3 Country No. 1 Hits That Were Almost Too Heavy To Be Released

When it comes to heavy subject matters in music, you really never know how people are going to react. Here are some country songs that ended up being giant hits, but were almost too sad to be released.

“He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones

This song is easily one of the saddest songs in all of country music. That didn’t stop it from being a hit, though.

Not only did this song go No. 1, but it was also a huge comeback for Jones, who got a CMA and a Grammy out of it. Ironically, though, the country singer wasn’t too keen on releasing it at first. His producer, Billy Sherrill, believed in it before he did.

In his autobiography, I Lived To Tell It All, Jones actually said: “I looked Billy square in the eye and said, ‘Nobody will buy that morbid son of a b*tch,’” about “He Stopped Loving Her Today”.

“Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw

For McGraw, this song showed up right when he needed it. McGraw was sent the song, written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman, while his dad, Tug McGraw, was going through treatments for glioblastoma brain cancer.

“In fact, I almost didn’t record the song because I certainly didn’t want anyone to think that I was playing to what was going on with my father,” McGraw told Taste Of Country.

Later, McGraw recorded this song during the month of his father’s death. It ended up topping the Billboard Chart for seven weeks.

“Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” by Alan Jackson

This song was written after the 9/11 attacks, as a way for country singer Jackson to make sense of everything that had happened that day. This wasn’t the easiest task.

“I didn’t want to write a patriotic song,” Jackson explained in an interview. “And I didn’t want it to be vengeful, either. But I didn’t want to forget about how I felt and how I knew other people felt that day.”

Apparently, Jackson was reluctant to release this song because, similar to McGraw, he didn’t want people to think he was using a tragic event to have a No. 1 hit song. However, after being persuaded by his family and friends, Jackson debuted the song at the 35th Annual CMA Awards.

Photo by: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images for CMT