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More Than a Memory
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Wikipedia article
"'More Than a Memory'" is a song written by Lee Brice, Billy Montana, and Kyle Jacobs and recorded by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 27, 2007 as his 51st single and first single from his third compilation album 'The Ultimate Hits'. On the U.S. 'Billboard' Hot Country Songs chart dated for September 15, 2007, it became the first song to debut at #1 in the entire history of that chart. (Seven years later, Craig Wayne Boyd's "My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face" became the second song to debut at #1 on Hot Country Songs, although by then the methodology had changed to include downloads and streaming, along with radio play. At the time of More Than a Memory, the chart was based on radio airplay alone.) The song was also Brooks's first #1 hit since "To Make You Feel My Love" in 1998 and was also his last number one single, until "Ask Me How I Know" hit number one on the Country Airplay chart in December 2017.
Content
"More Than a Memory" is a mid-tempo ballad, featuring accompaniment primarily from piano, pedal steel guitar, and a string section. In it, the male narrator describes his attempts to forget about a lover who has left him, by destroying anything that reminds him of her and drinking heavily. Despite his attempts to forget her, he still finds himself attempting to call her on the telephone, and tries to stay awake so as not to dream of her. He states that since he still thinks of her, she is "more than a memory," even though he has been told by others that he will forget about her.
Chart performance
By debuting at #1 on Hot Country Songs, "More Than a Memory" set a new record for the highest debut on that chart, beating the previous record set only one week earlier by Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink", which debuted at #16.[http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,,GAC_26063_5690035,00.html "Garth Brooks Back on Top"] , Great American Country, September 5, 2007.[http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1568955/20070905/brooks_garth.jhtml "Garth Brooks Makes History at Country Radio"], CMT.com, September 5, 2007. Its chart debut was described by 'Billboard' as "almost impossible", since most #1 debuts on other singles charts (such as the 'Billboard' Hot 100) are tabulated by sales, and not on radio airplay alone. Since airplay usually builds at a more gradual rate than record sales do, very high debuts are less likely to occur on airplay-only charts such as Hot Country Songs.
In addition to its chart-topping debut, the song was Brooks's first #1 single on 'Billboard' since "To Make You Feel My Love" in 1998 (see 1998 in country music). After its debut week, "More Than a Memory" fell to #8, and after slipping to #10, it began to climb, eventually rebounding to #2 for the chart weeks of December 8 and 15 before falling out of the top 10. The song spent a total of 20 weeks on Hot Country Songs. "More Than a Memory" also debuted at #73 on the Hot 100 for the chart week of September 15, 2007, peaking at #53.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
Category:2007 singles
Category:2007 songs
Category:Garth Brooks songs
Category:Songs written by Billy Montana
Category:Songs written by Lee Brice
Category:Songs written by Kyle Jacobs (songwriter)
Category:Song recordings produced by Allen Reynolds
Category:Big Machine Records singles
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