Country Music’s Greatest One-Hit-Wonder

First things first: Jeannie C. Riley was not a one-hit-wonder. Not really.

Jeannie had over a dozen Top 40 Country music hits, including six that were Top Ten. So strictly speaking, she was not a one-hit-wonder. It wasn't as if she all of a sudden showed up on the national chart with a hit, then disappeared.

But if you asked Country Music fans of a certain age about classic country star Jeannie C. Riley, there is one song that immediately comes to mind. Heck, if you asked pop music fans of a certain age about Jeannie C. Riley, one song would immediately come to mind.

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That's because "Harper Valley PTA" was a massive worldwide number one hit on the country music charts and the pop/rock music charts. It's was one of those songs you couldn't get away from, and didn't want to.

The year was 1968. Country Music Hall of Famer Tom T. Hall wrote "Harper Valley PTA", a song that these days would be called "social commentary". Tom T. is famously known as country music's Storyteller, and this smash is a great example of why. The single quickly topped both the country and pop/rock music charts, a feat that would not be repeated again until Dolly Parton achieved the feat in 1981 with "9 To 5".

Becoming what some would call an overnight sensation, Jeannie won both a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and a Country Music Association Single Of The Year Award. The song even spawned a film and a TV series.

Wow. What a hit.

But again, with over a dozen Top 40 country chart singles and six Top Tens, Jeannie isn't strictly a one-hit-wonder. Maybe more properly she might be called a one-MASSIVE- hit-wonder.

Wikipedia Contributed To This Article