Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits

Kenny Rogers Overview

Color Photo of Kenny Rogers
Color Photo of Kenny Rogers

This is a review of Kenny Rogers’s greatest hits as a singer in both the pop and country formats. He is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, entrepreneur and author. He has sold over 165 million records world-wide making him one of the highest selling artists of all-time. He is best known in the Gambler TV series movies playing the role of Brady Hawkes in the eighties and early nineties. His greatest success was with the country music format. However, he also was successful on the pop format too. He has charted 120 hit singles across various music genres, and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 weeks in the U.S. alone.

He was born Kenneth Ray “Kenny” Rogers on August 21, 1938 in Houston, Texas. He is the fourth of eight children born to Lucille Lois Hester who died in 1991 and Edward Floyd Rogers who died in 1975. Kenneth graduated from Jefferson Davis High School in Houston.

Early Career

His music career began in the mid-1950s when he recorded with a rockabilly group called “The Scholars”. Rogers was not the lead singer of the group and it disbanded when the leader went solo.

Kenny Rogers Lady Album Cover
Kenny Rogers Lady Album Cover

Now, on his own, Kenneth Rogers (as he was billed then) followed the breakup with his own single, a minor solo hit called “That Crazy Feeling” (1958), but the song did not chart nationally.  Rogers joined a jazz group called “The Bobby Doyle Trio”, who got a lot of work in clubs thanks to a reasonable fan following and also recorded for Columbia Records. The group disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, a song titled “Here’s That Rainy Day” and failed to chart. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers; including country artists Mickey Gilley and Eddy Arnold. In 1966 he joined The New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player.

Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams, and Thelma Camacho left the group. They formed “The First Edition” in 1967.

The First Edition scored with their first top ten pop hit a single called “Just Dropped In” at #5 in February, 1968. In 1969, they changed the name of the group to “Kenny Rogers & The First Edition”. In June of that year, the group had another top ten hit with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” #6 on the Hot 100 chart and #39 on the Country chart. The group had no further top ten hits on the pop chart and it disbanded in 1976.

Solo Career

When the First Edition disbanded in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. This will be divided into two sections; Hot 100 pop hits and his hits on the Country charts.

Hot 100 Pop

Coward Of The County #1 Single 45 Kenny Rogers Three Weeks
Coward Of The County #1 Single 45 Kenny Rogers Three Weeks

Kenny Rogers launched his solo career on the pop charts with a song called “Love Lifted Me” in March of 1976 peaking at #97. His next single went on to become his first solo top ten hit called “Lucille” in March of 1977, peaking at #5. His next top ten hit was called “She Believes In Me” in April, 1979, peaking at #5. Also, in 1979, he had his third top ten hit called “You Decorated My Life” in September at #7 and another top ten hit called “Coward Of The County” at #3. He followed that song with “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer” which peaked at #4, in June of 1980.

In October of 1980, Kenny Rogers had his first number one Hot 100 solo hit called “Lady” which topped the charts for six weeks. In June of 1981, he released “I Don’t Need You” which went to #3 and became his 7th top ten hit. Two years later he had another top ten hit with “We’ve Got Tonight” in January of 1983, peaked at #6. In August of 1983, he released “Islands in the Stream” a duet with Dolly Parton and became his 9th top ten and 2nd number one song of his career. This is his last number one song on the Hot 100 chart and top ten hit. Kenny Rogers last charted single on the Hot 100 is “I Can’t Unlove You” which peaked at #93 in June, 2006.

Country Charts

Kenny Roger’s first solo Country song is called “Love Lifted Me” at #19 in 1975. In January of 1977, his recording of “Lucille” became his first number one Country hit. It stayed on top of the charts for two weeks. His next song “Daytime Friends” also went to #1 for one week in 1977. His third top ten hit of the year was “Sweet Music Man” in October at #9.

The Gambler Movie Photo Kenny Rogers
The Gambler Movie Photo Kenny Rogers

He followed that song with five consecutive number one songs on the Country charts and they are: “Love Or Something Like It” for 1 week, and “The Gambler” for 3 weeks, in 1978. In 1979, his number one songs continued: “She Believes In Me” for 2 weeks, “You Decorated My Life” for two weeks, “Coward of the County” for three weeks. In 1980, he had two hits “Love The World Away” at #4 and “Lady” #1 for one week. In June, he released “I Don’t Need You” and went to #1 for 2 weeks. In July of 1982, he released “Love Will Turn You Around” and peaked at #1 for one week. In 1983, he released a song called “We’ve Got Tonight” a duet with Sheena Easton and went to #1 for one week. In 1984, he released “Crazy” and went to #1 for one week in 1985. Also, in 1985, he had another #1 hit with “Morning Desire” for one week. Kenny’s released a single called “Tomb Of The Unknown Love” in 1986, and was #1 for one week.

Kenny Rogers Lady Single 45 No.1 Song on Liberty Label
Kenny Rogers Lady Single 45 No.1 Song on Liberty Label

Other duets songs that went to #1 are: “Make No Mistake, She’s Mine” with Ronnie Milsap for one week in 1987, “Real Love” with Dolly Parton for one week in 1985, “Every Time Two Fools Collide” with Dottie West for 2 weeks in 1978, “All I Ever Need Is You” in 1979 for 1 week, and “What Are We Doin’ In Love” for one week in 1981.

His last charted number one Country single is “Buy Me A Rose” in 1999. His last charted Country single is “You Can’t Make Old Friends” with Dolly Parton and peaked at #57 in 2013.

All told, Kenny Rogers had a total of 2 #1’s, 11 Top 10, 21 Top 20, 28 Top 40 and 4 Top 10 Albums on the Hot 100 charts. Kenny Rogers is ranked as the #12 artist from 1980-1989 and the #43 artist of all-time from 1955-2010 on the Hot 100 chart.

He had 21 #1’s, 34 Top 10, 40 Top 20, and 54 Top 40 hits on the Country chart. Kenny is ranked as the #4 artist from 1980-1989, and the #30 artist of all-time from 1944-2012 on the Country chart.

Kenny Rogers had 8 #1’s, 28 Top 10, 35 Top 20, and 43 Top 40 hit songs on the Adult Contemporary chart. Kenny Rogers is ranked as the #4 artist of all-time from 1961-2001 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Number One and Top Ten Songs

Below are Kenny Roger’s number one and top ten hit songs on the Hot 100, Country, and Adult Contemporary charts in chronological order showing title, peak date, peak position, peak weeks (), with the number one song titles in bold.

Hot 100 Hits

  1. Just Dropped In – February 10, 1968 #5
  2. Ruby, Don’t Take Your Guns To Town –June 7, 1969 #6
  3. Lucille – March 26, 1976 #5
  4. She Believes In Me – April 28, 1979 #5
  5. You Decorated My Life – September 8, 1979 #7
  6. Coward Of The County – November 17, 1979 #3 (3)
  7. Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer – March 29, 1980 #4
  8. Lady – November 15, 1980 #1 (6)
  9. I Don’t Need You – June 13, 1981 #3 (2)
  10. We’ve Got Tonight – January 29, 1983 #6
  11. Islands In The Stream – October 29, 1983 #1 (2)

Country Hits

  1. Lucille – April 2, 1977 #1 (2)
  2. Daytime Friends – October 1, 1977 #1 (1)
  3. Sweet Music Man – October 22, 1977 #9
  4. Everytime Two Fools Collide – April 22, 1978 #1 (2)
  5. Love Or Something Like It – August 5, 1978 #1 (1)
  6. Anyone Who Isn’t me Tonight – September 2, 1978 #2 (1)
  7. The Gambler – December 16, 1978 #1 (3)
  8. All I Ever Need Is You – April 21, 1979 #1 (1)
  9. She Believes In Me – June 9, 1979 #1 (2)
  10.  Till I Can Make It On My Own – July 7, 1979 #3
  11.  You Decorated My Life – November 3, 1979 #1 (2)
  12.  Coward Of The County – January 5, 1980 #1 (3)
  13.  Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer – April 5, 1980 #5
  14.  Love The World Away – June 28, 1980 #4
  15.  Lady – November 22, 1980 #1 (1)
  16.  What Are We Doin’ In Love – June 13, 1981 #12 (1)
  17.  I Don’t Need You – August 15, 1981 #1 (2)
  18.  Share Your Love With Me – September 12, 1981 #5
  19.  Blaze of Glory – November 14, 1981 #9
  20.  Through The Years – January 30, 1982 #5
  21.  Love Will Turn You Around – September 4, 1982 #1 (1)
  22.  A Love Song – October 16, 1982 #3
  23.  We’ve Got Tonight – April 9, 1983 #1 (1)
  24.  Scarlet Fever – July 30, 1983 #5
  25.  Islands In The Stream – October 29, 1983 #1 (2)
  26.  Buried Treasure – January 14, 1984 #3
  27.  Crazy – March 30, 1985 #1 (1)
  28.  Real Love – August 24, 1985 #1 (1)
  29.  Morning Desire – January 11, 1986 #1 (1)
  30.  Tomb Of The Unknown Love – May 24, 1986 #1 (1)
  31.  Twenty Years Ago – December 27, 1986 #2 (2)
  32.  Make No Mistake, She’s Mine – September 12, 1987 #1 (1)
  33.  I Prefer The Moonlight – October 10, 1987 #2 (2)
An Older Color Photo of Kenny Rogers
An Older Color Photo of Kenny Rogers

Adult Contemporary Hits

  1. Ruby, Don’t Take Your Guns To Town – June 28, 1969 #6
  2. Tell It All Brother – August 1, 1970 #8
  3. Someone Who Cares – March 20, 1971 #8
  4. Lucille – April 23, 1977 #10
  5. The Gambler – October 28, 1978 #3
  6. She Believes In Me – May 26, 1979 #1 (2)
  7. You Decorated My Life – September 22, 1979 #2 (1)
  8. Coward Of The County – November 17, 1979 #5
  9. Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer – March 29, 1980 #2 (4)
  10.  Love The World Away – June 21, 1980 #8
  11.  Lady – November 15, 1980 #1 (4)
  12.  What Are We Doin’ In Love – April 11, 1981 #7
  13.  I Don’t Need You – July 11, 1981 #1 (6)
  14.  Share Your Love With Me – October 24, 1981 #1 (2)
  15.  Through The Years – March 6, 1982 #1 (2)
  16.  Love Will Turn You Around – September 25, 1982 #1 (2)
  17.  A Love Song – October 23, 1982 #10
  18.  We’ve Got Tonight – January 29, 1983 #1 (5)
  19.  All My Life – April 30, 1983 #1 (2)
  20.  Islands In The Stream – October 15, 1983 #1 (4)
  21.  This Woman – January 21, 1984 #2 (3)
  22.  Eyes That See In The Dark – April 21, 1984 #4
  23.  What About Me? – November 3, 1984 #1 (2)
  24.  Crazy – January 19, 1985 #5
  25.  Morning Desire – October 19, 1985 #8
  26.  They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To – October 11, 1986 #10
  27.  If I Knew Then What I Know Now – March 17, 1990 #10
  28.  Crazy In Love – November 17, 1990 #9
  29.  Buy Me A Rose – 1999 #1 (1)

Awards

Kenny Rogers was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. He was voted the favorite singer of all-time in a 1986 joint poll by readers of  both USA Today and People.

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