On This Day in 1989, Randy Travis Released the First No. 1 Country Album of the 1990s

On this day (September 26) in 1989, Randy Travis released No Holdin’ Back. It was his fourth studio album and fourth consecutive No. 1. It spent the last nine weeks of 1989 and the first three weeks of 1990 at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

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It is fitting that Travis ended the 1980s and started the 1990s at No. 1. He became a major force in the genre after releasing his debut album, Storms of Life, in 1986. He scored 10 of his 16 No. 1 singles in the 1980s with classics like “Deeper Than the Holler,” “I Told You So,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” and “Diggin Up Bones.” The lead single from No Holdin’ Back, “It’s Just a Matter of Time,” went to No. 1 and, with the album, helped Travis go into the next decade with healthy momentum.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1987, Randy Travis Was in the Middle of a Monumental Run at No. 1 With the Biggest Album of His Career]

The 1990s saw him reach the top of the Hot Country Songs chart five times in the 1990s. The decade also brought him a further 11 top 10 singles.

Randy Travis Took an R&B Hit to the Top of the Country Chart

“It’s Just a Matter of Time” was Randy Travis’ 10^th No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. However, he was not the first to make it a hit. In fact, the song didn’t start its life as a country song.

Brook Benton, Belford Hendricks, and Clyde Otis wrote the song. Benton recorded the first version in 1959. It topped the R&B chart and peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100. A little more than a decade later, in 1970, Sonny James cut the first country version of the song. It spent four weeks at No. 1 on the country chart. Glen Campbell released his rendition, a top 10 country hit, in 1986.

Travis took it back to the top of the chart three years later, in 1989.

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