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On This Day: Garth Brooks Set Billboard Chart Record with ‘Ropin’ the Wind’

Garth Brooks has brought home multiple Grammys and a slew of other awards during his decades-long career as one of the genre’s most well-known artists. And, on this day thirty years ago, the country music icon shattered chart records in a way few could have predicted.

Garth Brooks’s Rising Star

In the fall of 1991, just over two years after striking it big on the country music scene, Garth Brooks had already found his star rising to unprecedented heights. The country music superstar had already found massive success with six of his hit singles finding their way onto the number one chart spots; and two albums within the top five spots on the charts.

At this point, Garth Brooks had also taken home an impressive number of CMA and ACM awards by this point in his career.

An impressive feat, for sure. However, the Country star was just getting started.

After the September 28, 1991 release of his third studio album, Ropin’ the Wind, Brooks found himself with yet another number one album when the release debuted at number one on the charts.

This was a big deal because the country star’s number one album was not only debuting in the number one spot as Billboards Top Country Album, but it also went mainstream, debuting at the top of the Billboards 200 chart – an all-genre category.

Brooks Unseats Metallica

This debuting country album even knocked Metallica down a spot, sending the rock band’s wildly popular Black Album down to number two.

Brooks’s third album was so popular, in fact, that while it did unseat Metallica’s Black Album from the Billboard 200 top spot, he also unseated himself in the Billboard top country albums chart.

Brooks’s Ropin’ the Wind knocked his own 1990 album No Fences down from the top spot.

Breaking Records and Winning Awards

Garth Brooks was the first country artist ever to debut at the top of both charts.

Later that fall, Ropin’ the Wind was hailed as a four-time platinum album. It hit the five-time-platinum mark by December, and six times by January.

Ropin’ the Wind also scored more awards for the popular country music singer.

Brooks on Album of the Year for the release at the 1992 CMA Awards. This same year, Garth Brooks took home the Entertainer of the Year win, as well as the win as 1992’s Male Vocalist of the Year.

Both Ropin’ the Wind and No Fences received nominations for albums of the year. That same year, the country music icon took home the Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.

Over the next year, Garth Brooks’s Ropin’ the Wind spend a total of eighteen weeks at the top spot of the Billboards Top Country Albums chart.

From the Ropin’ the Wind release, Brooks released a total of three number-one single hits with “Shameless,” “What She’s Doing Now,” and “The River.”

The album also included two hits which garnered two top-five single placements. These hits were “Rodeo” and “Papa Loved Mama.”