Country Update

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE NOVEMBER 7, 2016 | PAGE 24 OF 24
CODA
REWINDING
THE
COUNTRY
CHARTS
54 Years Ago
Hank Snow Went
‘Everywhere,’
Including No. 1
In 1962, “I’ve Been Everywhere”
traveled to the top of the
Hot Country Songs chart
On Nov. 10, 1962, Hank Snow,
then 48, earned his first No. 1 on
Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart
with “I’ve Been Everywhere.” When
Australian Geoff Mack wrote
the now iconic song in 1959, he
had such Down Under towns as
Mooloolaba on the roll call. When
Snow, who was from Nova Scotia,
got a hold of the tune, he reworked
the musical map it contains to include
a host of U.S. and Canadian
cities.
Many artists have covered “I’ve
Been Everywhere,” with Johnny
Cash’s version earning a synch in
Choice Hotels ads in recent years.
Meanwhile, Rihanna worked the
song’s lyrics into her 2012 top five
Billboard Hot 100 hit “Where Have
You Been.”
While “Everywhere” marked
Snow’s first Hot Country Songs
No. 1, he tallied five, beginning with
“I’m Moving On” in 1950, on predecessor
charts. He scored a second
and final Hot Country Songs No. 1
with “Hello Love” in 1974.
Snow, aka “The Singing Ranger”
thanks to numerous cowboy songs,
is enshrined in both the U.S. and
Canadian Country Music Halls of
Fame. He died, at 85, on Dec. 20,
1999. —JIM ASKER
Hank Snow
circa 1970s
MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES