In the 1960s, AM radio and thus the pop charts were dominated, first by Elvis Presley, newly discharged from the Army, and the teen idols who followed in his wake, many of whom seemed to be named Bobby—Darin, Rydell, Vee, Vinton. Subsequently, the charts were taken over by the Beatles and the British Invasion, soul music, especially on the Motown and Stax labels, and, increasingly, by the music emanating out of Los Angeles recording studios.

But, perhaps surprisingly, country music maintained a steady presence in the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 throughout the decade. What follows are 15 of the biggest crossover hits of the 1960s, each one a #1 country record that found significant success on the pop charts.

Jim Reeves—“He’ll Have to Go” (1960)—The start of the decade found this single entering the Hot 100 where it ultimately spent three weeks at #2, kept from the top spot by Percy Faith’s “Theme From ‘A Summer Place.’” Gentleman Jim, who had previously crossed over in 1957 with “Four Walls,” would tragically perish in a plane crash in 1964.

Ferlin Husky—“Wings of a Dove” (1960)—Husky had already crossed over twice in the 1950s—in a duet with Jean Shepard on “A Dear John Letter” and solo with “Gone”—when “Wings of a Dove” made it all the way to #12 pop in early 1961.

Johnny Horton—“North to Alaska” (1961)—The so-called “saga song” was Nashville’s response to the folk music revival of this era and Horton was its foremost practitioner, having previously scored with the #1 hit “The Battle of New Orleans” and #3 “Sink the Bismarck.” Horton unfortunately died in a car crash as this, the title song to a John Wayne picture, was climbing the charts, peaking at #4 posthumously.

Faron Young—“Hello Walls” (1961)—A perennial presence on the country charts from the early 1950s through the late 1980s, the Sheriff achieved his greatest pop success with this early Willie Nelson-written song, which hit #12 on the Hot 100.

Patsy Cline—“I Fall to Pieces” (1961)—Yet another country star whose career was cut short in an accident, in her case another plane crash, but not before she had scored an earlier crossover hit with “Walkin’ After Midnight” and two more, “ Crazy” (another early Willie Nelson song) and “She’s Got You,” after this one, which had peaked at #12. Fun fact: Years later a posthumous duet was created by Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves on “I Fall to Pieces,” a song that each had recorded separately in the early 1960s.

Leroy Van Dyke—“Walk on By” (1961)—Not to be confused with the Dionne Warwick hit of the same name, “Walk on By” peaked at #5 on the pop charts for Leroy Van Dyke, who had previously crossed over with “Auctioneer” in 1956.

Jimmy Dean—“Big Bad John” (1961)—A self-penned saga song that went all the way to the top of the pop charts for the man who would one day found, and today may well be more famous for, the brand of breakfast sausages that bears his name. The following year he reached the top 10 once more with “P.T. 109,” an account of John F. Kennedy’s heroics in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Claude King—“Wolverton Mountain” (1962)—This tale of the over-protective Clifton Clowers, “his pretty young daughter,” and her suitor made it all the way to #6 on the pop chart without its writers, Merle Kilgore and King himself, ever telling us how the story turns out.

Roger Miller—“King of the Road” (1965)—Arguably the preeminent country crossover artist of the decade, he scored his greatest hits, all of which he wrote and went into the top 10 during the height of the British Invasion—“Dang Me” and “Chug-A-Lug” prior to the #4 “King of the Road” and “Engine Engine #9” and “England Swings” after it.

Related: More about Roger Miller, the King of the Corssover Road

Eddy Arnold—“Make the World Go Away” (1965)—The all-time top country hitmaker peaked at #6 pop and even topped the easy listening charts with this lush Nashville Sound production, making the Hank Cochran copyright his greatest crossover success—he had had five top 20 Pop hits in the late 1940s.

Bobby Goldsboro—“Honey” (1968)—Were you to look up the word maudlin in the dictionary you might find the lyrics to this song. There’s always been a place for the mawkish, overly sentimental in both pop and country music as exemplified by “Honey,” which topped not just those two charts but the easy listening list too.

Jeannie C. Riley—“Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1968)—Social commentary written by Tom T. Hall that took the country by storm during the troubled year in which it was released, rising all the way to the top of the Hot 100. But Jeannie C. Riley never came close to crossing over again.

Johnny Cash—“A Boy Named Sue” (1969)— The Man in Black had crossed over several times since “I Walk the Line” in 1956, including “Ring of Fire” in 1963, and he capped off his late 1960s comeback with this hilarious Shel Silverstein song, recorded live at San Quentin Prison, which peaked at #2, blocked from #1 by “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones.

Tammy Wynette—“Stand by Your Man” (1969)—The First Lady of Country Music had already topped the Ccuntry charts five times, including with this song co-written with her producer Billy Sherrill, when it was featured in the soundtrack of the film Five Easy Pieces starring Jack Nicholson, spurring it on to crossover success at #19 on the pop charts.

Glen Campbell—“Wichita Lineman” (1969)—The second of three Jimmy Webb-penned crossover classics—“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” came first and “Galveston” followed it, but “Wichita Lineman” was the biggest hit, reaching  #3 on the pop charts.

Many of these recordings are available here.