Today in 1991, Garth Brooks’ album, “Ropin’ The Wind,” was certified gold, platinum, double platinum, triple platinum AND quadruple platinum simultaneously.

It was the first album by a country singer to top both the Billboard Hot 200 and Top Country charts since Kenny Rogers did so just over a decade earlier. It enjoyed four runs at No. 1 between September 28, 1991 – April 3, 1992, spending a combined 18 weeks at the top, eventually being certified 14x Platinum by the RIAA in 1998. In the UK it reached the Top 50 pop albums list and went to No. 1 for several months on the country charts. It has gone on to sell 17 million copies worldwide.

The track “Shameless” is a cover of a Billy Joel song, previously recorded on Joel’s 1989 album Storm Front.

According to music review website Allmusic, Ropin’ the Wind is the first country album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Today in 1998, Garth Brooks’ “Double Live” album was released, the same day new albums from Jewel, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston hit record stores. After the dust had settled on what record stores called “Super Tuesday,” Garth emerged victorious. He captured the #1 spot on the album charts – and set a first-week sales record of 1.9-million copies.

Today in 2010, the movie, “Country Strong,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, premiered at Nashville’s Green Hills 16 theaters.

The film, about an emotionally unstable country music star who attempts to resurrect her career, was directed and written by American filmmaker Shana Feste. It premiered in Nashville, Tennessee on November 8, 2010, and had a wide release in the United States on January 7, 2011. This is the second film in which McGraw and Hedlund have worked together, the first being Friday Night Lights in 2004.

This day in 2002: Johnny Cash’s “American IV: The Man Comes Around” album was released. It’s the last album of new material issued during the singer’s life.

The album was included in the book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”.

The majority of songs are covers which Cash performs in his own sparse style, with help from producer Rick Rubin. For instance, for the song “Personal Jesus”, Rubin asked then-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante to re-work an acoustic version of Martin Gore’s song, which featured a simple acoustic riff that stripped down the song to a blues style. He receives backing vocal assistance from various artists, including Fiona Apple, Nick Cave, and Don Henley.

The video for “Hurt”, a song written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and originally released in 1994, was nominated in seven categories at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and won the award for Best Cinematography. In 2003, mere days before his 71st birthday, Cash won a Grammy for “Give My Love To Rose”, a song Cash had originally recorded in the late 1950s. Cash was also nominated that year for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for his “Bridge over Troubled Water” cover with Fiona Apple. The music video for “Hurt” also won the award for Best Short Form Video in 2004.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor admitted that he was initially “flattered” but worried that “the idea of Cash covering ‘Hurt’ sounded a bit gimmicky,” but when he heard the song and saw the video for the first time, Reznor said he was deeply moved and found Cash’s cover beautiful and meaningful, going as far as to say “that song isn’t mine anymore.”

Graeme Thomson, in The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings, has discussed concern about Cash’s health during the recording. Cash was suffering from multiple health problems and had lost most of his vision, with recording sessions interrupted by hospital stays. Thompson quotes singer Will Oldham: “We should turn and switch off the tape when our listening energy would be better spent helping a living songwriter/performer.”

American IV: The Man Comes Around was Cash’s first non-compilation album to go gold in thirty years. Additionally, the album won “Album of the Year” award at the 2003 CMA Awards. It was certified gold on March 24, 2003 and platinum on November 21, 2003 by the R.I.A.A.

Today in 1978, Barbara Mandrell had her first #1 hit on the country charts with “Sleeping Single In A Double Bed.”

Written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, it was the first single from her album Moods. “Sleeping Single In a Double Bed” was Barbara Mandrell’s twenty-sixth chart hit on Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Singles, the first of her six #1 singles on that chart. The single stayed at the top for three weeks (November 1978) and spent a total of eleven weeks in the top 40. In early 1980, the song won an American Music Award for Favorite Country Single.