You could easily claim it’s one of the greatest songs in pop music history.
It deputed at #81 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and then jumped to #7 the following week - the biggest one week jump in the chart’s history. Then it knocked The Beatles “Hey Jude” out of the #1 spot, and of course it was #1 on the Country chart as well.
Pretty hard to beat that! And both Tom T. Hall and Jeannie C. Riler were newcomers to the business, and she didn’t even like the song at first.
"Harper Valley PTA" was a great song, so I'm glad it knocked out "Hey Jude". The whiny-voiced McCartney songs of The Beatles' last couple of years I could do without ("Lady Madonna" being an exception). Of course, I thought "Rubber Soul"/"Revolver" was their peak, but that's just me.