There used to be a joke in country music. When someone would ask what kind of music you liked, you would say 'Both kinds. Country AND western.' It was funny but accurate. The format used to be called country & western because they were two different sounds. We then lumped them all together and just called it country.

Back in 1949, Billboard magazine decided it would come up with a new chart system that actually tracked a songs popularity by it's radio airplay. This hadn't been done before. They called this new chart 'Country & Western Records Most Played by Folk Disc Jockeys". Well that was a bit of a mouthful. The first record to ever be number one on this new chart?....Tennessee Ernie Ford and his version of 'Mule Train'.

We've come a long way but let's go back nearly 70 years and hear the first number one country & western record most played by folk disc jockeys.

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