With songs like “The Pill” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” Loretta Lynn broke new ground in country music. The everyday lives of working-class women, so often relegated to the shadows, were now front and center (and topping the charts.) While radio stations didn’t quite know what to do with Lynn’s music at first, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” singer shattered multiple glass ceilings and cemented her place among country music royalty. On this day in 1972, the Country Music Association crowned Loretta Lynn its Entertainer of the Year—making her the first woman to ever hold that title.
Loretta Lynn’s Husband Missed Her Big Moment Due to a Hunting Trip
By the time the 1972 CMA Awards rolled around, Loretta Lynn had more than proved her mettle. Her 1966 hit “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” made the Kentucky native the first woman to ever top the country music charts. It wouldn’t be the last time either, spurring a string of hit songs that continued into the ’70s.
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The lone female nominee in the Entertainer of the Year category, Lynn learned on Oct. 16, 1972, that she had beaten out Merle Haggard, Freddie Hart, Charley Pride and Jerry Reed for the highly-coveted prize.
“I’d like to say that I’ve won a lot of awards, and this is one that I have been nominated for, but I never did get. And this, I think, is the only one that I haven’t gotten,” Lynn said from the stage. “I’m real happy, but the only thing that I’m kind of sad about is my husband going hunting. He couldn’t make it back in time to share my happiness with me. Thank you.”
Lynn would go on to name her chart-topping 1973 album Entertainer of the Year. The album’s only single, “Rated “X” also reached the top of the charts—although, in true Loretta Lynn fashion, not without controversy.
Since Lynn’s milestone, six other women have gone on to claim the CMA’s top prize—Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, The Chicks, Taylor Swift, and Lainey Wilson.
Featured image by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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