Faith Hill Planted a ‘Kiss’ at No. 1: Country Chart Rewind to 1998

On May 16, 1998, Faith Hill’s “This Kiss” began a three-week reign on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It became her fifth of nine leaders on the list, among 24 top 10s.

The song was penned by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff. Hill co-produced it with Byron Gallimore.

“This Kiss” was released as the lead single from Hill’s LP Faith, which hit No. 2 on Top Country Albums, marking her third of nine top 10s. She boasts four No. 1s on the survey.

The track became a huge crossover hit, climbing to No. 7 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, as well as No. 3 on Adult Contemporary.

The song became Hill’s second of five Hot 100 top 10s and followed her duet with husband Tim McGraw, “It’s Your Love,” which likewise reached No. 7, in 1997. It dominated Hot Country Songs for six frames.

Hill rose to a No. 2 Hot 100 personal best in 2000 with subsequent country and pop hit “Breathe.” Despite just missing the weekly chart’s apex, the ballad ruled as the list’s No. 1 song for the entire year.

Born in Ridgeland, Miss., in 1967, Hill began a romance with McGraw in 1996 while she toured with him as the opening act on his Spontaneous Combustion trek. They wed in October 1996.

In 2017, the superstar couple released its first collaborative set, The Rest of Our Life, which arrived at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. The album’s “Speak to a Girl” hit No. 6 on Hot Country Songs.

Starting in December 2021, Hill and McGraw starred together on the Paramount+ series 1883, a prequel to the Kevin Costner-starring Yellowstone.