1964 in country music

Events

January 11 — Billboard magazine increases the length of its Hot Country Singles chart to 50 positions, up from 30.
February 1 — Buck Owens' mega-hit, "Love's Gonna Live Here," finishes its 16-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart. To date, it is the most recent song to spend 10 or more weeks atop the chart.
July 31 — A private aircraft piloted by Jim Reeves crashes during a thunderstorm near Nashville, Tennessee. Both Reeves and business partner Dean Manuel are killed in the crash; their bodies are found two days later, following a massive search for the two missing men. Reeves, already a huge country star, would leave behind hundreds of un-released recordings; many of those songs became huge posthumous hits during the next decade. Reeves' death comes just 16 months after the airplane crash deaths of Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas, leaving a huge void among country music fans.
November 28 – "Once a Day," by Connie Smith, begins an eight-week stay at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart. To date, it is the longest-running No. 1 song by a solo female act, and will make the 23-year-old Smith — a native of Elkhart, Indiana-native — an overnight senation.

(As certified by Billboard magazine)

"Begging to You" by Marty Robbins returns to No. 1 on February 22

"My Heart Skips a Beat" by Buck Owens returns to No. 1 on June 20

July 31 — Jim Reeves, 39, velvet-voiced singer and leading force in the Nashville Sound; many of his hits came posthumously. (plane crash)