[5] In February, Welsh singer Tom Jones achieved his first country number one with "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow".
Previously associated mainly with the pop music field, albeit with some forays into country, Jones focused on the country music market when he returned to recording in the mid-1970s after concentrating in the early part of the decade on live stage shows in Las Vegas.
[6][7] Father-daughter duo The Kendalls also topped the chart for the first time in 1977, spending four weeks atop the listing with "Heaven's Just a Sin Away";[8] although they had entered the chart several times previously, none of their earlier hits had even reached the top 50.
[9] Tammy Wynette, one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers, topped the singles chart for the last time with "Near You", a duet with her former husband George Jones.
[11] Elvis Presley, the "king of rock 'n roll", topped the country chart with the last single released in his lifetime,[12] when "Way Down" moved up to number one in the issue of Billboard dated August 20, four days after his death.