In 1967, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the easy listening market.
The song was also a crossover success, topping Billboard's pop music chart, the Hot 100, for four weeks.
Nancy Sinatra, Al Martino and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass were the only other acts with multiple chart-toppers during the year.
[3][4] It would be more than 30 years before another song would top the Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary listing but fail to register on the Hot 100 despite being eligible to do so.
[3] Russell's chart-topper came just two months after a recording of the same song by Wynn Stewart had reached number one on the Hot Country Singles chart.