On This Day in 1998, Alan Jackson Released a No. 1 Album That Became a Crossover Hit

On this day (September 1) in 1998, Alan Jackson released High Mileage. The album produced four hit singles and went to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It retained the top spot for two weeks. It was his fourth consecutive No. 1 album and his last of the decade. However, it would be far from his final trip to the top of the country albums chart. To date, he has sent ten more albums to the survey’s summit.

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Jackson’s years of hard work paid off when he became the first artist signed to Arista Nashville and released his debut album, Here in the Real World, in 1990. He saw immediate chart success with his first full-length, reaching No. 4 on the country albums chart. Additionally, the album produced four top-five hits, with one of them reaching No. 1.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1994, Alan Jackson Released an Ode to the Simple Things in Life That Would Become a Huge Hit]

His star continued to climb throughout the 1990s. He scored his first No. 1 album in 1992 with A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘bout Love), which contained his signature song, “Chattahoochee.” His next three albums would also hit the top of the chart. Then, his 1999 album, Under the Influence, broke the hot streak when it peaked at No. 2.

Alan Jackson Sees Crossover Success with High Mileage

Alan Jackson has always held to his traditional country sound. However, unlike many artists who saw genre-specific success with neotraditional country music, Jackson also found hits on the all-genre Billboard charts.

Most of Jackson’s albums from the 1990s were hits on both the Top Country Albums and Billboard 200 lists. His sophomore album went to No. 2 on the country chart and No. 17 on the all-genre survey. Who I Am went to No. 1 on the country chart and peaked at No. 5 on the all-genre chart. Then, High Mileage became his biggest crossover album, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.

The album also brought Jackson his first crossover hit. The single, “Little Man,” peaked at No. 3 on the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 39 on the Hot 100, giving him his first top 40 hit.

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