Country stars come and go, and some country stars from the 1970s made it big with one hit before they virtually disappeared from the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And while it might seem to mainstream listeners that those artists disappeared after scoring those Hot 100 hits, they didn’t disappear from the country charts. Let’s take a look at three country one-hit wonders that deserved way more mainstream attention for their musical talents.
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson was a stunning television personality and country singer, best known for her crossover hit, “Rose Garden”, from 1971. Considering that the song was her only mainstream hit on the Hot 100 at No. 3, some fans of “Rose Garden” might have thought Anderson disappeared entirely after “Rose Garden” made it to the airwaves.
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That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Anderson released a hefty number of singles and albums afterward, well into the 2010s. And she continued to make it to the Top 40 on the country charts until the end of the 1980s, though she wouldn’t make it to the lower 60 of the Hot 100 again after 1974. Anderson passed away in 2015 after a long and admirable career in country music.
Sammi Smith
Remember Sammi Smith? Like many talented female singers out there, Smith had a big hit on her hands when she covered Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night” in 1971. Smith was also one of the few female outlaw country singers during the subgenre’s heyday. And yet, after “Help Me Make It Through The Night” made it to No. 8 on the Hot 100, Smith would never make it to the Top 40 on that chart again. After 1972, she disappeared from the chart entirely.
But Smith certainly didn’t disappear from the county chart. She was a standard name on the Top 40 of the US country charts, and also had some success on the Canadian country charts. She continued to appear on those charts well into the 1980s. Smith passed away in 2005.
Vicki Lawrence
Even non-fans of country music know “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” from 1973. And yet, many would consider the talented singer and actress, Vicki Lawrence, to be a 1970s country one-hit wonder who disappeared after that song got big. “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” topped the Hot 100 and would be her only Top 40 hit on the coveted chart. And by the end of the 1970s, Lawrence would quit music. But she definitely didn’t disappear.
Lawrence leaned into acting and appeared on quite a laundry list of television programs from the 1970s onward, from The Carol Burnett Show to The Love Boat to Hannah Montana. Her most recent credit is from 2024. It’s safe to say that while Lawrence might have disappeared from music, she definitely didn’t disappear from the screen.
Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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