Every Country Music Album of the Year Since 1967

Merle Haggard had another big album hit with “Let Me Tell You About a Song” in 1972, a combination of covers and nostalgic tunes. Among the songs on the album are the two hits “Daddy Frank” and “Grandma Harp.” The album rose to No. 7 on the Billboard’s Top Country Album chart.

Charlie Rich won in 1973 with his album “Behind Closed Doors,” which includes that year’s Single of the Year — its title track. Other nominees were Jeanne Pruett’s “Satin Sheets,” Loretta Lynn’s “Entertainer of the Year,” Lynn’s and Conway Twitty’s “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” and Tom T. Hall’s “The Storyteller.”

Charlie Rich went back-to-back with album of the year with the smash “Very Special Love Songs.” The album mixed harpsichord, acoustic guitars, and honky tonk piano. It included songs such as “Why Don’t We Go Somewhere and Love,” “Take Time to Love,” “A Field of Yellow Daisies,” and “Why, Oh Why.” “Very Special Love Songs” was Rich’s third No. 1 country album.

Blind singer Ronnie Milsap scored a hit with his 1975 album “A Legend in My Time,” which featured a variety of different sounding songs, including “Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry,” “(I’d Be) A Legend in My Time,” and “The Busiest Memory in Town.” Milsap won over numerous country heavy hitters, including Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, and folk hero John Denver.

“Wanted! The Outlaws,” headlined by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and including Jennings’ wife, Jessi Colter, became country music’s first platinum-certified LP after it sold 1 million copies. The album was a compilation of so-called outlaw country music and included hits such as “Suspicious Minds” and “Good Hearted Woman.” The album climbed to No. 10 on the Billboard 200.