Some Gave All
Studio album by
Billy Ray Cyrus
ReleasedMay 19, 1992 (1992-05-19)
Recorded1991–1992
StudioMusic Mill Recording Studio; Nashville, Tennessee
GenreCountry
Length35:42
LabelMercury
Producer
  • Joe Scaife
  • Jim Cotton
Billy Ray Cyrus chronology
Some Gave All
(1992) 		It Won't Be the Last
(1993)
Singles from Some Gave All
  1. "Achy Breaky Heart"
    Released: March 23, 1992
  2. "Could've Been Me"
    Released: July 22, 1992
  3. "Wher'm I Gonna Live?"
    Released: October 17, 1992
  4. "She's Not Cryin' Anymore"
    Released: January 23, 1993

Some Gave All is the debut studio album by American singer Billy Ray Cyrus. It was his first album for Mercury Records in 1992 and became the best selling album of that year in the United States, selling over 9 million copies in the first 12 months of release. It produced four hit singles on the Billboard country charts. The first of these was Cyrus's breakthrough song "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the charts in several countries. In the US it was a five-week number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, as well as a top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It became the first single ever to achieve triple Platinum status in Australia and was the best-selling single of 1992 in the same country.[1][2] Thanks to the video of the song, there was an explosion of line dancing into the mainstream, becoming a craze.[3][4][5][6] The song earned Grammy Award nominations for Cyrus in the categories Record of the Year and Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. That same year, Cyrus also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. "Achy Breaky Heart" was originally recorded as "Don't Tell My Heart" by The Marcy Brothers on their 1991 self-titled album.

"Could've Been Me", "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" and "She's Not Cryin' Anymore" were also released as singles, peaking at numbers 2, 23, and 6, respectively, on the country charts. The title track also reached number 52 based on unsolicited airplay and Cyrus' cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" charted only outside the United States.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Entertainment WeeklyD+[8]
Orlando Sentinel[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
The Village VoiceC+[11]

Reviewing for The Village Voice in December 1992, Robert Christgau was critical of Cyrus for "oversinging like Michael Bolton at a Perot rally" throughout the album and for celebrating warfare in the title song. However, he offered some approval of Cyrus's "nice macho self-mockery" on "Achy Breaky Heart", "Wher'm I Gonna Live?", and "I'm So Miserable", concluding that with time he may develop into a 21st-century version of Waylon Jennings.[11]

In 2006, Some Gave All ranked at number 33 in Q magazine's list of "The 50 Worst Albums Ever!"[12]

Commercial performance

Overall, the album is his most successful album to date, which has been certified 9× Multi-Platinum in the United States and is the longest time spent by a debut artist at number one on the Billboard 200 (17 consecutive weeks) and most consecutive chart-topping weeks in the SoundScan era.[13][14] It is the only album (from any genre) in the SoundScan era to log 17 consecutive weeks at number one and is also the top-ranking debut album by a country artist. It ranked 43 weeks in the top 10, a total topped by only one country album in history, Ropin' the Wind by Garth Brooks.[15] Some Gave All was also the first debut album to enter at the number 1 in the Billboard Country Albums chart.[16] The album has also sold more than 20 million copies worldwide[17] and is the best-selling debut album of all time for a solo artist and remains one of the biggest selling albums of all time. Some Gave All was also the best-selling album of 1992 in the US with 4.7 million copies sold.[18] As of April 2019 the album has sold 7.5 million copies in United States according to Nielsen Music.[19]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Could've Been Me"
3:44
2."Achy Breaky Heart"Don Von Tress3:23
3."She's Not Cryin' Anymore"
3:25
4."Wher'm I Gonna Live?"
  • B.R. Cyrus
  • Cindy Cyrus
3:29
5."These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"Lee Hazlewood2:47
6."Someday, Somewhere, Somehow"B.R. Cyrus3:47
7."Never Thought I'd Fall in Love with You"
  • Jim McKnight
  • Mike Murphy
3:41
8."Ain't No Good Goodbye"
  • Barton Stevens
  • B.R. Cyrus
  • Kevin White
3:22
9."I'm So Miserable"
  • B.R. Cyrus
  • Corky Holbrook
3:59
10."Some Gave All"
  • B.R. Cyrus
  • C. Cyrus
4:05
Total length:35:42

Personnel

Adapted credits from the media notes of Some Gave All.[20]

Sly Dog

Additional musicians

Production

Chart positions

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US Country
[33] 		US
[33] 		CAN Country CAN
[34][35] 		AUS
[36] 		GER
[37] 		IRE
[38] 		NL
[39] 		NZ
[40] 		UK
[41]
1992 "Achy Breaky Heart" 1 4 1 4 1 62 2 23 1 3
"Could've Been Me" 2 72 1 72 43 59 15 28 7 24
"Wher'm I Gonna Live?" 23 — 16 — — — — — — —
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" — — — — — — — 27 42 63
1993 "She's Not Cryin' Anymore" 6 70 3 — — — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Other charted songs

Year Single Peak chart positions
US Country
[33] 		CAN Country
1992 "Some Gave All" 52 86

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[44] 3× Platinum 210,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[45] Diamond 1,000,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[47] Platinum 80,000[46]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[48] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[49] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[50] 9× Platinum 9,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Hurst, Jack (1993-07-04). "ACHY BREAKY START BRUISED BY THE CRITICS, BILLY RAY CYRUS IS COMING BACK FOR MORE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  2. ^ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 50 Singles 1992". ARIA. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  3. ^ "Line dancing refuses to go out of style". Star-News. 1992-10-30. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
  4. ^ "Stepping to country fun". The Gazette (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City). 1993-04-17. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
  5. ^ "Cyrus sets off dance craze". The Daily Courier. 1994-07-25. Retrieved 2010-08-12. [dead link]
  6. ^ "This time around, the country craze proves to have some staying power". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 1995-06-13. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
  7. ^ AllMusic review
  8. ^ Entertainment Weekly review
  9. ^ Gettelman, Parry (June 12, 1992). "Billy Ray Cyrus". Orlando Sentinel.
  10. ^ Rolling Stone review
  11. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (December 1, 1992). "Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. Retrieved August 28, 2020 – via robertchristgau.com.
  12. ^ "The 50 Worst Albums Ever!". Q (238). Bauer Media Group. May 2006.
  13. ^ Billy Ray Cyrus Explores His Gospel 'Side'. Billboard Magazine. 2003-10-18. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
  14. ^ "Mariah Carey Can't Stop Taylor Swift". Yahoo!. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
  15. ^ "Chart Watch Extra: Ropin' The Biggest Country Hits". Yahoo!. 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  16. ^ Hurst, Jack (1992-10-16). "COUNTRIFIED KATHY MATTEA IS BACK IN VOICE WITH 'LONESOME STANDARD TIME'". OrlandoSentinel. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  17. ^ Dunkerley, Beville (2 June 2014). "Billy Ray Cyrus Goes 'The Distance' – Premiere". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  18. ^ Philips, Chuck (January 5, 1993). "Cyrus, Brooks Give Their All to Record Sales". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  19. ^ Unterberger, Andrew (16 April 2019). "No Artist Has Ever Had a Career on the Billboard Charts Like Billy Ray Cyrus". Billboard. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  20. ^ Some Gave All (media notes). Billy Ray Cyrus. Mercury. 1992. 314-510 635-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus US Country Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  22. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  23. ^ "Issue date April 7, 1992". RPM. 1992-04-07. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  24. ^ "Issue date August 1, 1992". RPM. 1992-08-01. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  25. ^ "UK charts archive". Everyhit. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  26. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus France charts". InfoDisc. Archived from the original on 2015-07-20. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  27. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus German charts". Musicline: Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 2012-09-28. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  28. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus – Dutch Albums Chart". dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  29. ^ Fernando Salaverri (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE, 2005. ISBN 978-84-8048-639-2.
  30. ^ "Some Gave All Oceanian and some European Charts". IFPI Switzerland. Archived from the original on 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  31. ^ "Top Country Catalog Albums 1995-08-12". Billboard. August 12, 1995. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  32. ^ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade – The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  33. ^ a b c "allmusic ((( Billy Ray Cyrus > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  34. ^ "Issue date July 25, 1992". RPM. 1992-07-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  35. ^ "Issue date October 31, 1992". RPM. 1992-10-31. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  36. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus – Australian Singles Chart". australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  37. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus German charts". Musicline: Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 2012-10-09. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  38. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus in the Irish Charts". The Irish Charts – All there is to know. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  39. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus – Dutch Top 40 Chart". top40.nl. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  40. ^ "Billy Ray Cyrus – New Zealand Singles Chart". charts.nz. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  41. ^ "The Official Charts Company – Billy Ray Cyrus". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  42. ^ "RIAA singles for "Achy Breaky Heart"". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  43. ^ "BPI certification results". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  44. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1992 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  45. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Billy Ray Cyrus – Some Gave All". Music Canada. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  46. ^ Dezzani, Mark (23 July 1994). "Some Gave Discs". Billboard. p. 44. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  47. ^ "Danish album certifications – Billy Ray Cyrus – Some Gave All". IFPI Danmark. Scroll through the page-list below to obtain certification.
  48. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Billy Ray Cyrus – Some Gave All". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  49. ^ "British album certifications – Billy Ray Cyrus – Some Gave All". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  50. ^ "American album certifications – Billy Ray Cyrus – Some Gave All". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
Categories