Six Country Songs Run the Table

What is the greatest country music song? For 40 years the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) have given awards for Single and Song of the Year. However, only 12 times have they awarded Single of the Year to the same song. Those songs are:

Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks
Chattahoochee – Alan Jackson
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) – Alan Jackson
Check Yes or No – George Strait
I Swear – John Michael Montgomery
I Hope You Dance – Lee Ann Womack
Okie From Muskogee – Merle Haggard
Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich
He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones
Always On My Mind – Willie Nelson
Forever and Ever, Amen – Randy Travis
Happiest Girl in the Whole USA – Donna Fargo
Eighteen Wheels & Dozen Roses – Kathy Maetta
Live Like You Were Dying – Tim McGraw

All of these are well known songs. However, only six of them have won both Single and Song of the Year from both the CMA and ACM. Those songs are:

Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) – Alan Jackson
I Hope You Dance – Lee Ann Womack
Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich
He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones
Forever and Ever, Amen – Randy Travis
Live Like You Were Dying – Tim McGraw

So out of 40 years these are the only six songs who basically have run the table at the CMA and ACM shows. Is one of these six the greatest country music song? Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is for sure. Only one artist has taken home all four awards for the one song – Alan Jackson. Why? The CMA awards the artist for Single of the Year, and only the songwriters for Song of the Year. Of the above six songs, only Alan Jackson wrote his song.