"I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World" is a song made famous by country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Ronnie Milsap

Ronnie Milsap

Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...

. Originally released in 1981

1981 in country music

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1981.-Events:*March 14 — The final showing of Live From The Grand Ole Opry on the Public Broadcasting System occurs on this night...

, the song became one of his biggest hits in his recording career and came during the peak of his crossover

Crossover (music)

Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...

 success.

Tom Jurek, a music reviewer and writer for Allmusic, cited "I Wouldn't Have Missed It ..." as "urban cowboy country music in its purest essence," referring to the pop crossover-style of country music that was in vogue during the early 1980s. The song — which prominently featured backing vocals, a harp and acoustic guitar — had a chorus that, wrote Jurek, "is so infectious it could be heard being hummed and whistled on street corners and its words being sung in barrooms and dancehalls throughout the rest of 1981."

Chart performance

His 19th No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart in January 1982, "I Wouldn't Have Missed It For the World" reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart. The song also reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Singles

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 chart.

A video was also produced of the song, and it has aired on The Nashville Network

Spike TV

Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

, CMT

Country Music Television

Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...

 and GAC

Great American Country

Great American Country , is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.-History:The station launched December 31, 1995 and Garth Brooks' video "The Thunder Rolls" was the first video to air on GAC....

.

Chart (1981-1982)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	20
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	3
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1

Sources

• Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
• Whitburn, Joel, "Top Pop Singles: 1955-2006," 2007.