On This Day in 1985, Alabama Released a Salute to the Blue-Collar Workers That Broke a Chart Record

On this day (April 17) in 1985, Alabama released “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’)” as their 1985 album 40-Hour Week. It was their 17^th consecutive No. 1 single on the Hot Country Songs chart, breaking the previous record of 16 straight chart-toppers. They would go on to send four more tracks to the top of the tally before their years-long hot streak ended.

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Country music has been working-class music since its inception nearly a century ago. Today, many artists lean on their blue-collar aesthetic to remain relatable to their target audience. Some even sing songs that praise the American worker and their accomplishments. Classics like Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues” or Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” fit firmly under that umbrella. However, few of them show as much appreciation for workers as Alabama did on this hit single.

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Songwriters Dave Loggins, Don Schlitz, and Lisa Silver were specific when they wrote “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’).” The lyrics thank Detroit auto workers, Pittsburgh steel mill workers, Kansas wheat farmers, and West Virginia coal miners. Carpenters, mechanics, retail workers, assembly line workers, and others also get shout-outs in the song.

While the guys in Alabama didn’t write the song, they sang it with conviction because they meant it. According to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, they shared an apartment and worked blue-collar jobs before they got their break in the mid-1970s.

Alabama’s Disputed Streak of Hits

Before “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’)” reached No. 1, Alabama was tied with Sonny James for the most consecutive No. 1 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart. James notched 16 consecutive chart-toppers in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

Technically, Alabama’s streak wasn’t unbroken. They released “Christmas in Dixie” in 1982, and it peaked at No. 35 between “Close Enough to Perfect” and “Christmas in Dixie.” If one were to count that, they had a streak of eight No. 1 singles followed by a streak of 13.

There are several reasons why holiday songs are usually overlooked when tallying chart records like this one. For instance, it is important to note that Billboard has a seasonal Holiday 100 chart. So, “Christmas in Dixie” could be counted as a crossover song. Most importantly, Billboard overlooked it, with one writer saying “only a Scrooge” would say the holiday track ended their streak.

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