1948 in country music

See also: 1947 in country music, 1948 in music, other events of 1948, 1949 in country music, 1940s in music and the List of years in Country Music

Events

• May 15 - Billboard magazine begins a sales-based Best Selling Folk Retail Records chart, the magazine's second chart to track the popularity of country songs. The new chart complements the existing Most Played Juke Box Folk Records chart, and begins a practice of multiple charts (and possible simultaneous No. 1 songs) that will continue for the next 10 years.

No dates

• Eddy Arnold dominates the Billboard magazine charts, scoring five No. 1 songs (six, if one counts Arnold's "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms," which had been No. 1 since November 1947). Only Jimmy Wakely's "One Has My Name (the Other Has My Heart)" breaks Arnold's streak. Four other songs by Arnold also make the country charts.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

(As certified by Billboard magazine)

• April 8 - "Anytime" - Eddy Arnold
• June 5 - "Boquet of Roses" - Eddy Arnold
• June 5 - "Texarkana Baby" - Eddy Arnold
• September 18 - "Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long, Long Way)" - Eddy Arnold
• November 13 - "One Has My Name (the Other Has My Heart)" - Jimmy Wakely
• December 25 - "A Heart Full of Love (For a Handful of Kisses)" - Eddy Arnold

Note: Starting May 15, a second chart - the Best Selling Folk Retail Records chart - begins tracking the popularity of country songs, in addition to the Most Played Juke Box Folk Records chart. This means that for the first time, there could be more than one No. 1 hit on a given date.

Tennessee Waltz Peewee King and Redd Stewart Sweeter Than The Flowers Moon Mullican Life Gets Teejus Don't It Carson Robinson Suspicion Tex Williams Never Trust A Woman Tex Williams Don't Telegraph (Tell A Woman) Tex Williams Humpty Dumpty Heart Hank Thompson Deck Of Cards T. Texas Tyler What A Fool I Was Eddy Arnold My Daddy Is Only A Picture Eddy Arnold Then I Turned And Walked Slowly Away Eddy Arnold Banjo Polka Tex Williams Signed Sealed AND Delivered Cowboy Copas Tennessee Moon Cowboy Copas Blue Shadows On The Trail Roy Rogers Seaman's Blues Ernest Tubb Forever Is Ending Today Ernest Tubb Rye Whiskey Tex Ritter Rock and Rye Rag Tex Ritter Buttons And Bows Gene Autry Honky Tonkin' Hank Williams Bubbles In My Beer Bob Wills Waltz Of The Wind Roy Acuff Who Me? Tex Williams I Love You So Much It Hurts Floyd Tillman Green Light Hank Thompson Chime Bells Elton Britt Cool Water Sons Of The Pioneers Peepin' Through The Keyhole Cliffie Stone I'm My Own Grandpa Lonzo and Oscar Molly Darling Eddy Arnold Doghouse Boogie Hawkshaw Hawkins Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello Ernest Tubb Have You Ever Been Lonely Ernest Tubb—

Deaths

• January 15 - Jack Guthrie, 32, folk-styled country singer best known for "Oklahoma Hills" (tuberculosis).
• September 15 - Vernon Dalhart, 55, pioneering influence of the 1920s.

Further reading

• 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.