“Forever And Ever, Amen” was chosen to be the lead-off single from the new album, debuting on Billboard’s country singles chart on April 25, 1987. Warner Bros. released the “Always And Forever” album on May 4th. Within two months it had gone platinum with over a million units sold, largely due to the incredible power of “Forever And Ever, Amen,” which had reached #1 on June 13th and stayed there for three weeks, the first single to do that since Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ For Love” seven years earlier. “Forever And Ever, Amen” picked up two Grammy awards and earned honors as “Single of the Year” from the Country Music Association (Travis also garnered a “Male Vocalist of the Year” trophy at the CMA telecast), and “Song of the Year” from the Academy of Country Music.
Meanwhile, Randy’s “Always And Forever” album was still racking up big sales and big chart numbers. On July 11, 1987 it became the first country album to reach the Top 20 of Billboard’s pop album chart since Kenny Rogers’ “Eyes That See In The Dark” in November of 1983. On June 4, 1988, “Always And Forever” (which by then had gone triple-platinum) completed a remarkable run: 43 weeks at the top of Billboard’s country album chart. That easily eclipsed the previous mark of 28 weeks at #1 for Alabama’s “Mountain Music.”
