Softly is a studio album by American country singer–songwriter Hank Locklin . It was released in December 1968 via RCA Victor Records and contained 11 tracks. The album was co-produced by Chet Atkins and Danny Davis . Softly was Locklin's nineteenth studio album released in his career and third to be released in 1968. It contained one single, " Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day ." The song became a charting single in 1969. The album itself would also reach a charting position following its original release.
20-409: Softly may refer to: Softly (Hank Locklin album) or the title track, 1968 Softly (Roseanna Vitro album) , 1993 Softly (Shirley Horn album) , 1988 Softly (The Sandpipers album) , 1968 Softly (Tatsuro Yamashita album) , 2022 "Softly" (Leah Dizon song) , 2007 "Softly" (Arlo Parks song) , 2022 "Softly", a song by Clairo from
40-439: A major advantage over songs popular only on country radio, and as an unintended consequence , such songs began having record-long runs at the top of the chart. The first song to benefit from this change was Taylor Swift 's " We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together ", which had been declining in popularity but shot up to number one on the chart the first week the change took effect and stayed there until it set an all-time record for
60-516: A song's overall popularity, counting them in one single chart called "Hot C&W Sides". The chart was published under the title Hot C&W Sides through the 27 October 1962, issue and "Hot Country Singles" thereafter, a title it would retain until 1990. On 20 January 1990, the Hot Country Singles chart was reduced from 100 to 75 positions and began to be compiled entirely from information provided by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ,
80-473: A system which electronically monitors radio airplay of songs. Four weeks later, on February 17, the chart was retitled "Hot Country Singles & Tracks". Beginning with the January 13, 2001, issue, the chart was reduced from 75 to 60 positions, and all songs on the chart at the time had their tally of weeks spent on the chart adjusted to count only weeks spent at No. 60 or higher. Effective April 30, 2005,
100-504: Is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. The current number-one song on the chart as of issue November 30 is " A Bar Song (Tipsy) " by Shaboozey . Billboard began compiling the popularity of country songs with its January 8, 1944, issue. Only
120-403: The 2019 album Immunity "Softly", a song by Gordon Lightfoot from the 1967 album The Way I Feel See also [ edit ] Softly, Softly (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Softly . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
140-590: The chart several times in 2004. The Hot Country Songs chart methodology was changed starting with the 20 October 2012, issue to match the Billboard Hot 100 : digital downloads and streaming data are combined with airplay from all radio formats to determine position. A new chart, the Country Airplay chart, was created using airplay exclusively from country radio stations. Following the change, songs that were receiving airplay on top-40 pop were given
160-442: The chart was renamed "Hot Country Songs". Starting in 1990, the rankings were determined by Arbitron -tallied listener audience for each spin that a song received. The methodology was changed for the first chart published in 1992 to tally the amount of spins a song received, but in January 2005, the methodology reverted to the audience format. This change was brought on because of " label-sponsored spin programs " that had manipulated
180-453: The country chart and which ones do not, only that "a few factors are determined (...) first and foremost is musical composition" and that a song must "embrace enough elements of today's country music" to qualify. The 1990–2012 chart did not have such ambiguity, being objectively measured by airplay from specifically identified country stations alone. A later statement from Billboard elaborated on what those "few factors" entailed: "most notably
200-511: The genre's most popular jukebox selections were tabulated, with the chart titled "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records". For approximately ten years, from 1948 to 1958, Billboard used three charts to measure the popularity of a given song. In addition to the jukebox chart, these charts included: The juke box chart was discontinued in June 1957. Starting with the 20 October 1958, issue, Billboard began combining sales and radio airplay in figuring
220-413: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Softly&oldid=1083249465 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Softly (Hank Locklin album) Hank Locklin had several years of limited commercial success during
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#1732786789591240-500: The launch in 1958 of what is now the Hot Country Songs listing), but none did so again until after the 2012 reformulation; between " Almost Persuaded 's" nine-week run in 1966 and the chart's reformulation in 2012, no song spent more than eight weeks atop the chart. Prolonged runs became commonplace again in 2012. As of November 30, 2024 , thirteen songs from this period have topped the chart for at least 16 weeks, and
260-697: The mid 1960s. In 1968 however, his single titled " The Country Hall of Fame ," reached the top ten of the American country charts. This brought a commercial resurgence to his career. His recent success prompted RCA Victor to release additional studio material of Locklin's, including Softly. The album was recorded in November 1968 at the RCA Victor Studio, located in Nashville, Tennessee . The sessions were co-produced by Chet Atkins and Danny Davis. It
280-499: The most weeks at No. 1 by a solo female. This was followed almost immediately by Florida Georgia Line 's " Cruise ", which had the longest stay at number one of any song in the country chart's history (24 weeks), until it was surpassed by Sam Hunt 's " Body Like a Back Road " in 2017 (34 weeks). The record was subsequently broken by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line's " Meant to Be " in 2018 (50 weeks). Billboard has not explicitly defined how it determines which songs qualify for
300-588: The seven longest chart runs have all been since 2012. Note: Songs marked † achieved the listed run on the Most Played in Juke Boxes chart (published 1944–58). Songs marked ‡ achieved the listed run on the Best Sellers on Stores chart (published 1948–58). Songs marked § achieved the listed run on the Most Played by Jockeys chart (published 1949–58). All these songs also had shorter runs at number one on
320-427: The song off subsequent charts, claiming it had made a mistake in including it. The song gained popularity through viral memes rather than radio, as only one country station, Radio Disney Country , had played it at the time of the charting. These are the songs with 16 or more weeks at number one. Fifteen songs accomplished this feat between 1946 and 1964 (including on the country charts published by Billboard prior to
340-433: The song's musical composition, but also how the song is marketed and promoted, the musical history of the artist, airplay the song receives and how the song is platformed on streaming services". The 2019 country rap record " Old Town Road " by Lil Nas X was a subject of controversy over this ambiguous standard after it initially appeared on the country chart, where it debuted and peaked at number 19, before Billboard took
360-420: Was Locklin's second studio effort to be co-produced by both men. Softly consisted of 11 tracks. Many of the record's tracks were new material. Also included was a cover of Merle Haggard 's " Today I Started Loving You Again ." " With One Exception " was originally a hit for country artist David Houston . The album's eventual lead single was also a cover of the hit, notably recorded by Bing Crosby . Softly
380-705: Was released in December 1968 via RCA Victor Records. The record marked Locklin's nineteenth studio album release in his career. It was originally distributed as a vinyl LP , containing six songs on "side A" and five songs on "side B." In the 2010s, it was re-released in a digital format for music downloads and streaming. Softly spent six weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and peaked at number 32 in March 1969. It would be Locklin's final album to chart any Billboard list. One single
400-815: Was spawned from the album: "Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day." It was released on RCA Victor in January 1969. The single spent ten weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and peaked at number 34 in March 1969. It was Locklin's final top 40 entry on the Billboard country songs chart. All credits are adapted from the liner notes of Softly. Musical and technical personnel Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs
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