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If you’re a younger country music fan, you might assume that the singer that has the most number one songs on the Billboard Country charts would be someone like Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. However, the man that has the most is far and away ahead of second place, and that’s George Strait. With 60 songs reaching the top, Strait has enjoyed an unprecedented amount of success in his career, and is still going strong in his late 60s, selling out shows and albums to the tune of more than 100 million in total.

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Strait was born in the small town of Poteet, Texas on May 18, 1952 and grew up in the area. At first, Strait didn’t listen to a lot of country music during his childhood, and eventually joined the United States Army. He was stationed in North Carolina at the time, and not many knew about the man that would end up setting pretty much every country music record that you can think of.

After he finished his time with the Army, Strait had attended what is now known as Texas State University. It was at this time that Strait finally developed an affinity for country music, joining a band called Stoney Ridge that needed a singer, and the group eventually changed their name to Ace in the Hole Band. The band recorded a handful of singles and opened for other acts, but weren’t finding sustainable success.

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Strait had then met someone who had worked in the record industry, giving Strait and his band a chance to show their stuff. However, they weren’t picked up and Strait tried his hardest to land a deal. When he left the group, though, Strait was finally offered a deal as a solo artist and he’d never look back from there.

In 1981, the world was introduced to Strait when he released his debut album “Strait Country” that found success on the back of hit songs “Unwound”, “Down and Out” and “If You’re Thinking You Want a Stranger”. The following year, Strait released his next album “Strait from the Heart” that earned him his first number one hits with “Fool Hearted Memory” and ‘A Fire I Can’t Put Out” along with two other top 10 singles.

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Strait used to conduct interviews with the press left and right early on in his career, becoming a prominent public figure. At this time, Strait and his wife Norma had been together for over a decade and had a daughter and two sons. Their daughter, Jenifer, was born in 1972, but sadly passed away at an early age. She lost her life in a car accident at just 13 years old in 1986, and it caused Strait to stop doing interviews for a very long time.

“I just didn’t feel like talking about, so I quit,” he said. “I did want to keep singing, absolutely. But I was at the point where I’m (like), ‘Alright, if this is going to cost me my career, then so be it, but it’s the only way I’m going to be able to cope with it.’ It just kind of turned out the way it did. It wasn’t an intentional thing.” Even though he wasn’t doing press, Strait’s star only continued to rise.

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Strait dominated the charts for the rest of the 1980s, releasing 18 songs that reached the number one spot on Billboard’s country charts that included those two from “Strait from the Heart”. This included some of his biggest hits “Let’s Fall to Pieces Together”, “The Chari” and “Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her”. All in all, Strait released eight albums during the 1980s.

Strait released nine more albums during the 1990s, five of which added to his impressive resume of number one albums. The most successful of these were “Carrying Your Love with me” and “One Step at a Time” that went platinum three times over. 17 of the singles that he released were chart toppers, with hits like “If I Know Me”, “I Cross My Heart” and “Check Yes or No”.

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While most are lucky to score two decades of sustained success, Strait’s talents translated into the 2000s even while country music was changing. In the first decade, he scored an astonishing nine more number one hits, including “Give It Away”, “I Saw God Today” and “Troubadour”. Since then, Strait hasn’t had a number one hit in the 2010s, but has reached the top 10 with memorable songs like “Here for a Good Time”, “I Gotta Get to You” and “Love’s Gonna Make it Alright”. Needless to say, Strait isn’t going anywhere for quite some time.

There are some things that Strait has held onto throughout his long and illustrious career. “Just to be true to myself,” is the most important he says. “To try and do the best music I can and do the very best shows I can. I love great singers and musicians and most have their own niche. They know what they do best. I’m saying you can’t do other things, but maybe just not quite as well. I’m a country singer. I can sing a Tom Petty song, but it ain’t going to rock like Petty. I also have other interests that I love when I’m not in a musical mood.”

“I get asked sometimes, ‘What’s the highlight of my career?’ because I’ve been doing it for so long,” Strait added. “And I always have a hard time coming up with something, because so many good things have happened.”