On This Day in 1972, Charley Pride Was at No. 1 With His Tenth Chart-Topping Single—a Love Song Almost Too Good To Be True

On this day (December 1) in 1972, Charley Pride was in the middle of a three-week run at No. 1 with “She’s Too Good to be True.” It was his tenth trip to the top of the chart. The song was also the second in a string of five consecutive No. 1 singles.

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Pride released “She’s Too Good to Be True” in September 1972 as the sole single from Songs of Love by Charley Pride. It quickly climbed the Hot Country Songs chart and reached No. 1 on November 18. I retained the top spot until the first week of December. The song didn’t just add another hit to Pride’s ever-growing list of chart-toppers. I tt was also another notch in the belt of hitmaking songwriter Johnny Duncan.

[RELATED: How Charley Pride Dominated the Country Music World in 1972]

Charley Pride Was Warned Against Recording Love Songs

Charley Pride was highly successful, notching nearly 30 No. 1 singles, a dozen No. 1 albums, and a trophy case full of awards and accolades. However, he did not have it easy, especially in the early days of his career. As a Black man in a genre dominated by white men, during a time when records were segregated by race, his journey to the top was much harder than his counterparts.

According to an NPR feature, Pride was warned against recording love songs early in his career, “lest the notion of him singing amorous lines to white, female fans transgress the boundaries of decency.” Fortunately, he seemingly ignored those warnings. Instead, he recorded many love songs, several of which became hit songs. For instance, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” is arguably one of the best love songs to come out of the 1970s. It was also Pride’s most successful hit, holding the No. 1 spot for five weeks.

During an interview with NPR, Pride explained how he and producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement approached making his albums. “Back then, people would get a big song like ‘Kiss an Angel’ or something, then they’d put kind of mediocre-type songs around it on an album,” he recalled. “We always felt like if a song was a B song, we’d like to try to make it an A. And if it was an A song, we’d try to make it a double A. We tried to think in terms of everything we did could be a single, and I think that’s why I sold so many albums,” he explained.

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