On This Day in 1990, Clint Black Reached a Chart Milestone With a Song That He Almost Didn’t Record

On this day (February 3) in 1990, Clint Black entered his third week at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart with “Nobody’s Home.” It was the third single from his debut album and his third consecutive No. 1. Moreover, it became the first country song to spend three weeks at the top of the chart since Randy Travis spent three weeks at the top with “Forever and Ever, Amen” in 1987.

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Interestingly, very few songs spent more than one week at No. 1 between 1987 and 1990. Travis spent two weeks at the top with “I Told You So” in June 1988. Ricky Van Shelton had the same success with “I’ll Leave This World Loving You” in November of that year. Keith Whitley had two two-week No. 1 singles in that period. “When You Say Nothing at All” spent the last two weeks of 1988 at the top. “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” spent the first two weeks of April 1989 at No. 1. Shenandoah finished the month with “The Church on Cumberland Road.”

[RELATED: On This Day in 1990, Clint Black Was at the Top of the Country Chart With a Song He Almost Sold To Make His Car Payment]

Clint Black Almost Didn’t Record “Nobody’s Home”

“Nobody’s Home” became one of Clint Black’s biggest hits. However, he almost didn’t record it. After writing it over a few days while fighting a fever, he planned to sell the song.

At the time, he was a struggling artist trying to make ends meet. More specifically, he needed to make a car payment before his vehicle was repossessed. It just so happened that he knew a Houston-based publisher who would buy the song for the exact amount of money he needed.

“He wanted to buy the song for $250, which was the exact amount of money I needed to keep my car from being repossessed. It was killing me, because I kept feeling like that was a song that could get me into the business,” Black recalled. However, he didn’t think it would help him get a hit as a recording artist. Instead, he hoped to pitch it to someone like Randy Travis.

Fortunately, he discussed his dilemma with a friend who told Black to keep the song and loaned him $250.

Several months later, he was playing demos for producer James Stroud while attempting to assemble his debut album. “When I got to ‘Nobody’s Home,’ he asks his assistant, ‘Hey, go get me that tape out of my drawer.’ He comes back, and he’s got that tape of ‘Nobody’s Home’! It turned out that the publisher had gone ahead and started pitching the song to producers in Nashville, and James had it,” Black explained.

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