Willie Nelson Joins Dolly Parton With Hot Country Songs Entries in Every Decade Since the 1960s

Willie Nelson has joined Dolly Parton as the only artists to appear on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in each of the last seven decades, thanks to his feature on Kacey Musgraves’ “Uncertain, TX.”

The track opens at No. 50 on the May 16-dated chart with 2.4 million official U.S. streams in the week of May 1 to 7, according to Luminate. It appears on Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere, a 15-song set that debuts at No. 2 on Top Country Albums.

Written by Musgraves and her longtime collaborator Daniel Tashian, “Uncertain, TX” pushes Nelson’s chart run back to 1962, when “Willingly” first took him onto Hot Country Songs and reached No. 10. That launch started a stretch that now covers 64 years and two months. Nelson had two top 10 entries in the 1960s, 13 in the ’70s, 24 in the ’80s, and one each in the ’90s and 2000s. Twenty-one of those songs went all the way to No. 1.

Now 93, Nelson last appeared on the chart in 2019 with “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” his cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song featuring his daughter, Paula Nelson. It peaked at No. 36.

Parton’s Hot Country Songs history began in 1967 with “Dumb Blonde,” which reached No. 24. She has also logged entries in every decade through the 2020s. Billboard notes that she remains the only artist to land a song in the chart’s top 20 in every decade since the ’60s, most recently with “Tyrant,” her 2024 collaboration with Beyoncé.

This decade alone has also brought Parton chart placements with “Have the Heart” with Post Malone, which reached No. 22; a remake of “Does He Love You” with Reba McEntire, which reached No. 47; and “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” with Michael Bublé, which reached No. 48. McEntire originally took “Does He Love You” to No. 1 with Linda Davis in 1993.

Willie Nelson performs during the Georgetown to Austin March for Democracy rally on July 31, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

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