History ChartDisplacement / CountryMusic

* Music/JoshTurner: His debut song, "Long Black Train", and his gospel original, "Me and God", are among his most famous songs, and they have always been included in his three GreatestHitsAlbum, alongside his other no.1 singles. Neither made it to the Top 10 on the US Hot Country Songs (''Long Black Train'' peaked at no. 13, while ''Me and God'' peaked at no. 16).

* Josh Turner's "Long Black Train" remains one of his biggest hits despite only reaching #13. Also, "Time Is Love" was the top country song on the 2012 ''Billboard'' Year-End charts, [[TheRunnerUpTakesItAll despite only peaking at #2 on the airplay charts]].

* Music/ZacBrownBand is a weird example. On their native country format, they aren't even close to being a one-hit wonder. Nor are they a one-hit wonder on the Hot 100, as they've managed multiple Top 40 hits. On the rock charts? Their only success was "Heavy Is the Head", featuring Music/ChrisCornell. To rock audiences, it's the only song they can name despite the fact that it never charted on Hot 100. However, country audiences are mostly oblivious to "Head", due to it not being made for that format ("Homegrown" was the active country single and Hot 100 hit at the time). Ironically, "Head" is now considered the signature song for its parent album ''Jekyll + Hyde'' because of Cornell's feature, its inclusion on the ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE 2K16]]'' soundtrack, and for being a [[BlackSheepHit unique song for the band]].

** On the Hot 100, his two top ten hits were "Try That in a Small Town" (#1, whose success was primarily due to controversy that will be talked about in [[OvershadowedByControversy another page]] when the time comes), and "Dirt Road Anthem" (featuring Music/{{Ludacris}}, #7). However, some may be surprised that his next-highest Hot 100 peaks after those are "Take a Little Ride" and "Burnin' It Down", both of which got to #12 on the Hot 100 (and #1 on the country charts). This is because both were lead singles that got huge first-week spikes before tapering off.

* Rodney Atkins' highest ranking on the Hot 100 at #23 does not belong to either of his {{signature song}}s, "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" (#33) and "Watching You" (#36) (which were also the ''Billboard'' Year-End top country songs of 2006 and 2007 respectively, making him one of the only artists to get that honor two years in a row), but rather to the much lesser-known "Take a Back Road" in 2011, by which point his star had faded considerably. Meanwhile on the country charts, he's had three other #1 hits for a total of six -- and none of those six is fan favorite "Farmer's Daughter", which only got to #5, though the far lesser-known "It's America" from 2008 is one of them.

* Three of Music/{{Sugarland}}'s biggest hits -- their debut single "Baby Girl", along with "Stay" and "Stuck Like Glue" -- all only got to #2 on the charts, and all are certainly more famous than "Settlin'"[[note]]which, in a meta-example, managed to receive the ''exact'' same amount of airplay as the also-forgotten "Stand" by Rascal Flatts did that week; the #1 position went to Sugarland since their gain in airplay from the previous week was greater[[/note]], "Already Gone", or "It Happens". "Stuck" averts this on the Hot 100, where it has their highest placement at #17.

* Music/RascalFlatts' cover of Tom Cochrane's "Life Is a Highway" (from the soundtrack to ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'') only got to #18 on the country charts, but remains one of their most popular songs. It also has their second-highest Hot 100 ranking at #7, only one space lower than their SignatureSong "What Hurts the Most". Its low country peak is because, like Clint Black's version of "Desperado", it was never officially a single (at the time, "My Wish" was the current single on country radio), while the high Hot 100 placement was due almost entirely to downloads fueled by the movie. Also, their longest lasting #1 on the country charts is ''not'' "What Hurts the Most" (four weeks), but rather their cover of Marcus Hummon's "Bless the Broken Road" (five weeks), which is probably their third best known song but isn't ''quite'' as famous overall.

** On the Hot 100, his two top ten hits were "Try That in a Small Town" (#1, whose success we won't talk about here, [[OvershadowedByControversy that's another trope entirely]]), and "Dirt Road Anthem" (featuring Music/{{Ludacris}}, #7). However, some may be surprised that his next-highest Hot 100 peaks after those are "Take a Little Ride" and "Burnin' It Down", both of which got to #12 on the Hot 100 (and #1 on the country charts). This is because both were lead singles that got huge first-week spikes before tapering off.

** His highest-charting hit on the Hot 100 was 2023's "Try That in a Small Town" at #2. Given that it's too recent to tell if it will stand the test of time (and given that its peak was mostly due to controversy surrounding the lyrical content and the music video being interpreted as pro-lynching, a-la "[[Music/{{Staind}} Am I the Only One]]"), it's unlikely that it will unseat "Dirt Road Anthem" (#7) as his more famous Top 10 hit (which itself got a remix with Music/{{Ludacris}}). However, some may be surprised that his next-highest Hot 100 peaks after those are "Take a Little Ride" and "Burnin' It Down", both of which got to #12 on the Hot 100 (and #1 on the country charts). This is because both were lead singles that got huge first-week spikes before tapering off.

** His debut single "Hicktown" is still one of his most famous songs, despite only reaching #10. Also, "My Kinda Party" only got to #2 because the Music/KellyClarkson duet "Don't You Wanna Stay" started taking off prematurely, thus leeching airplay from "Party".
** On the Hot 100, this is overall averted, as the very popular "Dirt Road Anthem" is his highest showing at #7 (although this is mainly due to it being remixed with Music/{{Ludacris}}). However, some may be surprised that his second-highest Hot 100 peaks are "Take a Little Ride" and "Burnin' It Down", both of which got to #12 on the Hot 100 (and #1 on the country charts). This is because both were lead singles that got huge first-week spikes before tapering off.

* Billy Dean's most famous song is "Let Them Be Little", which only hit #8. Dean had ''nine'' songs fare better on the charts, including a trio of #3 hits ("Only Here for a Little While", "Somewhere in My Broken Heart", and "If There Hadn't Been You"), from his strongest hit-making period ranging from 1990-1996. By comparison, "Let Them Be Little" was released in mid-2004, long after his career had peaked. His cover of Dave Mason's "We Just Disagree" is also one of his more popular cuts despite only reaching #9. Finally, his only #1 (at least on ''Billboard'') is a featured credit on Music/KennyRogers' 2000 hit "Buy Me a Rose" (which also featured Music/{{Alison Krauss|And Union Station}})

* Bobby Helms had two #1 hits on the country charts, but "Jingle Bell Rock" only got to #13. However, it is his biggest Hot 100 hit at #6.
* Music/BradPaisley's "Whiskey Lullaby" (with Music/{{Alison Krauss|And Union Station}}) only got to #3, because it got caught behind the one-two punch of "[[Music/KennyChesney I Go Back]]" and "[[Music/TimMcGraw Live Like You Were Dying]]", both of which had exorbitantly high airplay for their peaks. It's also the only one of his four double-platinum certified singles not to reach #1. To say the least, it's certainly a better-known song than "The World" or "Anything Like Me", which, along with the Music/KeithUrban duet "Start a Band", are his only chart-toppers in the digital era not to be certified at all. Additionally, the Music/LLCoolJ duet "Accidental Racist" is one of his most famous songs (albeit [[OvershadowedByControversy not for good reasons]]) despite not even being a single.

* Music/TheChicks' "Goodbye Earl" doesn't rank among their six #1 hits on country (it only got to #13) and is only their fourth highest ranking on the Hot 100 (behind the #7 peaks of "Long Time Gone" and "[[Music/FleetwoodMac Landslide]]", and the #4 peak of "Not Ready to Make Nice"). Relatedly, both "Long Time Gone" and "Landslide" only got to #2 on the country charts.
* Chris Cagle's only #1 hit was not "Chicks Dig It" (his most-downloaded song; #5), "What Kinda Gone" (#3), "What a Beautiful Day" (#4), or "Miss Me Baby" (his most-viewed music video on Website/YouTube; #12), but rather the far lesser-known "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out", a bonus track from a reissue of his debut album. "Look at What I've Done" also outpaces most of his singles in terms of sales and online play despite having never been a single.
* Chris Janson's only #1s are "Good Vibes" and "Done", nowhere near as popular in the long run as his other top-ten hits "Buy Me a Boat" (his SignatureSong; #3), "Fix a Drink" (#2), or even "Drunk Girl" (#7). Even "Holdin' Her", which only got to #20, proved more popular in the long run.

* Music/ClintBlack has a huge catalog of Top 10 hits, including thirteen #1 hits, but his cover of Music/{{Eagles}}' "Desperado" only got to '''''#54'''''. This is because "Desperado" was from a multi-artist tribute album and was never sent out as a single, but remained popular after the fact. Conversely, "Nobody's Home" is tied with "Like the Rain" as his longest-lasting #1 at three weeks, and was the top country hit of 1990 on the ''Billboard'' Year-End charts, but it's far from his most popular song (much lower ranking on iTunes, lesser rotation on classics formats, far fewer appearances on concert setlists even in TheNineties).
* Music/CollinRaye had four #1 hits. Three of them were "Love, Me", "My Kind of Girl", and "I Can Still Feel You", all of which remain among his most known songs. The fourth was not "That's My Story" (#6), "Little Rock" (#2), "I Think About You", or "Little Red Rodeo" (both #3), but rather the forgettable ballad "In This Life".
* If you hear a Confederate Railroad song on the radio, there's a ''very'' good chance that it'll be "Trashy Women". However, that song only got to #10, and ''three'' singles of theirs fared better ("Queen of Memphis" at #2, "Jesus and Mama" at #4, and "Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind" at #9).
* Downplayed example with Corbin/Hanner. None of their singles ever hit the top 40, but "Work Song" (#55) is still played by many country stations on Monday mornings despite not being their highest-charting hit ("I Will Stand by You", #49). It was also their only song to get a music video.
* Music/CowboyTroy's highest chart entry was not his SignatureSong "I Play Chicken with the Train" (featuring Music/BigAndRich) (#48), but rather "Our America" (by four spots), a promotional Fourth of July release which had Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" interpolated with recitations from Troy.
* Craig Morgan's highest Hot 100 ranking is ''not'' "That's What I Love About Sunday" (#51), but rather its follow-up "Redneck Yacht Club" (#46). Averted on Hot Country Songs, where "Sunday" is his only #1 hit ("Redneck Yacht Club" topped the ''Radio & Records'' charts but only got to #2 on ''Billboard'').
* Daryle Singletary hit the Top 10 three times, with the #2 hits "I Let Her Lie" and "Amen Kind of Love", and the #4 "Too Much Fun". But if you hear him at all on the radio, it will almost certainly be the last of these.

* Deana Carter has three #1 hits. Obviously, one of those is her debut smash "Strawberry Wine", and another is its followup "We Danced Anyway". The third is "How Do I Get There", a ''far'' more obscure song than "Did I Shave My Legs for This?", which only got to #25.

* Music/FaithHill's highest-peaking entry on the Hot 100 was not "The Way You Love Me" (which only got to #6), "Cry" (which only made it to #33), "Let's Go to Vegas" (which didn't make the Hot 100 but made it to #22 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles extension chart) or "There You'll Be" (which only made it to #10), but rather "Breathe", which, despite only reaching #2, somehow managed to ''top the Hot 100 year-end list'' due to its longevity (more about that in the ''Billboard'' Year-End Charts folder on the main page). While "Breathe" is one of her many #1 hits on the country charts and is still a popular recurrent within the country radio format, its popularity with mainstream audiences isn't near the level of the aforementioned songs it outpeaked.

** His only Top 40 pop hit is "Lost in You" from the abortive ''Music/InTheLifeOfChrisGaines'' project. This is because Garth rarely issued physical singles, thus causing many of his songs during his peak period to be ineligible for the Hot 100. The highest he ever got on the Hot 100 as himself was the #46 peak of the long-forgotten "Wrapped Up in You" (which hit #5 country) in 2001, well after his career had peaked. (He had also gotten to #26 on Hot 100 Airplay with a cover of Music/{{KISS}}' "Hard Luck Woman", but this was quickly forgotten due to it being a one-off from a now obscure covers album.)

** "Finally Friday" was never a single (it was the B-side of "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair"), but it is a fairly popular song due to many country stations playing it during drive time on Fridays. This was first recorded by Earl Thomas Conley in 1988.
* Music/GeorgeStrait had a record-breaking 44 #1 hits on ''Billboard''[[note]]the oft-cited figure of 60 counts ''all'' U.S. country music publication charts, including ''Mediabase'' and the now-defunct ''Radio & Records'' and ''Gavin Report''[[/note]], but this massive total does ''not'' include a few of his cornerstone songs such as "Marina del Rey" (#6), "Amarillo by Morning" (#4), "The Cowboy Rides Away", "The Fireman" (both #5), "Murder on Music Row" (an Music/AlanJackson duet which was not even a single), "Cowboys Like Us" (#2), "Troubadour" (#7), or "I Got a Car" (which at #17, is by ''far'' the lowest-peaking of his singles to have been certified gold or higher). Also, among his #1 hits, the longest lasting at five weeks each are "Love Without End, Amen"... and "I've Come to Expect It from You" and "One Night at a Time", which remain nowhere near as popular in the long run as the likes of "You Look So Good in Love", "All My Ex's Live in Texas" (both one week), "I Cross My Heart" (two weeks), "Check Yes or No" (four weeks), "Give It Away", or "I Saw God Today" (both two weeks).

* Jamie O'Neal had two #1 hits in 2001 with "There Is No Arizona" and "When I Think About Angels", neither of which is ''quite'' as popular as "Somebody's Hero" which only got to #3 four years later.

* Jeff Carson had exactly one #1 hit out of his three visits to the Top 10 -- not his SignatureSong "The Car" (#3), but rather the far lesser-known "Not on Your Love".
* Zig-zagged with Jerry Reed. "East Bound and Down", his SignatureSong from ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'', only peaked at #2 on the country charts. It's certainly a more famous song than one of is #1 hits, "Lord, Mr. Ford" -- but his other two #1 hits, "When You're Hot, You're Hot" and "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)" -- are still well remembered. Also, "Amos Moses" was his highest placement on the Hot 100 at #8, but at country, it only got to #16.

* The only song for which most people remember Jo-El Sonnier is his cover of Music/RichardThompson's "Tear Stained Letter", which he took to #9 in 1988. Its peak is two spaces ''lower'' than the now-forgotten "No More One More Time".

** Music/WynonnaJudd's BreakupBreakout in 1992 netted her four #1 hits. Amazingly, three of those four were her first three solo releases ("She Is His Only Need", "No One Else on Earth", and "I Saw the Light", all from 1992), all of which are still well remembered. The fourth was not "A Bad Goodbye" (duet with Music/ClintBlack which reached #2) or "Tell Me Why" (#3), but rather the lesser-known "To Be Loved by You" in 1996, by which point her star power had already faded considerably.

* Music/KathyMattea had four #1 hits. While three of them are fairly well known (her SignatureSong "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", plus "Come from the Heart" [the [[BeamMeUpScotty actual origin]] of the phrase "dance like nobody's watching"], and "Burnin' Old Memories"), the fourth is ''not'' "Where've You Been" (#10), "Love at the Five and Dime" (#3), "Walking Away a Winner" (also #3), or "455 Rocket" (#21), but rather the far more obscure "Goin' Gone", which was the first of the four. It is for this reason that Mattea provides the page quote.

* Lauren Alaina's highest entry on the Hot 100 is not her BreakthroughHit "Road Less Traveled" (#67) nor her guest appearances on Music/KaneBrown's "What Ifs", (#26) HARDY's "ONE BEER" (which also features Devin Dawson; #33), or Dustin Lynch's "Thinking 'Bout You" (#30), but rather her debut single "Like My Mother Does", which got to #20 on the Hot 100 due to initial buzz following her coronation as the runner up on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' Season 10. Averted on Country Airplay, where "Road Less Traveled", "What Ifs", "ONE BEER", and "Thinking 'Bout You" all went to #1.
* Music/LeAnnRimes had exactly one #1 country airplay hit in her career. Surely it was her debut smash "Blue" right? (Nope, #10.) Her take on "How Do I Live"? (Didn't even hit the country top 40; Music/TrishaYearwood's version was the bigger hit there.) "Can't Fight the Moonlight" from ''Film/CoyoteUgly''? (Wasn't released to country.) The only time she topped the country charts was with her third release, "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)", one of her few singles that did ''not'' cross over and is thus more obscure now. This is averted on the Hot 100, where the #2 peak of "How Do I Live" is her best showing.

* Lila [=McCann=] had [[TwoHitWonder two Top 10 country hits]] with "I Wanna Fall in Love" in 1998 and "With You" a year later, but neither is even remotely as famous as her debut single "Down Came a Blackbird" which only got to #28.

* Little Texas had only #1 hit in their career. Surely it was one of their rocking up-tempo songs like "God Blessed Texas" (#4) or "Kick a Little" (#5), or even the well-known ballad "What Might Have Been" (#2), right? Nope, it was "My Love", a now-obscure midtempo ''and'' their only hit during their tenure with Creator/WarnerBrosRecords with [[StepUpToTheMicrophone keyboardist Brady Seals singing lead]] instead of usual lead singer Tim Rushlow.

* Despite being his {{Breakthrough Hit}}s, Music/LukeBryan's "Do I" and "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)" only got to #2 and #4 respectively. The latter is his most commercially successful single, having been certified sextuple-platinum by the RIAA.
* Music/MarenMorris has four #1 country hits. One of these is her late 2019-early 2020 hit "The Bones". The other three are "I Could Use a Love Song", "Girl", and her featured credit on Music/ThomasRhett's "Craving You", none of which had the staying power of her debut single "My Church" which only got to #9 but remains her best-selling song.

* Another artist with multiple chart hits, but only one #1, is Music/PamTillis. Surely that #1 hit was "Maybe It Was Memphis", which is by far her most famous song? Nope, that only got to #3 in 1991; the comparatively lesser-known "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)" was her lone chart-topper in 1995.

* Porter Wagoner had two #1 hits, neither of which was "Green Green Grass of Home" (#4) or "The Carroll County Accident" (#2).

* Music/RebaMcEntire has a massive catalog of hits, including 25 that hit #1, but many would be surprised to find that the total excludes several keystone songs such as "Only in My Mind" (one of only two singles that she ever wrote, it topped out at #5), her covers of Bobbie Gentry's "Fancy" (#8) and Vicki Lawrence's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" (#12), "She Thinks His Name Was John" (which stalled at #15 because many stations refused to play a song about a woman dying of AIDS), "I'm a Survivor" (later the RealSongThemeTune to her sitcom ''Series/{{Reba}}'', it peaked at #3), or her duet version of "[[Music/KellyClarkson Because of You]]" (#2). Also, her highest Hot 100 placement goes to the now largely obscure "What Do You Say" from 1999 (#31 on the Hot 100, #3 country). Finally, two of her biggest #1 hits came in the 21st century, by which point her musical output was more sporadic due to other commitments, and she was largely considered too old to be a consistent radio draw: "Consider Me Gone" (2009) is her longest-lasting #1 hit at four weeks thanks to the charts stagnating over the holiday season, and "Turn On the Radio" (2010) is her only gold single.

* Music/RestlessHeart averts this on the Hot Country Songs charts, as all six of their #1 hits are well-remembered. But on the Hot 100 and AC charts, it's a different story. Their highest Hot 100 ranking and second-highest AC ranking go to 1992's "When She Cries", their first release [[TheBandMinusTheFace after the departure of lead singer Larry Stewart]], and their only #1 on the AC charts was the also Stewart-less "Tell Me What You Dream" (featuring Canadian smooth jazz saxophonist Warren Hill) one year later. Neither song was well-remembered in the long run, at least not compared to "I'll Still Be Loving You" (their third-highest AC ranking and only other Top 40 on the Hot 100).
* Before he focused his efforts on songwriting, Rhett Akins had [[TwoHitWonder two top 10 hits]], one of which got all the way to #1. It was not the still frequently-played "That Ain't My Truck", but rather the much lesser known "Don't Get Me Started".
* Rodney Atkins' highest ranking on the Hot 100 at #23 does not belong to either of his {{signature song}}s, "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" (#33) and "Watching You" (#36) (which were also the ''Billboard'' Year-End top country songs of 2006 and 2007 respectively, making him one of the only artists to get that honor two years in a row), but rather to the much lesser-known "Take a Back Road" in 2011, by which point his star had faded considerably. Meanwhile on the country charts, he's had three other #1 hits for a total of six -- and one of those six is ''not'' fan favorite "Farmer's Daughter", which only got to #5, but rather the far lesser-known "It's America" from 2008.

* Sawyer Brown has three #1 hits, but none of them were "Drive Me Wild" (#6), "All These Years" (#3), "The Walk" (#2), or their covers of Music/GeorgeJones' "The Race Is On" (#5) and Dave Dudley's "Six Days on the Road" (#13) (curiously, the originals of both are also examples for the original artists). Their first #1 hit, "Step That Step", is largely ignored due to massive EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as most of their hits in TheEighties were bubblegum country-pop that generally did not stand up as well as their more substantial post-1990 material (with "The Walk" generally seen as the GrowingTheBeard moment).
* Music/ShaniaTwain has several instances on the country charts. Her longest-tenured #1 hit is "Love Gets Me Every Time", which spent five weeks at the top solely because it was the lead single to ''Come On Over''. It would have nowhere near the staying power of other big hits such as "Any Man of Mine" (spent two weeks at the top) or "You're Still the One" (one week). Several other iconic songs didn't even get to #1 at all, including "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" (#11), "From This Moment On" (#6), "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" (#4), and "That Don't Impress Me Much" (#8) -- all far more popular in the long run than quickly forgotten #1 hits such as "You Win My Love", "No One Needs to Know", or "Honey, I'm Home", none of which crossed over.
* [=SHeDAISY=] seems to be best known for their 1999 debut "Little Good-Byes" (#3), plus their comeback songs "Come Home Soon" (#14) and "Don't Worry 'bout a Thing" (#7) in 2004-05. However, none of these is their highest peak; instead, that honor goes to the lesser-known "I Will... But" in 2000.

* Music/SteveWariner's list of #1 hits does not include "Kansas City Lights" (#15), his cover of Bob Luman's "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" (#4), nor any of his solo singles from his brief CareerResurrection lasting from about 1998-2000: "Holes in the Floor of Heaven", "Two Teardrops" (both #2), or his re-recording of "I'm Already Taken" (#3, 60 spots higher than the original). By comparison, "You Can Dream of Me", "Life's Highway", and "Where Did I Go Wrong" ''did'' hit #1 but did not endure in the long run.

* Terri Clark's two #1 hits stateside are "Girls Lie Too" and "You're Easy on the Eyes", the latter of which is nowhere near as popular as the likes of "I Wanna Do It All" (#3), "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (#5), "Better Things to Do" (#3), "Now That I've Found You", or "I Just Wanna Be Mad" (both #2). What makes this all the more unusual is that "Girls Lie Too" itself only got to #1 because of chart manipulation, but it remains one of her most popular songs anyway.

** "Red Solo Cup" only got to #9 on the country charts but is his highest Hot 100 peak at #15.
* Music/TraceAdkins' most famous song by far is "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk", but it's not his highest-charting at country (he has four #1 country hits, and "Badonkadonk" only got to #2, having been blocked by "[[Music/CarrieUnderwood Jesus, Take the Wheel]]"). It isn't even his biggest hit on the Hot 100, where its #30 peak is eclipsed by the #12 peak of "You're Gonna Miss This" (which ''did'' get to #1 at country and was such a huge hit largely because Adkins was on ''[[Series/TheApprentice The Celebrity Apprentice]]'' at the time of its release). Other extremely popular songs of his that did not make the summit include his BreakthroughHit "Every Light in the House" (#3), "I'm Tryin'" (#6), "Hot Mama" (#5), "Rough & Ready" (#13; also his first gold single), "Songs About Me" (#2), "Arlington" (which got to #16 before he withdrew it over listener concerns that its lyrics about dead soldiers were reminiscent of current events), or "Just Fishin'" (#6).

* Music/TravisTritt had five #1 hits on the country charts, a total that includes the well-known ballads "Anymore", "Best of Intentions", and "Foolish Pride", plus the now obscure "Help Me Hold On", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", but omits far more notable songs such as "Put Some Drive in Your Country" (''#28''), "[[Music/ElvisPresley T-R-O-U-B-L-E]]" (#13), "[[Music/{{Eagles}} Take It Easy]]" (#21; the song came from the same covers album that provided Clint Black's rendition of "Desperado"), and a handful of #2's: "I'm Gonna Be Somebody", "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)", "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'" (a duet with frequent collaborator Marty Stuart, and Stuart's highest chart peak), and "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" (which is his most-downloaded song on iTunes). The displacement of "Put Some Drive In Your Country" is most obvious in the fact that it was on his GreatestHitsAlbum while the Top 5 hits "Nothing Short of Dying" and "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man" were not (although the latter may be due to it being a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover). His collaboration with Little Feat on "Bible Belt" is also a very popular cut despite not being released as a single, due to it appearing in ''Film/MyCousinVinny''.

* The Wilkinsons are an interesting case. Both in their native Canada and in the United States, they're known almost exclusively for their debut single "26 Cents". While it is their only Top 10 hit on the U.S. Hot Country Songs charts (#3) and a #1 on the ''RPM'' Country music charts in their homeland, it is ''not'' their highest hit on the Hot 100. Instead, it was outpeaked there by the largely forgotten follow-up "Fly (The Angel Song)", which ranked higher on the Hot 100 by two spaces (#53 to "26 Cents"'s #55).

* Music/ZacBrownBand is a weird example. On their native country format, they aren't even close to being a one-hit wonder. Nor are they a one-hit wonder on the Hot 100, as they've managed multiple Top 40 hits. On the rock charts? Their only success was "Heavy Is the Head", featuring Music/ChrisCornell. To rock audiences, it's the only song they can name despite the fact that it never charted on Hot 100. However, country audiences are mostly oblivious to "Head", due to it not being made for that format ("Homegrown" was the active country single and Hot 100 hit at the time). Ironically, "Head" is now considered the signature song for its parent album ''Jekyll + Hyde'' because of Cornell’s feature, its inclusion on the ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE 2K16]]'' soundtrack, and for being a [[BlackSheepHit unique song for the band]]. Meanwhile on the country charts, their longest-lasting #1 hit at four weeks is "Keep Me in Mind", which is nowhere near as famous as "Chicken Fried", "Toes", "Colder Weather" (all three spending two weeks), or "Knee Deep" (one week); it was one of many songs in the 21st century that held its position for so long due to the charts stagnating over the holiday season.

* Aaron Lewis; frontman of the NuMetal band Music/{{Staind}}, scored his largest solo hit on Billboard's country charts and the Hot 100 with "Am I the Only One" in 2021. However, given its highly conservative political bent, it's not considered his solo signature, that being "Country Boy", which was RIAA certified platinum[[note]]by comparison, "Am I the Only One" only went Gold[[/note]] despite only reaching #50 on the country charts. Prior to "Am I the Only One", his best-charting country hit was the much lesser known "Endless Summer"; and on the Hot 100, that honor went to a live version of Staind's "Outside" with [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]] during the [[Music/{{Korn}} 1999 Family Values Tour]].

* You'd think Music/{{Alabama}} would avert this, as all but ''two'' of their single releases in the entire decade of TheEighties hit #1[[note]]not counting their guest vocals on Music/LionelRichie's "Deep River Woman" or the Christmas release "Christmas in Dixie"[[/note]]. However, one of those two exceptions, "My Home's in Alabama" at the start of the decade, is still one of their most famous songs despite peaking at #17. Conversely, their longest-lasting #1 hit is 1990's "Jukebox in My Mind", which is seldom thought of as one of their cornerstone songs, due to it coming after they became much LighterAndSofter near the turn of the decade. (It was also their first #1 after the change to Nielsen [=SoundScan=].)

* Music/BillyCurrington's longest lasting #1 hits are "Good Directions" and "Do I Make You Wanna", the latter of which is nowhere near as well-known as "People Are Crazy" (his SignatureSong), "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right", or "Hey Girl".

** His highest peak was a featured spot on Music/LilNasX's "Old Town Road", which topped the Hot 100 for a record 19 weeks. While it’s certainly Nas’s signature and is probably the most famous song he’s ever appeared on, since it isn't ''his'' song, it doesn't replace "Achy Breaky Heart", which peaked at #4, as his signature. "Old Town Road" was notoriously yanked from the ''Billboard'' country charts after only one week, due to the publication determining that it was not a country song; if not for this, downloads and streaming likely would have sent it to #1 on Hot Country Songs (as opposed to only #19 on Hot Country Songs and #50 on Country Airplay).
* Blackhawk's most popular song, "Goodbye Says It All", only got to #11. Four of their songs fared better: the still popular "Every Once in a While" and "I'm Not Strong Enough to Say No" both got to #2, while the #3 "Like There Ain't No Yesterday" and #4 "There You Have It" are far lesser known relative to the #9 "I Sure Can Smell the Rain" and #7 "That's Just About Right" (quite possibly their second-most famous song). "There You Have It" goes double, as it is their only hit on the Hot 100 at #41 despite being one of their most obscure songs overall.

* Bobbie Gentry's highest country chart entry was not "Ode to Billie Joe" or "Fancy", but rather a cover of Music/TheEverlyBrothers' "All I Have to Do Is Dream" featuring Glen Campbell in 1970. However, "Billie Joe" averts this on the Hot 100, where it is her highest ranking at #1, and "Fancy" has been CoveredUp by Music/RebaMcEntire.
* Bobby Bare's only #1 hit was the Creator/ShelSilverstein-penned "Marie Laveau". While somewhat well known, it isn't quite as famous as "Detroit City" or "500 Miles Away from Home", which are also his highest hits on the Hot 100 (barring the bizarre case of "All American Boy", which was erroneously credited to Bill Parsons). It also came much later in his career than those songs.

* Music/BradPaisley's "Whiskey Lullaby" (with Music/{{Alison Krauss|And Union Station}}) only got to #3, because it got caught behind the one-two punch of "[[Music/KennyChesney I Go Back]]" and "[[Music/TimMcGraw Live Like You Were Dying]]", both of which had exorbitantly high airplay for their peaks. It's also the only one of his four double-platinum certified singles not to reach #1. To say the least, it's certainly a better-known song than "The World" or "Anything Like Me", which (along with the Music/KeithUrban duet "Start a Band") are his only chart-toppers in the digital era not to be certified at all. Additionally, the Music/LLCoolJ duet "Accidental Racist" is one of his most famous songs (albeit [[OvershadowedByControversy not for good reasons]]) despite not even being a single.
* Bryan White's most-downloaded song is "God Gave Me You", which spent a single week at ''#40'' in 1999 before falling from sight. This is because it [[ColbertBump surged in popularity]] after appearing on the Philippine TV show ''Eat Bulaga''. By comparison, White has had four #1 hits. While "Rebecca Lynn", "Someone Else's Star", and "So Much for Pretending" are still fairly well-known, the fourth is not "I'm Not Supposed to Love You Anymore" or his duet on Music/ShaniaTwain's "From This Moment On" (only the country version was a duet; all other formats got a Shania-only version), but rather the far more obscure "Sittin' on Go" from 1997.
* Music/CarrieUnderwood's ''Series/AmericanIdol'' coronation song "Inside Your Heaven" is her only #1 on the Hot 100 after it had a huge sales launch following her victory. Today, it's all but forgotten compared to the likes of "Before He Cheats" and "Jesus, Take the Wheel", which are among her many #1s on the country charts. And what is her second-highest Hot 100 peak? Surprisingly, not any of her famous singles, but rather her 2007 cover of The Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You", which was recorded live for an ''American Idol'' charity special called ''Idol Gives Back''. It got a one-week download spike taking it to #6 on the Hot 100 before it was [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes abruptly pulled from iTunes]].

* Chris Cagle's only #1 hit was not "Chicks Dig It" (his most-downloaded song), "What Kinda Gone", "What a Beautiful Day", or "Miss Me Baby" (his most-viewed music video on Website/YouTube), but rather the far lesser-known "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out", a bonus track from a reissue of his debut album. "Look at What I've Done" also outpaces most of his singles in terms of sales and online play despite having never been a single.
* Chris Janson's only #1s are "Good Vibes" and "Done", nowhere near as popular in the long run as his other top-ten hits "Buy Me a Boat" (his SignatureSong), "Fix a Drink", or even "Drunk Girl". Even "Holdin' Her", which only got to #20, proved more popular in the long run.
* Rodeo star and singer/songwriter Chris [=LeDoux=] has a large catalog of well-known songs, but many would be surprised to find out that "This Cowboy's Hat" didn't even crack the Top 60 (the original by Porter Wagoner in 1983 peaked at #35), or that "Five Dollar Fine" or "Bareback Jack" didn't even chart. Even "Cadillac Ranch", his biggest solo hit, only got to #18 (his highest charting hit overall being the #7-peaking Music/GarthBrooks duet "Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy").

* Music/ClayWalker had six #1 hits, and while none of them are particularly obscure, none of them were "Hypnotize the Moon", "Then What?", "The Chain of Love", or "Fall" (his most-downloaded song). He also has two songs that ranked in the Top 40 of the Hot 100: "The Chain of Love" at #40, and the now much more obscure "You're Beginning to Get to Me" one space higher.

* Music/CollinRaye had four #1 hits. Three of them were "Love, Me", "My Kind of Girl", and "I Can Still Feel You", all of which remain among his most known songs. The fourth was not "That's My Story", "Little Rock", "I Think About You", or "Little Red Rodeo", but rather the forgettable ballad "In This Life".

* Downplayed example with Corbin/Hanner. None of their singles ever hit the top 40, but "Work Song" is still played by many country stations on Monday mornings despite not being their highest-charting hit. It was also their only song to get a music video.
* Music/CowboyTroy's highest chart entry was not his SignatureSong "I Play Chicken with the Train" (featuring Music/BigAndRich), but rather "Our America", a promotional Fourth of July release which had Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" interpolated with recitations from Troy.
* Craig Morgan's highest Hot 100 ranking is ''not'' "That's What I Love About Sunday", but rather its followup "Redneck Yacht Club". Averted on Hot Country Songs, where "Sunday" is his only #1 hit ("Redneck Yacht Club" topped the ''Radio & Records'' charts but only got to #2 on ''Billboard'').

* Dave Dudley had only one song top the country music charts. Surely it was the iconic trucking anthem "Six Days on the Road", right? Nope, that only got to #2; his lone #1 was "The Pool Shark". "Six Days" was also his only hit on the Top 40 of the Hot 100.
* Music/DavidAllanCoe is best known for "The Ride" and "You Never Even Called Me by My Name", but neither is his biggest hit. Instead, that honor goes to the lesser-known "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile", which hit #2 but is never thought of one of his more memorable songs due to being a BlackSheepHit.
* David Lee Murphy's two #1 hits are his 1995 SignatureSong "Dust on the Bottle"... and "Everything's Gonna Be Alright", a 2018 single that took off entirely because friend and collaborator Music/KennyChesney persuaded Murphy to record again and provided duet vocals to assist in the song's success. In the long run, "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" remained just a one-off fluke for Murphy, lacking the impact of "Dust on the Bottle" or his other '90s hits such as "Out with a Bang", "Party Crowd", or "The Road You Leave Behind". The same holds true on the Hot 100, where his only entries at all are "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" and "Loco" (#5 country, #44 Hot 100), another fluke hit from 2004 that [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes quickly disappeared from public consciousness]] due to a label closure.
* Deana Carter has three #1 hits. Obviously, one of those is her debut smash "Strawberry Wine", and the other is its followup "We Danced Anyway". The third is "How Do I Get There", a ''far'' more obscure song than "Did I Shave My Legs for This?", which only got to #25.
* Debby Boone's only #1 hit on the country charts was not "You Light Up My Life", but rather the far more obscure "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". However, "Light" was her only #1 on the Hot 100.
* Deborah Allen's highest charted hit was not "Baby I Lied", but rather its follow-up "I've Been Wrong Before", which got to #2. "Baby" is probably better remembered because it was her only crossover.
* The Desert Rose Band had two #1 hits, neither of which was "One Step Forward", "She Don't Love Nobody", or "Hello Trouble". The honors instead go to the far more obscure "He's Back and I'm Blue" and "I Still Believe in You" (not to be confused with the Music/VinceGill song).

* While Music/DwightYoakam's two #1 hits "Streets of Bakersfield" (duet with Music/BuckOwens) and "I Sang Dixie" rank among his most famous, many would be surprised to find that some of his other famous songs such as "[[Music/JohnnyHorton Honky Tonk Man]]", "Guitars, Cadillacs", "[[Music/ElvisPresley Little Sister]]", "Ain't That Lonely Yet", or "Fast as You" did not reach the summit. His covers of "[[Music/ElvisPresley Suspicious Minds]]" (for the film ''Honeymoon in Vegas'') and "[[Music/QueenBand Crazy Little Thing Called Love]]" are also very popular despite only getting to #35 and #12 respectively; the latter is also his highest Hot 100 showing at #64.
* Emerson Drive had one #1 hit on the US country charts during their career. Surely, it was the smash hit "Fall Into Me", right? (Nope, #3). "Only God (Could Stop Me Loving You)"? (Only made it to #23). "I Should Be Sleeping"? (Charted behind the #3 peak of "Fall Into Me" at #4). The only time they ever topped the country charts was with the anti-suicide ballad "Moments", which is still well-known, but isn't quite as iconic as "Fall into Me" or the other songs it outpeaked. On the Hot 100, "Fall Into Me" was only their second-highest entry at #34, their highest was "I Should Be Sleeping" at #35. This is also true in their native Canada, where "Moments" is their highest country peak at #4 (partially because Canada did not have a country singles chart between late 2000 and early 2004, the timespan into which "Fall into Me", "Only God", and "I Should Be Sleeping" all happen to fall). Likewise, their highest peak on the Canadian pop charts is the now-obscure "She's My Kind of Crazy" from 2012.
* Music/FaithHill's highest-peaking entry on the Hot 100 was not "The Way You Love Me" (which only got to #6), "Cry" (which only made it to #33), "Let's Go to Vegas" (which didn't make the Hot 100 but made it to #22 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles extension chart) or "There You'll Be" (which only made it to #10), but rather "Breathe", which, despite only reaching #2, somehow managed to ''top the Hot 100 year-end list'' due to its longevity (more about that in the ''Billboard'' Year-End Charts folder on the main page). While "Breathe" is one of her many #1 hits on the country charts and is still a popular recurrent within the country radio format, it's popularity with mainstream audiences isn't near the level of the aforementioned songs it outpeaked.

** His only Top 40 pop hit is "Lost in You" from the abortive ''Music/InTheLifeOfChrisGaines'' project. This is because Garth rarely issued physical singles, thus causing many of his songs during his peak period to be ineligible for the Hot 100. The highest he ever got on the Hot 100 as himself was the #46 peak of the long-forgotten "Wrapped Up in You" (which hit #5 country) in 2001, well after his career had peaked. (He had also gotten to #26 on Hot 100 Airplay with a cover of Music/{{KISS}}' "Hard Luck Woman", but this was quickly forgotten due to it being a one-off from a now obscure covers album.
** Meanwhile on the country charts, he sent twenty songs to the top. The longest-lasting at four weeks each are the SignatureSong "Friends in Low Places"... and "What She's Doing Now", which remained considerably less popular in the long run. This song appears on ''none'' of his greatest-hits albums, and even 1990s set lists give it little to no presence.
** Also among his #1 hits are "Somewhere Other Than the Night" and "She's Every Woman", neither of which proved as popular in the long run as "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" (#9), "Rodeo" (#3), "We Shall Be Free" (#12), "Papa Loved Mama" (#3), and "Callin' Baton Rouge" (#2). It's telling that the former two are on none of his greatest-hits albums nor his otherwise career-spanning ''Double Live''. ("She's Every Woman" at least has the excuse of being a lead single that quickly got brushed aside.) Finally, two of his twenty #1 hits came long after his peak period -- "More Than a Memory" (the only song ever to ''debut'' at #1 on the country airplay charts) was in 2008, and "Ask Me How I Know" from fall 2017.

* Music/GeorgeStrait had a record-breaking 44 #1 hits on ''Billboard''[[note]]the oft-cited figure of 60 counts ''all'' U.S. country music publication charts, including ''Mediabase'' and the now-defunct ''Radio & Records'' and ''Gavin Report''[[/note]], but this massive total does ''not'' include a few of his cornerstone songs such as "Marina del Rey", "Amarillo by Morning", "The Cowboy Rides Away", "The Fireman", "Murder on Music Row" (a Music/AlanJackson duet which was not even a single), "Cowboys Like Us", "Troubadour", or "I Got a Car" (which at #17, is by ''far'' the lowest-peaking of his singles to have been certified gold or higher). Also, among his #1 hits, the longest lasting are "Love Without End, Amen"... and "I've Come to Expect It from You" and "One Night at a Time", which remain nowhere near as popular in the long run as the likes of "You Look So Good in Love", "All My Ex's Live in Texas", "I Cross My Heart", "Check Yes or No", "Give It Away", or "I Saw God Today".
* Glen Campbell: On the country charts, "Gentle on My Mind" only got to #30 (and an even worse #44 upon its rerelease), and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" only to #2. Both are far more famous than his first #1 on the country charts, "I Wanna Live", which never reached the same popularity as fellow chart-toppers "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "Rhinestone Cowboy", and "Southern Nights" (the latter two of which were also #1 on the Hot 100 ''and'' AC charts).
* Music/HankWilliamsJr has eleven #1 hits, none of which are "Family Tradition", "A Country Boy Can Survive", and "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight", or "There's a Tear in My Beer" (a PosthumousCollaboration with his father, Music/HankWilliams). They're certainly more famous than his first #1 hits, "Eleven Roses" and "All for the Love of Sunshine" (featuring the Mike Curb Congregation), which have long since been forgotten due to their massive EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.

* Music/HunterHayes has two #1 hits. One is obviously "Wanted", and the other is not "I Want Crazy", but rather the far less remembered "Somebody's Heartbreak". Averted on the Hot 100, where "Crazy" is a very close second behind "Wanted" (#19 and #16 respectively).

* Jason Michael Carroll garnered tons of buzz for his debut single "Alyssa Lies". While it is his highest chart entry on Hot Country Songs at #5, it's ''not'' his highest Hot 100 ranking; that instead went to follow-up "Livin' Our Love Song", which ranked one rung lower on Hot Country Songs. Also, "Love Song" is his only gold single and not "Alyssa".
* Jeff Carson had exactly one #1 hit out of his three visits to the Top 10 -- not his SignatureSong "The Car", but rather the far lesser-known "Not on Your Love".

* Music/JoDeeMessina's longest-lasting #1 hit and highest Hot 100 entry is "That's the Way" (four weeks at #1 on the country charts, #25 on the Hot 100). That song is nowhere ''near'' as famous as the likes of "Bye, Bye", "I'm Alright" (the pair of Phil Vassar-penned hits that [[BreakthroughHit sent her career into high gear]] in 1998 and still remain her most popular songs overall), "Bring On the Rain" (featuring Music/TimMcGraw), or "My Give a Damn's Busted" (CoveredUp Music/JoeDiffie). Also remaining far more popular in the long run are her 1996 debut "Heads Carolina, Tails California" and her 1999 cover of Dottie West's "Lesson in Leavin'", both of which only got to #2 (the latter spent ''seven'' weeks at the #2 position, all seven of them behind the year's biggest country music hit, "[[Music/{{Lonestar}} Amazed]]").

* John Conlee had seven #1 hits in his biggest hit making period ranging 1978-1989, but none of them were his SignatureSong "Rose Colored Glasses", which only hit #5. To a lesser extent, "Friday Night Blues", "Miss Emily's Picture", and "I Don't Remember Loving You" are pretty famous despite not hitting #1 either -- at the least, more famous than "In My Eyes", "As Long as I'm Rockin' with You", or "Got My Heart Set on You", which ''did'' hit #1.
* Music/JohnDenver has topped both the country and Hot 100 charts multiple times, but "Take Me Home, Country Roads" did neither -- it only got to #2 on the Hot 100 and '''#50''' on the country charts. "Rocky Mountain High" also got to #9 on the Hot 100, and didn't make the country charts at all, but it's still not unheard of to hear the song on a country station.

** Music/WynonnaJudd's BreakupBreakout in 1992 netted her four #1 hits. Amazingly, three of those four were her first three solo releases ("She Is His Only Need", "No One Else on Earth", and "I Saw the Light", all from 1992), all of which are still well remembered. The fourth was not "A Bad Goodbye" (duet with Music/ClintBlack) or "Tell Me Why", but rather the lesser-known "To Be Loved by You" in 1996, by which point her star power had already faded considerably.

* June Carter Cash, [[CreatorCouple longtime wife and collaborator of Johnny Cash]], cut several songs both independently and with her husband. Many of them hit the country charts, including two that went to #2, but only one hit the top 40 of the Hot 100. Surely that one Top 40 hit was "Jackson", right? Nope, it was a cover of "If I Were a Carpenter".

* Music/KeithUrban has had several #1 hits, but this total does not include "Stupid Boy" (#3), "Cop Car" (#8), or the Music/CarrieUnderwood duet "The Fighter" (#2). Also, "Better Life" is tied with "Somebody Like You" as his longest-lasting #1 airplay hit at six weeks, but the former is nowhere near as popular as the latter in terms of downloads, sales, or recurrent airplay. Meanwhile on the Hot 100, his highest peak is not one of his big pop/AC crossovers like "You'll Think of Me" or "Making Memories of Us", but rather the #16 peak of the much lesser-known "Kiss a Girl". This is because that song got a one-week sales spike due to Urban performing the song with Kris Allen on a season finale of ''Series/AmericanIdol'', and it otherwise lingered in the mid-50s.
* Music/KeithWhitley racked up five #1 hits and five more Top 10 hits in his career, with several of his songs being [[DiedDuringProduction posthumously released]] after his sudden 1989 death from alcohol poisoning. While four of those #1 hits remain beloved classics ("Don't Close Your Eyes", "When You Say Nothing at All" [later re-popularized by Music/AlisonKraussAndUnionStation and known overseas via its cover by Music/RonanKeating], "I'm No Stranger to the Rain", and "It Ain't Nothin'"), this leaves the question as to what the fifth of those #1 hits was. It was not "Miami, My Amy", "Ten Feet Away", "I'm Over You", or even the Earl Thomas Conley duet "Brotherly Love", but rather the far less popular "I Wonder Do You Think of Me", which was coincidentally his first posthumous release. (The B-side, "Brother Jukebox", was CoveredUp by Mark Chesnutt.)
* Music/KennyChesney zig-zags this in that his two longest-lasting #1 Hot Country Songs hits -- "The Good Stuff" and "There Goes My Life" -- are both among his most popular, while other popular cuts such as "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" (#11), "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" (#2), and "I Go Back" (#2) didn't reach the top. His cover of Mac [=McAnally's=] "Back Where I Come From" also remained a fixture of his set list for many years despite having never been a single ([=McAnally's=] original got to #14 on the country charts in 1990). The story is different on the Hot 100, where his highest peaks are "Out Last Night" and "The Boys of Fall" (#16 and #18 respectively), both of which were lead singles that quickly faded from public consciousness (with the latter also benefiting from a brief sales spike at the start of American high school football season).

* Lauren Alaina's highest entry on the Hot 100 is not her BreakthroughHit "Road Less Traveled" nor her guest appearances on Music/KaneBrown's "What Ifs", HARDY's "ONE BEER" (which also features Devin Dawson), or Dustin Lynch's "Thinking 'Bout You", but rather her debut single "Like My Mother Does", which got to #20 on the Hot 100 due to initial buzz following her coronation as the runner up on ''Series/AmericanIdol'' Season 10. Averted on Country Airplay, where "Road Less Traveled", "What Ifs", "ONE BEER", and "Thinking 'Bout You" all went to #1.

* Lee Greenwood had seven #1 singles on the country radio charts, none of which were "God Bless the U.S.A." On the Hot 100, this is averted, as it was Greenwood's only Top 40 hit there [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror seventeen years after release]].

* Little Texas had only #1 hit in their career. Surely it was one of their rocking up-tempos like "God Blessed Texas" or "Kick a Little", or even the well-known ballad "What Might Have Been", right? Nope, it was "My Love", a now-obscure midtempo ''and'' their only hit during their tenure with Creator/WarnerBrosRecords with [[StepUpToTheMicrophone keyboardist Brady Seals singing lead]] instead of usual lead singer Tim Rushlow.
* Music/LorrieMorgan had three #1 hits. Two of them are "Five Minutes" and "What Part of No", both of which remain well-known. The third was not "Something in Red", "Watch Me", or "Except for Monday", but rather the far lesser-known "I Didn't Know My Own Strength". Also, her only Hot 100 entries are "Go Away" and "Maybe Not Tonight" (a duet with Music/SammyKershaw), neither of which is particularly well known in comparison to any of her bigger hits.

* This trope is all over the place with Music/MirandaLambert on the country charts. "Kerosene" only got to #15, "Gunpowder & Lead" to #7, "Automatic" to #3, and "White Liar" and "Mama's Broken Heart" to #2[[note]]although the latter three all got pushed to #1 on ''Mediabase''[[/note]]. Conversely, "Heart Like Mine" does not rank among her most famous songs despite hitting #1. This is also true on the Hot 100, as the Music/CarrieUnderwood duet "Somethin' Bad" got to #19 thanks to a download spike from the combined name recognition, but it ultimately failed to leave an impact comparable to, say, "Mama's Broken Heart" or her biggest hit overall, "The House That Built Me".
* Music/MontgomeryGentry topped the country charts five times, but none of those five were "Hillbilly Shoes", "She Couldn't Change Me", "My Town", "Speed", "Gone", or "Where I Come From", all of which are far more famous than "Back When I Knew It All" or "Roll with Me", which ''did'' top the charts. "Gone" and "Where I Come From" also happen to be their only gold-certified singles.
* Music/NealMcCoy has had two #1 hits. One was obviously "Wink", and what was the other? Was it "The Shake", "They're Playin' Our Song", or his 2005 comeback "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On"? Nope, it was "Wink"'s predecessor "No Doubt About It", which also happened to be his first major chart hit (everything prior had gotten no higher than #26). "No Doubt" and "Beer Goggles" are also his highest Hot 100 rankings at #75 each.
* Nitty Gritty Dirt Band avert this overall, as their three #1 hits on the country charts, especially "Fishin' in the Dark", are all well-known. However, other iconic songs such as "Stand a Little Rain", "High Horse", "Workin' Man (Nowhere to Go)", and "Dance Little Jean" do not share those honors. But "Mr. Bojangles" did not hit the country charts at all, and "An American Dream" only got to #58; despite this, both were smashes on the Hot 100 (at #9 and #13 respectively).

* Phil Vassar had two #1 hits, neither of which was "Love Is a Beautiful Thing" (CoveredUp Paul Brandt), which only got to #2. The chart-topping honors go instead to "Just Another Day in Paradise" (probably his second-most popular song) and "In a Real Love", the latter of which is nowhere near as popular as "Six-Pack Summer", "Last Day of My Life"[[note]]which ''did'' hit #1 on ''Mediabase''[[/note]], or even "I'll Take That as a Yes (The Hot Tub Song)" (which only got to ''#17'').

* Music/RascalFlatts' cover of Tom Cochrane's "Life Is a Highway" (from the soundtrack to ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'') only got to #18 on the country charts, but remains one of their most popular songs. It also has their second-highest Hot 100 ranking at #7, only one space lower than their SignatureSong "What Hurts the Most". Its low country peak is because, like Clint Black's version of "Desperado", it was never officially a single (at the time, "My Wish" was the current single on country radio), while the high Hot 100 placement was due almost entirely to downloads fueled by the movie. Also their longest lasting #1 on the country charts is ''not'' "What Hurts the Most" (four weeks), but rather their cover of Marcus Hummon's "Bless the Broken Road" (five weeks), which is probably their third best known song but isn't ''quite'' as famous overall.
** Conversely, their debut single "Prayin' for Daylight" only got to #3, which is far more popular than many of their #1 hits such as "Here Comes Goodbye" and "Take Me There". Those two go double, as they are also the band's third- and fourth-highest ranking hits on the Hot 100, and "Take Me There" is tied with "What Hurts the Most" as their second longest-reigning #1 hit on the country charts. However, "Take Me There" and "Here Comes Goodbye" were both lead singles that got massive early interest before petering out.
* Music/RebaMcEntire has a massive catalog of hits, including 25 that hit #1, but many would be surprised to find that the total excludes several keystone songs such as "Only in My Mind" (one of only two singles that she ever wrote, it topped out at #5), her covers of Bobbie Gentry's "Fancy" (#8) and Vicki Lawrence's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" (#12), "She Thinks His Name Was John" (which stalled at #15 because many stations refused to play a song about a woman dying of AIDS), "I'm a Survivor" (later the RealSongThemeTune to her sitcom ''Series/{{Reba}}'', it peaked at #3), or her duet version of "[[Music/KellyClarkson Because of You]]" (#2). Also, her highest Hot 100 placement goes to the now largely obscure "What Do You Say" from 1999 (#31 on the Hot 100, #3 country). Finally, two of her biggest #1 hits came in the 21st century, by which point her musical output was more sporadic due to other commitments, and she was largely considered too old to be a consistent radio draw: "Consider Me Gone" (2009) is her longest-lasting #1 hit at four weeks thanks to the charts stagnting over the holiday season, and "Turn On the Radio" (2010) is her only gold single.

* Music/RestlessHeart averts this on the Hot Country Songs charts, as all six of their #1 hits are well-remembered. But on the Hot 100 and AC charts, it's a different story. Their highest Hot 100 ranking and second-highest AC ranking go to 1992's "When She Cries", their first release [[TheBandMinusTheFace after the departure of lead singer Larry Stewart]], and their only #1 on the AC charts was the also-Stewart-less "Tell Me What You Dream" (featuring Canadian smooth jazz saxophonist Warren Hill) one year later. Neither song was well-remembered in the long run, at least not compared to "I'll Still Be Loving You" (their third-highest AC ranking and only other Top 40 on the Hot 100).

* Rodney Atkins' highest ranking on the Hot 100 does not belong to his {{signature song}}s "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" and "Watching You" (which were also the ''Billboard'' Year-End top country songs of 2006 and 2007 respectively, making him one of the only artists to get that honor two years in a row), but rather to the much lesser-known "Take a Back Road" in 2011, by which point his star had faded considerably. Meanwhile on the country charts, he's had four other #1 hits for a total of six -- and one of those six is ''not'' fan favorite "Farmer's Daughter", but rather the far lesser-known "It's America" from 2008.
* Roger Miller only had two #1 hits in his career. "King of the Road" is obviously his most famous song, and "Dang Me" to a lesser extent, but many would be surprised to find that other keystone songs such as "Chug-a-Lug", "England Swings", "Husbands and Wives" (CoveredUp by Music/BrooksAndDunn, whose version outpeaked Miller's on the country charts), "Old Toy Trains", and "Whistle Stop" didn't chart as well -- in fact, "Whistle Stop" only got to ''#86'' on the country charts[[note]]to put this in perspective, the chart was shrunk to 75 positions in 1990, and 60 in 2001[[/note]], but remains popular due to its appearance in ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' (and much later, for being SampledUp in the viral "Hampsterdance"). "Old Toy Trains" is at least justified in that it was a Christmas single.
* Music/RonnieMilsap's "Stranger in My House" does not rank among his many #1 hits, despite being among his most popular. It ended up stalling out at #5, because some stations objected to its hard-rock guitar solo, and either cut it out of the song or refused to play it entirely. "Prisoner of the Highway" is also a popular cut despite only reaching #6 and being [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] for several years. Also, his longest-tenured #1s are "It Was Almost Like a Song", "Only One Love in My Life", and "My Heart". While the former is still well-known, the latter two aren't naerly as popular as "Smoky Mountain Rain", "Any Day Now" (both of which also topped the AC charts), "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me" (also his highest Hot 100 ranking at #5), "Pure Love", or "What a Difference You've Made in My Life".
* Roy Clark's only #1 hit was not "Thank God and Greyhound", but rather the far more obscure "Come Live with Me".

* Sawyer Brown has three #1 hits, but none of them were “Drive Me Wild”, "All These Years", "The Walk", or their covers of Music/GeorgeJones' "The Race Is On" and Dave Dudley's "Six Days on the Road" (curiously, the originals of both are also examples for the original artists). Their first #1 hit, "Step That Step", is largely ignored due to massive EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as most of their hits in TheEighties were bubblegum country-pop that generally did not stand up as well as their more substantial post-1990 material (with "The Walk" generally seen as the GrowingTheBeard moment).
* Music/ShaniaTwain has several instances on the country charts. Her longest-tenured #1 hit is "Love Gets Me Every Time", which spent five weeks at the top solely because it was the lead single to ''Come On Over''. It would have nowhere near the staying power of other big hits such as "Any Man of Mine" or "You're Still the One". Several other iconic songs didn't even get to #1 at all, including "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?", "From This Moment On", "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", and "That Don't Impress Me Much" -- all far more popular in the long run than quickly forgotten #1 hits such as "You Win My Love", "No One Needs to Know", or "Honey, I'm Home", none of which crossed over.
* [=SHeDAISY=] seems to be best known for their 1999 debut "Little Good-Byes", plus their comeback songs "Come Home Soon" and "Don't Worry 'bout a Thing" in 2004-05. However, none of these is their highest peak; instead, that honor goes to the lesser-known "I Will... But" in 2000.
* Southern Pacific's most famous songs are "Any Way the Wind Blows", "Reno Bound", or their cover of Peter and Gordon's "I Go to Pieces", all of which peaked lower than the lesser-known #2 "New Shade of Blue" from 1988. In fact, the "I Go to Pieces" cover only got to ''#31''. This is likely because the latter was recorded ACappella, making it extremely polarizing to radio yet all the more memorable for it (the band had sung the song ''a cappella'' in concert for years prior to doing a studio version).
* Music/TheStatlerBrothers had four #1 hits, but none of them were "Flowers on the Wall", "Bed of Rose's" (TropeNamer for ThisBedOfRoses), "Do You Remember These", "The Class of '57", "I'll Go to My Grave Loving You", "The Official Historian on Shirley Jean Berrell", "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott", their cover of Ricky Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou", or "More Than a Name on a Wall". In addition, three of their four #1 hits -- "Elizabeth", "My Only Love", and "Too Much on My Heart" -- came in TheEighties, a period of LaterInstallmentWeirdness that saw Jimmy Fortune replace Lew [=DeWitt=] on tenor vocals and occasional songwriting duty. Their only #1 hit with [=DeWitt=], "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine", is still somewhat remembered, but not to the extent of the above-mentioned songs. "Flowers" averts this on the Hot 100, where it is their only top 40 hit at #4.

* Music/SteveWariner's list of #1 hits does not include "Kansas City Lights" (#15), his cover of Bob Luman's "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" (#4), nor any of his solo singles from his brief CareerResurrection lasting from about 1998-2000: "Holes in the Floor of Heaven", "Two Teardrops", or "I'm Already Taken". By comparison, "You Can Dream of Me", "Life's Highway", and "Where Did I Go Wrong" ''did'' hit #1 but did not endure in the long run.

* Music/TanyaTucker's breakthrough hit "Delta Dawn" remains one of her most iconic songs despite only reaching #6. "Texas (When I Die)" and "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" are also among her most downloaded songs, with respective peaks of #5 and #2. Also, her only Top 40 pop hit was "Lizzie and the Rainman", which is nowhere near as popular as the likes of "Delta Dawn", "What's Your Mama's Name", or any of her popular country releases from her 1986-94 comeback period (none of which crossed over at all).
* Terri Clark's two #1 hits stateside are "Girls Lie Too" and "You're Easy on the Eyes", the latter of which is nowhere near as popular as the likes of "I Wanna Do It All", "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", "Better Things to Do", "Now That I've Found You", or "I Just Wanna Be Mad". What makes this all the more unusual is that "Girls Lie Too" itself only got to #1 because of chart manipulation, but it remains one of her most popular songs anyway.

** "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action", "Wish I Didn't Know Now", and "Stays in Mexico" are among his more popular songs despite none of them reaching #1 -- at the least, certainly more popular than "Me Too", "Love Me If You Can", or "She Never Cried in Front of Me".

* Music/TraceAdkins' most famous song by far is "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk", but it's not his highest-charting at country (he has four #1 country hits, and "Badonkadonk" only got to #2, having been blocked by "[[Music/CarrieUnderwood Jesus, Take the Wheel]]"). It isn't even his biggest hit on the Hot 100, where its #30 peak is eclipsed by the #12 peak of "You're Gonna Miss This" (which ''did'' get to #1 at country and was such a huge hit largely because Adkins was on ''[[Series/TheApprentice The Celebrity Apprentice]]'' at the time of its release). Other extremely popular songs of his that did not make the summit include his BreakthroughHit "Every Light in the House" (#3), "I'm Tryin'" (#6), "Hot Mama" (#5), "Rough & Ready" (#13; also his first gold single), "Songs About Me" (#2), "Arlington" (which got to #16 before he withdrew it over listener concerns that its lyrics about dead soldiers were reminscent of current events), or "Just Fishin'" (#6).
* Music/TracyByrd had two #1 hits, none of which are "Watermelon Crawl", "The Keeper of the Stars", or "I'm from the Country". Instead, the honor goes to "Holdin' Heaven" (1993) and "Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo" (2001; also his only top 40 on the Hot 100). "Drinkin' Bone" is also one of his most popular recurrents despite only reaching #7, due in part to its extremely short play-length of 2:12.

* Trick Pony's only Top 10 hit was not "Pour Me", but rather the somewhat less-remembered "On a Night Like This".

* Music/TyHerndon has had three #1 hits, of which only one reached the Top 40 of the Hot 100. It was ''not'' his 1995 breakthrough debut smash "What Mattered Most", but rather the less-remembered "It Must Be Love" (featuring an {{uncredited|role}} guest vocal from Sons of the Desert) in 1998.

* Music/VinceGill may be the most extreme example of this. His most famous song by a long shot is the #14 "Go Rest High on That Mountain" -- which he outpeaked a staggering '''''THIRTY-TWO''''' times (twenty-eight solo entries and four featured singles, one of which was the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover "Forever Country" credited to "Artists of Then, Now, and Forever"). And while none of his #1 hits is obscure (four solo, three as a guest artist, again counting "Forever Country"), many other famous songs such as "When I Call Your Name", "Whenever You Come Around", and "Look at Us" are not among them. He also plays this straight on the Hot 100, where his only solo entries are "Tryin' to Get Over You", "Whenever You Come Around", "If You Ever Have Forever in Mind", and "Feels Like Love", but it's the latter two which hold the highest rankings of #60 and #52 despite being far more obscure songs. His only Top 40 entries on the Hot 100 are featured credits: an appearance on [[CreatorCouple longtime wife]] Amy Grant's "House of Love" (an AmbiguouslyChristian pop song that failed to leave much of an impact overall) and "Forever Country".

* Music/WillieNelson had two #5 songs on the Hot 100, but neither was “On the Road Again”. They were “Always on My Mind” and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” (the latter a duet with Julio Iglesias).
* Music/ZacBrownBand is a weird example. On their native country format, they aren't even close to being a one-hit wonder. Nor are they a one-hit wonder on the Hot 100, as they've managed multiple Top 40 hits. On the rock charts? Their only success was "Heavy Is the Head", featuring Music/ChrisCornell. To rock audiences, it's the only song they can name despite the fact that it never charted on Hot 100. However, country audiences are mostly oblivious to "Head", due to it not being made for that format ("Homegrown" was the active country single and Hot 100 hit at the time). Ironically, "Head" is now considered the signature song for its parent album ''Jekyll + Hyde'' because of Cornell’s feature, its inclusion on the ''[[VideoGame/WWEVideoGames WWE 2K16]]'' soundtrack, and for being a [[BlackSheepHit unique song for the band]]. Meanwhile on the country charts, their biggest #1 hit is "Keep Me in Mind", which is nowhere near as famous as "Chicken Fried", "Toes", "Colder Weather", or "Knee Deep"; it was one of many songs in the 21st century that held its position for so long due to the charts stagnating over the holiday season.

* Music/BradPaisley's "Whiskey Lullaby" (with Music/{{Alison Krauss|And Union Station}}) only got to #3, because it got caught behind the one-two punch of "[[Music/KennyChesney I Go Back]]" and "[[Music/TimMcGraw Live Like You Were Dying]]", both of which had exorbitantly high airplay for their peaks. It's also the only one of his four double-platinum certified singles not to reach #1. To say the least, it's certainly a better known song than "The World", "Anything Like Me", or "Perfect Storm", which (along with the Music/KeithUrban duet "Start a Band") are his only chart-toppers in the digital era not to be certified at all. Additionally, the Music/LLCoolJ duet "Accidental Racist" is one of his most famous songs (albeit [[OvershadowedByControversy not for good reasons]]) despite not even being a single.

* Music/TheChicks' "Goodbye Earl" doesn't rank among their six #1 hits on country (it only got to #13), and is only their fourth highest ranking on the Hot 100 (behind the #7 peaks of "Long Time Gone" and "[[Music/FleetwoodMac Landslide]]", and the #4 peak of "Not Ready to Make Nice"). Relatedly, both "Long Time Gone" and "Landslide" only got to #2 on the country charts.

* Deborah Allen's highest charted hit was not "Baby I Lied", but rather its followup "I've Been Wrong Before", which got to #2. "Baby" is probably better remembered because it was her only crossover.

** "Red Solo Cup" only got to #9 on the country charts, but is his highest Hot 100 peak at #15.
* Music/TraceAdkins' most famous song by far is "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk", but it's not his highest-charting at country (he has four #1 country hits, and "Badonkadonk" only got to #2, having been blocked by "[[Music/CarrieUnderwood Jesus, Take the Wheel]]"). It isn't even his biggest hit on the Hot 100, where its #30 peak is eclipsed by the #12 peak of "You're Gonna Miss This" (which ''did'' get to #1 at country, and was such a huge hit largely because Adkins was on ''[[Series/TheApprentice The Celebrity Apprentice]]'' at the time of its release). Other extremely popular songs of his that did not make the summit include his BreakthroughHit "Every Light in the House" (#3), "I'm Tryin'" (#6), "Hot Mama" (#5), "Rough & Ready" (#13; also his first gold single), "Songs About Me" (#2), "Arlington" (which got to #16 before he withdrew it over listener concerns that its lyrics about dead soldiers were reminscent of current events), or "Just Fishin'" (#6).

* Music/TravisTritt had five #1 hits on the country charts, a total that includes the well known ballads "Anymore", "Best of Intentions", and "Foolish Pride", plus the now obscure "Help Me Hold On", "Can I Trust You with My Heart", but omits far more notable songs such as "Put Some Drive in Your Country" (''#28''), "[[Music/ElvisPresley T-R-O-U-B-L-E]]" (#13), "[[Music/{{Eagles}} Take It Easy]]" (#21; the song came from the same covers album that provided Clint Black's rendition of "Desperado"), and a handful of #2's: "I'm Gonna Be Somebody", "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)", "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'" (a duet with frequent collaborator Marty Stuart, and Stuart's highest chart peak), and "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" (which is his most-downloaded song on iTunes). The displacement of "Put Some Drive In Your Country" is most obvious in the fact that it was on his GreatestHitsAlbum while the Top 5 hits "Nothing Short of Dying" and "Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man" were not (although the latter may be due to it being a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover). His collaboration with Little Feat on "Bible Belt" is also a very popular cut despite not being released as a single, due to it appearing in ''Film/MyCousinVinny''.

* The Wilkinsons are an interesting case. Both in their native Canada and in the United States, they're known almost exclusively for their debut single "26 Cents". While it is their only Top 10 hit on the U.S. Hot Country Songs charts (#3) and a #1 on the ''RPM'' Country music charts in their homeland, it is ''not'' their highest hit on the Hot 100. Instead, it was outpeaked there by the largely forgotten followup "Fly (The Angel Song)", which ranked higher on the Hot 100 by two spaces (#53 to "26 Cents"'s #55).

* Aaron Lewis; frontman of the NuMetal band Music/{{Staind}}, scored his largest solo hit on Billboard's country charts and the Hot 100 with "Am I the Only One" in 2021. Given its highly conservative political bent, it's not considered his solo signature, that being "Country Boy", which was RIAA certified platinum[[note]]by comparison, "Am I the Only One" only went Gold[[/note]] despite only reaching #50 on the country charts; by comparison, his previous best-charting country hit was the lesser known "Endless Summer"; and on the Hot 100, that honor went to a live version of Staind's "Outside" with [[Music/LimpBizkit Fred Durst]] during the [[Music/{{Korn}} 1999 Family Values Tour]].