Music

Willie Nelson Achieves Six Decades of Hot Country Songs Hits, Matching Dolly Parton

Willie Nelson now has charting hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs in every decade since the 1960s, a milestone Dolly Parton also reached. His latest hit, "Uncertain, TX" with Kacey Musgraves, extends a chart history that began in 1962.

Billboard·May 12, 2026·via Billboard

Willie Nelson Achieves Six Decades of Hot Country Songs Hits, Matching Dolly Parton

Willie Nelson joins Dolly Parton as the only artists to appear on Billboard ’s Hot Country Songs chart in each of the last seven decades, as the iconic performer is featured on Kacey Musgraves ’ “Uncertain, TX.” The track opens at No. 50 on the May 16-dated ranking with 2.4 million official U.S. streams May 1-7, according to Luminate. It’s one of 15 songs on Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere , which debuts at No. 2 on Top Country Albums.

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Written by Musgraves and longtime creative partner Daniel Tashian, “Uncertain, TX” extends one of country music’s longest running chart histories: 64 years and two months after Nelson first reached Hot Country Songs with “Willingly,” which hit No. 10 in 1962. He tallied two top 10s that decade, along with 13 in the ’70s, 24 in the ’80s and one each in the ’90s and 2000s. Of those, 21 hit No. 1.

Nelson, 93, had most recently charted with a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” featuring Paula Nelson, his daughter (No. 36 peak, 2019).

Parton, meanwhile, first reached Hot Country Songs in 1967 with “Dumb Blonde” (No. 24) and has likewise charted in every decade through the ‘20s. She remains the only artist to place a song inside the chart’s top 20 in each decade since the ‘60s, most recently with “Tyrant,” her 2024 collaboration with Beyoncé.

Parton’s other entries this decade are “Have the Heart” (No. 22), with Post Malone; a remake of “Does He Love You” (No. 47), with Reba McEntire (who originally took the song to No. 1, with Linda Davis, in 1993); and “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” (No. 48), with Michael Bublé.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/willie-nelson-dolly-parton-hot-country-songs-hits-since-60s-1236245537/)._