This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1978.

Events

• March 4 — The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) telecasts the first complete Grand Ole Opry show from the new Grand Ole Opry House as it happened from 6–9 pm. The show featured Del Reeves, The Willis Brothers, Billy Grammer, Lonzo and Oscar, Bill Monroe, Porter Wagoner, Roy Acuff, The Crook Brothers, The Fruit Jar Drinkers, Ronnie Milsap, Grandpa Jones, George Hamilton IV and others. The show would run over about 18 minutes the first night. The telecast would repeat from 1979 to 1981.
• March 25 — "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson becomes the last song for 12 years to spend four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. There wouldn't be another four-week No. 1 until "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart" by Randy Travis in April 1990. The trend of fewer (and shorter) multi-week runs at No. 1 on Billboard, even for the year's biggest hits, is the result of changes in radio programming and the magazine's reporting methods.
• May 6 — Bob Kingsley takes over hosting duties of "American Country Countdown," a stint that will last 27 years. He had been a producer of the radio countdown show since 1974.
• May 24 — The United States Postal Service issues a 13-cent commemorative stamp honoring Jimmie Rodgers, one of the genre's pioneers. The Rodgers stamp, designed by artist Jim Sharpe, is the first in the Postal Service's long-running Performing Arts Series.
• September — The Donna Fargo Show premieres in television syndication. The new show's debut comes around the same time Fargo was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She receives successful medical treatment and with her husband's help, makes it back to excellent health.
• October 4 — One of Nashville's most mysterious crimes involves the reported abduction and beating of Tammy Wynette. Media reports said that Wynette had been abducted by a masked man at a shopping center before the beating. No suspects were ever named or arrested. While Wynette would insist the story was true, her daughter raised doubts, claiming the incident was fabricated to cover physical abuse from her newlywed husband, songwriter/producer George Richey.
• October 21 — Fans of Mel Street are saddened when the honky tonk-styled singer, who had long battled clinical depression and alcoholism, committed suicide on his 43rd birthday. He had signed a recording contract with Mercury Records earlier in the year.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

United States

(as certified by Billboard)

Canada

(as certified by RPM)

Other major hits

Singles released by American artists

Singles released by Canadian artists

Top new album releases

¹ A collection of Crystal Gayle's earliest recordings from the early 1970s.

Other albums

Christmas albums

• Christmas Card – Statler Brothers (Mercury/Polygram)

Births

• February 25 — Shawna Thompson, of Thompson Square.
• April 15 — Chris Stapleton, male vocalist who helped revive the blues-soul sound of country music in the 2010s, most notably with the album Traveller.
• June 13 – Jason Michael Carroll, late 2000s-to-early 2010s male vocalist best known for "Alyssa Lies."
• July 21 — Brad Mates, lead singer of Canadian band Emerson Drive.
• July 31 — Zac Brown, lead singer of his eponymously named band, who began having hits in the late 2000s.
• September 14 — Danielle Peck, up-and-coming country music star

Deaths

• June 12 — Johnny Bond, 63, singer of the 1940s through 1960s, best known for his novelty songs about drunkenness (heart attack).
• October 21 — Mel Street, 43, honky tonk-styled artist and one of the most promising new artists of the 1970s (suicide).
• October 23 — Maybelle Carter, 69, singer and songwriter of the Carter Family and mother of Anita, Helen and June Carter Cash.
• December 16 — Jenny Lou Carson, 63, first female to write a #1 country hit ("You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often").

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

• Grandpa Jones (1913–1998)

Major awards

Grammy Awards

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Here You Come Again", Dolly Parton
• Best Male Country Vocal Performance — "Georgia on My Mind", Willie Nelson
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys", Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson
• Best Country Instrumental Performance — "One O'Clock Jump", Asleep at the Wheel
• Best Country Song — "The Gambler", Don Schlitz (Performer: Kenny Rogers)

Juno Awards

• Country Male Vocalist of the Year — Ronnie Prophet
• Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Carroll Baker
• Country Group or Duo of the Year — The Good Brothers

Academy of Country Music

• Entertainer of the Year — Kenny Rogers
• Song of the Year — "You Needed Me", Randy Goodrum (Performer: Anne Murray)
• Single of the Year — "Tulsa Time", Don Williams
• Album of the Year — Y'all Come Back Saloon, The Oak Ridge Boys
• Top Male Vocalist — Kenny Rogers
• Top Female Vocalist — Barbara Mandrell
• Top Vocal Group — The Oak Ridge Boys
• Top New Male Vocalist — John Conlee
• Top New Female Vocalist — Cristy Lane

Country Music Association

• Entertainer of the Year — Dolly Parton
• Song of the Year — "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", Richard Leigh (Performer: Crystal Gayle)
• Single of the Year — "Heaven's Just a Sin Away", The Kendalls
• Album of the Year — It Was Almost Like a Song, Ronnie Milsap
• Male Vocalist of the Year — Don Williams
• Female Vocalist of the Year — Crystal Gayle
• Vocal Duo of the Year — Kenny Rogers and Dottie West
• Vocal Group of the Year — The Oak Ridge Boys
• Instrumentalist of the Year — Roy Clark
• Instrumental Group of the Year — The Oak Ridge Boys Band