Loretta Lynn: Top 50 Songs

Loretta Lynn Top 50 Songs

This country singer/songwriter was born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1932 in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. She was 15 years old when she married Oliver Vanetta “Doolittle” Lynn. They were together until his death in 1996. She landed her first song on the country charts in 1960 and went on to have more than 50 top-10 hits on the country charts of which 24 went to #1. She also had 11 chart-topping country albums. The 1980 movie Coal Miner’s Daughter was based on Lynn’s life. Sissy Spacek won an Oscar for her portrayal of Lynn. She died on October 4, 2022. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on the country chart are noted. DMDB Top 2%: 1. Coal Miner’s Daugther (1970) #1 CW DMDB Top 20%: 2. Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ with Lovin’ on Your Mind (1966) #1 CW 3. Portland, Oregon (with Jack White, 2004) DMDB Beyond the Top 20%: 4. You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man (1966) 5. The Pill (1975) 6. One’s on the Way (1971) #1 CW 7. Fist City (1968) #1 CW 8. You’re Lookin’ at Country (1971) 9. I’m a Honky Tonk Girl (1960) 10. Rated “X” (1972) #1 CW 11. Blue Kentucky Girl (1965) 12. Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man (with Conway Twitty, 1973) #1 CW 13. I Wanna Be Free (1971) 14. After the Fire Is Gone (with Conway Twitty, 1971) #1 CW 15. Dear Uncle Sam (1966) 16. Somebody Somewhere Don’t Know What He’s Missin’ Tonight (1976) #1 CW 17. Happy Birthday (1964) 18. Love Is the Foundation (1973) #1 CW 19. Wings Upon Your Horns (1969) 20. Lead Me On (with Conway Twitty, 1971) #1 CW 21. Wine, Women and Song (1964) 22. When the Tingle Becomes a Chill (1975) 23. Hey Loretta (1973) 24. Out of My Head and Back in My Bed (1977) #1 CW 25. The Other Woman (1963) 26. Trouble in Paradise (1974) #1 CW 27. As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone (with Conway Twitty, 1974) #1 CW 28. Your Squaw Is on the Warpath (1968) 29. Before I’m Over You (1963) 30. I Know How (1970) 31. Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone) (1969) #1 CW 32. Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be (with Ernest Tubb, 1964) 33. Success (1962) 34. You’ve Just Stepped in from Stepping Out on Me (1968) 35. Who’s Gonna Take the Garbage Out (with Ernest Tubb, 1969) 36. What Kind of Girl Do You Think I Am? (1967) 37. To Make a Man Feel Like a Man (1969) 38. You Wanna Give Me a Lift (1970) 39. The Home You’re Tearin’ Down (1965) 40. Red, White and Blue (1976) 41. Sweet Thang (with Ernest Tubb, 1967) 42. She’s Got You (1977) #1 CW 43. I Can’t Feel You Anymore 44. Feelins’ (with Conway Twitty, 1975) #1 CW 45. Here I Am Again (1972) 46. Wouldn’t It Be Great (1985) 47. It’s True Love (with Conway Twitty, 1980) 48. If You’re Not Gone Too Long (1967) 49. We’ve Come a Long Way (1978) 50. Somebody Led Me Away (1981) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Loretta Lynn Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 10/5/2022.

Loretta Lynn hit #1 with “Coal Miner’s Daughter”

Coal Miner’s Daughter Loretta Lynn

Writer(s): Loretta Lynn (see lyrics here) Released: October 5, 1970 First Charted: October 31, 1970 Peak: 83 US, 11 CW, 10 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 18.0 video, 33.14 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Loretta Lynn is “one of the undisputed queens of modern country.” NRR For years Lynn wanted to write a song about her youth. She had some down time while doing a TV show in Nashville and wrote the song in her dressing room, crafting nine verses in a few hours. TR She crafted “vivid musical pictures of Daddy’s job at the Van Lear Cal Mines, Mommy’s bleeding fingers at the washboard, the kids barefoot in summer and shod from a mail-order catalog in winter.” TM On October 1, 1969, she recorded the song along with “Wings Upon Your Horns” and “You Wanna Give Me a Lift.” She released the other two songs, but thought “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was too personal. As she said, “I didn’t believe anybody would buy a song just about me.” NRR However, it “proved to have a remarkable universality to it.” NRR Few of her songs “carried as much drama, deprivation and heartache as her own rags-to-riches saga: born the second of eight children in a poor rural family; married by 13 to 21-year-old Oliver ‘Doolittle’ Lynn; enduring his infidelity for a decade before he gave her a guitar; blossoming into a singer-songwriter who used Doo’s misdeeds as her material.” TM When it was finally released it became her fourth #1 and “the most significant record of Loretta Lynn’s career.” TR It was “a story…a lament…a tribute…[and] an anthem.” NRR It became the title of Loretta Lynn’s autobiography and the 1980 film in which Sissy Spacek won an Oscar for portraying Lynn. Resources: TR Tom Roland (1991). The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 47. NRR National Recording Registry TM Time magazine (10/24/2011). “All Time 100 Songs” WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/28/2022.