July 1, 2000: Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert had a crossover hit when "I Hope You Dance" moved into the Billboard's Top 40.
“I Hope You Dance,” recorded by Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert, and written by Tia Sillers and Mark D. Sanders, was one of 2000’s most successful singles in several genres, and is one of only a handful of songs in the past two decades that can truly be considered a classic.
June 29, 1968: Johnny Cash had a cross-over hit when "Folsom Prison Blues" moved into the American Top 40. It would peak one spot higher, at Number 32.
June 28, 1986: Madonna entered Billboard's Hot 100 more than halfway to the top, at Number 42, with "Papa Don't Preach."
Madonna’s True Blue was her third album, but it was the first one she made when she was already a massive star.
Madonna
Madonna made club music, post-disco dance-pop. Even her ballads nodded to that sound. So it must’ve been at least a little jarring for people to hear the fussy, rococo strings that open “Papa Don’t Preach.”
June 28, 1969: Creedence Clearwater Revival peaked at Number 2 in the US with the lead single from their Green River LP, "Bad Moon Rising."
The lyric of "Bad Moon Rising" was inspired by a film in which a hurricane wipes out most of a town. This is where John Fogerty got the idea for the words "I feel the hurricane blowin', I hope you're quite prepared to die." Overall, he said the song is about the "apocalypse that was going to be visited upon us."
June 28, 1997: "Listen" by Collective Soul, the second single from their Disciplined Breakdown LP, began it's ascent up Billboard's Hot 100 at Number 79. It didn't get far, peaking at Number 72.
June 28, 2008: Coldplay hit Number 1 in the Us with "Viva La Vida" from their X&Y CD.
"Viva la Vida" was written by all members of the Coldplay for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The track debuted to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot of the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100. The song won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009.
June 27, 1987: After seven weeks on the US chart, Whitney Houston took the top spot with "Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)."
"Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" fell in the middle of a remarkable seven-song run of US #1 hits for Whitney Houston that were spread across her first two albums.
June 24, 2006: Rascal Flatts' cover of Tom Cochrane's "Life Is a Highway," recorded for PIXAR's motion picture Cars, made a big move into the American Top 40, from Number 59 to 25.
Closer to Home, Grand Funk's third album, was the record that really broke them through to the commercially successful level of metal masters such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
June 14, 1997: Puff Daddy debuted at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart with "I’ll Be Missing You."
Rap’s underground/mainstream schism dates to the moment Puff Daddy’s performative act of mourning took over the Hot 100 and became, quite possibly, the biggest rap hit in history to that point.