" — LeAnn Rimes (#4)
• "One of These Days" — Tim McGraw (#2)
• "One of Those Nights Tonight" — Lorrie Morgan (#14)
• "One Small Miracle" — Bryan White (#16)
• "Out of My Bones" — Randy Travis (#2)
• "Papa Bear" — Keith Harling (#24)
• "Say When" — Lonestar (#13)
• "She's Gonna Make It" — Garth Brooks (#2)
• "She's Got That Look in Her Eyes" — Alabama (#21)
• "Someone You Used to Know" — Collin Raye (#3)
• "Stepping Stone" — Lari White (#16)
• "Still in Love with You" — Travis Tritt (#23)
• "Texas Sized Heartache" — Joe Diffie (#4)
• "That's Why I'm Here" — Kenny Chesney (#2)
• "Then What?" — Clay Walker (#2)
• "There Goes My Baby" — Trisha Yearwood (#2)
• "Things Change" — Dwight Yoakam (#17)
• "To Have You Back Again" — Patty Loveless (#12)
• "Too Good to Be True" — Michael Peterson (#8)
• "True" — George Strait (#2)
• "Valentine" — Martina McBride (featuring Jim Brickman) (#9)
• "We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This" — George Strait (#4)
• "What If?" — Reba McEntire (#23)
• "Where Your Road Leads" — Trisha Yearwood with Garth Brooks (#18)
• "You Move Me" — Garth Brooks (#3)
• "You Walked In" — Lonestar (#12)
• "You'll Never Know" — Mindy McCready (#19)
• "You're Gone" — Diamond Rio (#4)
• "You've Got to Talk to Me" — Lee Ann Womack (#2)

Top new album releases

• Breath of Heaven: A Christmas Collection — Vince Gill (MCA Nashville)
• Burnin' the Roadhouse Down — Steve Wariner (Capitol Nashville)
• Double Live — Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)
• Everything's Gonna Be Alright — Deana Carter (Capitol Nashville)
• Faith — Faith Hill (Warner Bros.)
• For the Record — Alabama (RCA)
• Greatest Hits — Clay Walker (Giant)
• Greatest Hits Volume One — Toby Keith (Mercury Nashville)
• High Mileage — Alan Jackson (Arista Nashville)
• Hope Floats Soundtrack — Various Artists (Capitol Nashville)
• How I Feel — Terri Clark (Mercury Nashville)
• I'm Alright — Jo Dee Messina (Curb)
• I'm from the Country — Tracy Byrd (MCA Nashville)
• If You See Her — Brooks & Dunn (Arista Nashville)
• If You See Him — Reba McEntire (MCA Nashville)
• The Key — Vince Gill (MCA Nashville)
• The Limited Series — Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)
• A Long Way Home — Dwight Yoakam (Reprise)
• No Place That Far — Sara Evans (RCA)
• One Step at a Time — George Strait (MCA Nashville)
• The Prince of Egypt (Nashville) — Various Artists (DreamWorks)
• Sittin' on Top of the World — LeAnn Rimes (Curb)
• Touched by an Angel: The Album — Various Artists (Epic)
• Totally Committed — Jeff Foxworthy (Warner Bros.)
• Trampoline -— The Mavericks (MCA Nashville)
• Unbelievable — Diamond Rio (Arista Nashville)
• The Walls Came Down — Collin Raye (Epic)
• Where Your Road Leads — Trisha Yearwood (MCA Nashville)
• White Christmas — Martina McBride (RCA)
• Wide Open Spaces — Dixie Chicks (Monument)
• Wish You Were Here — Mark Wills (Mercury Nashville)
• You and You Alone — Randy Travis (DreamWorks)

Other top albums

• 29 Nights — Danni Leigh (Decca Nashville)
• Ain't It the Truth — Daryle Singletary (Giant)
• The Apostle Soundtrack — Various Artists (Decca Nashville)
• Back with a Heart — Olivia Newton-John (MCA Nashville)
• Beautiful Day in the Cold, Cruel World — The Warren Brothers (BNA)
• The Best of Tracy Lawrence — Tracy Lawrence (Atlantic)
• Big Backyard Beat Show — BR5-49 (Arista Nashville)
• Big Hopes — Ty Herndon (Epic)
• Black Dog Soundtrack — Various Artists (Decca Nashville)
• Break in the Storm — The Great Divide (Atlantic)
• The Civil War: The Nashville Sessions — Various Artists (Atlantic)
• Did I Shave My Back for This? — Cledus T. Judd (Razor & Tie)
• Dorkfish — Bill Engvall (Warner Bros.)
• Every Time — Pam Tillis (Arista Nashville)
• Farmers in a Changing World — The Tractors (Arista Nashville)
• Fiddle Fire: 25 Years — Charlie Daniels (Blue Hat)
• Greatest Hits — Joe Diffie (Epic)
• Greatest Hits — Restless Heart (RCA)
• The Horse Whisperer Soundtrack — Various Artists (MCA Nashville)
• Hungry Again — Dolly Parton (Decca Nashville)
• I Saw the Light — Hal Ketchum (Curb)
• I'm Just That Way — Mark Nesler (Asylum)
• I'm Yours — Linda Davis (DreamWorks)
• If I Never Stop Loving You — David Kersh (Curb)
• It Don't Get Any Better Than This — George Jones (MCA Nashville)
• It Would Be You — Gary Allan (Decca Nashville)
• It's Now! It's Live! — The Mavericks (MCA Nashville)
• Keep on Rockin' — Confederate Railroad (Atlantic)
• Leave a Mark — John Michael Montgomery (Atlantic)
• Love Is — Kevin Sharp (Asylum)
• The Lynns — The Lynns (Reprise)
• No More Looking Over My Shoulder — Travis Tritt (Warner Bros.)
• Nobody Love, Nobody Gets Hurt — Suzy Bogguss (Capitol Nashville)
• Nothing But Love — The Wilkinsons (Giant)
• One Road Man — Chris LeDoux (Capitol Nashville)
• Real Man — Billy Dean (Capitol)
• Secret Love — Lorrie Morgan (BNA)
• Shot Full of Love — Billy Ray Cyrus (Monument)
• The Sky's the Limit — BlackHawk (Arista Nashville)
• Some Things I Know — Lee Ann Womack (Decca Nashville)
• Spyboy — Emmylou Harris (Eminent)
• Step Inside This House — Lyle Lovett (Curb)
• Stepping Stone — Lari White (Lyric Street)
• The Strong One — Mila Mason (Atlantic)
• Tammy Wynette Remembered — Various Artists (Asylum)
• Teatro — Willie Nelson (Island)
• Tribute to Tradition — Various Artists (Columbia)
• VH1 Storytellers — Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson (Columbia)
• What Livin's All About — Rhett Akins (Decca Nashville)
• What This Country Needs — Aaron Tippin (Lyric Street)
• When the Wrong One Loves You Right — Wade Hayes (Columbia)
• Wine Into Water — T. Graham Brown (Intersound)
• Write It in Stone — Keith Harling (MCA Nashville)

Deaths

• January 7 — Owen Bradley, 82, legendary record producer for top artists. (respiratory illness)
• January 17 – Cliffie Stone, 80, music executive and bassist.
• January 19 — Carl Perkins, 65, top picker and rockabilly artist. (complications from multiple strokes)
• January 24 - Justin Tubb, 62, singer-songwriter who fused honky-tonk and rockabilly in the 1950s.
• February 19 - Grandpa Jones, 84, banjo player, old-time country/gospel singer, comedian and regular on "Hee Haw" (stroke)
• February 25 – Rockin' Sidney Simien, 59, rhythm and blues, Zydeco, and soul musician best known to country audiences for his 1985 hit, "My Toot Toot." (cancer)
• April 6 — Tammy Wynette, 55, top country female vocalist of the 1960s and 1970s, best known for hits "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "Stand By Your Man." (blood clot)
• April 16 — Rose Maddox, 71, female honky-tonk and rockabilly pioneer who fronted the Maddox Brothers and Rose (kidney failure)
• May 7 — Eddie Rabbitt, 56, prolific songwriter and pop-country vocalist who once had 35 Top 10 hits in as many releases. (lung cancer)
• June 10 — Steve Sanders, 45, member of the Oak Ridge Boys from 1987 to 1996; replaced and succeeded by William Lee Golden. (suicide)
• July 6 — Roy Rogers, 86, actor, singer and "King of the Cowboys." (congestive heart failure)
• October 2 - Gene Autry, 91, actor and "The Singing Cowboy" (lymphoma).

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

• George Morgan (1924-1975)
• Elvis Presley (1935-1977)
• E.W. “Bud” Wendell (born 1927)
• Tammy Wynette (1942-1998)

Major Awards

Grammy awards

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance -- "You're Still the One," Shania Twain
• Best Male Country Vocal Performance -- "If You Ever Have Forever in Mind," Vince Gill
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal -- "There's Your Trouble," Dixie Chicks
• Best Country Collaboration with Vocals -- "Same Old Train," Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt and Dwight Yoakam
• Best Country Instrumental Performance -- "A Soldier's Joy," Vince Gill and Randy Scruggs
• Best Country Song -- "You're Still the One," Shania Twain and Robert John "Mutt" Lange
• Best Country Album -- Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks
• Best Bluegrass Album -- Bluegrass Rules!, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

Academy of Country Music

• Entertainer Of The Year -- Garth Brooks
• Song Of The Year -- "Holes in the Floor of Heaven," Steve Wariner and Billy Kirsch
• Single Of The Year -- "This Kiss," Faith Hill
• Album Of The Year -- Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks
• Top Male Vocalist -- Tim McGraw
• Top Female Vocalist -- Faith Hill
• Top Vocal Duo Or Group -- Dixie Chicks
• Top New Male Vocalist -- Mark Wills
• Top New Female Vocalist -- Jo Dee Messina
• Top New Vocal Duo Or Group -- Dixie Chicks
• Video Of The Year -- "This Kiss," Faith Hill (Director: Steven Goldmann)
• Vocal Event Of The Year -- "Just To Hear You Say That You Love Me," Faith Hill with Tim McGraw

Country Music Association

• Entertainer Of The Year -- Garth Brooks
• Song Of The Year -- "Holes in the Floor of Heaven," Steve Wariner and Billy Kirsch
• Single Of The Year -- "Holes in the Floor of Heaven," Steve Wariner
• Album Of The Year -- Everywhere, Tim McGraw
• Male Vocalist Of The Year -- George Strait
• Female Vocalist Of The Year -- Trisha Yearwood
• Vocal Duo Of The Year -- Brooks & Dunn
• Vocal Group Of The Year -- Dixie Chicks
• Horizon Award -- Dixie Chicks
• Music Video Of The Year -- "This Kiss," Faith Hill (Director: Steven Goldmann)
• Vocal Event Of The Year -- "You Don't Seem to Miss Me," Patty Loveless with George Jones
• Musician Of The Year -- Brett Mason

Further reading

• Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
• Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947-1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 (ISBN 0-8118-3572-3)
• Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-273244-7)
• Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition." 2005.

Other links

• Country Music Association
• Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame

External links

• Country Music Hall of Fame