This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1990.
January 20 — Billboard magazine begins basing the Hot Country Singles chart entirely on radio airplay through Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which uses a computerized system to detect actual radio spins. The number of chart positions is reduced from 100 to 75. The new system has an immediate effect on how long the year's biggest songs stay at No. 1:
February 3 — "Nobody's Home" by Clint Black becomes the first three-week No. 1 since Randy Travis' "Forever and Ever, Amen" in 1987.
April 7 — Travis' "Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart" breaks the four-week barrier, the first since 1978's "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
July 7 — "Love Without End, Amen" by George Strait is Billboard's first five-week No. 1 song, matching 1977's "Here You Come Again" by Dolly Parton. Incidentally, "Love Without End, Amen" is Strait's first multi-week chart-topper, after his first 18 No. 1s had spent just one week on top.
Just 23 songs would reach the chart's summit in 1990, 13 of them multi-weekers; this was fewer than half the number that reached the top of the chart a year earlier, and the fewest since 1972.
The Smithsonian Institution releases Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection, a 100-track, four-volume set including the most important and notable songs in the genre's history, from 1924 to 1987. The set, which includes an 84-page booklet by historian Bill Malone, replaces the Smithsonian's eight-volume, 143-track set – titled The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music – issued in 1981.
The release of Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection continues a trend towards chronicling the genre's history via compact disc during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Time-Life Music's Country USA series continued to issue new albums, while Columbia Records issues its five-volume Country Classics series during the summer. Rhino Records also releases ten volumes of Billboard Top Country Singles, each depicting the top 10 songs from the years 1959 through 1968.
Hee Haw (1969-1993, syndicated)
March 30 — Thomas Rhett, singer-songwriter, son of singer-songwriter Rhett Akins.
April 10 — Maren Morris, musician and singer-songwriter known for her 2016 hit "My Church".
May 17 — Kree Harrison, singer and musician, who was the runner-up on the twelfth season of American Idol.
May 27 — Brett Kissel, Canadian country singer of the 2010s.
July 23 — Neil Perry, member of The Band Perry.
July 27 — Cheyenne Kimball, member of Gloriana from 2008-2011.
April 26 - Wesley Rose, 72, president of Acuff-Rose Music publishing.
August 15 — Lew DeWitt, 52, tenor and founding member of the Statler Brothers (complications from Crohn's disease)
October 31 — Carl Belew, 59, best known for writing the song "Am I That Easy to Forget" (cancer)
Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991)
Gordie Tapp
Ron Sparling
Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Where've You Been," Kathy Mattea
Best Male Country Vocal Performance — "When I Call Your Name," Vince Gill
Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — Pickin' on Nashville, The Kentucky Headhunters
Best Country Collaboration with Vocals — "Poor Boy Blues," Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler
Best Country Instrumental Performance — "So Soft, Your Goodbye," Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler
Best Country Song — "Where've You Been," Don Henry and Jon Vesner
Best Bluegrass Recording — "I've Got That Old Feeling," Alison Krauss
Country Male Vocalist of the Year — George Fox
Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Rita MacNeil
Country Group or Duo of the Year — Prairie Oyster
Entertainer of the Year — Garth Brooks
Song of the Year — "The Dance," Tony Arata (Performer: Garth Brooks)
Single of the Year — "Friends in Low Places," Garth Brooks
Album of the Year — No Fences, Garth Brooks
Top Male Vocalist — Garth Brooks
Top Female Vocalist — Reba McEntire
Top Vocal Duo — The Judds
Top Vocal Group — Shenandoah
Top New Male Vocalist — Alan Jackson
Top New Female Vocalist — Shelby Lynne
Top New Vocal Duo or Group — Pirates of the Mississippi
Video of the Year — "The Dance," Garth Brooks (Director: John Lloyd Miller)
Bud Country Fans' Choice Award — k.d. lang
Male Artist of the Year — George Fox
Female Artist of the Year — Michelle Wright
Group of the Year — Prairie Oyster
SOCAN Song of the Year — "Pioneers," Barry Brown
Single of the Year — "Goodbye, So Long, Hello," Prairie Oyster
Album of the Year — Absolute Torch and Twang, k.d. lang
Top Selling Album — Rita, Rita MacNeil
Video of the Year — "Pioneers," Family Brown
Vista Rising Star Award — Patricia Conroy
Duo of the Year — Gary Fjellgaard and Linda Kidder
Entertainer of the Year — George Strait
Song of the Year — "Where've You Been," Don Henry and Jon Vezner (Performer: Kathy Mattea)
Single of the Year — "When I Call Your Name," Vince Gill
Album of the Year — Pickin' on Nashville, The Kentucky Headhunters
Male Vocalist of the Year — Clint Black
Female Vocalist of the Year — Kathy Mattea
Vocal Duo of the Year — The Judds
Vocal Group of the Year — The Kentucky Headhunters
Horizon Award — Garth Brooks
Music Video of the Year — "The Dance," Garth Brooks (Director: John Lloyd Miller)
Vocal Event of the Year — "'Til a Tear Becomes a Rose," Lorrie Morgan and Keith Whitley
Musician of the Year — Johnny Gimble
Country Music Association
Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame
1990 in country music Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA