Today in Country Music April 18

 On this day in 2011, Darius Rucker was #1 on Mediabase and Billboard's country singles chart with "This," marking Rucker's fifth time at the top of the country charts.

Today in 2006, Jo Dee Messina talked about having finished the Boston marathon the day before in her home state.

Brooks & Dunn scored their 19^th number one with "Ain’t Nothing 'Bout You" in 2001.

And on this day in 2000, George Strait's Latest Greatest Straitest Hits collection was certified platinum.

With a career that started in the early 90’s, 26 albums that have been certified platinum or multi-platinum, and countless number-one and Top-Ten hits, it was probably easy for George Strait to gather some songs for a greatest-hits album. The cream of the crop turn up here, drawn from his four studio albums. "Carrying Your Love With Me," "Adalida," "Blue Clear Sky," and "Today My World Slipped Away" are just a few of the celebrated songs that grace this prodigious 15-song anthology. But no country artist's greatest-hits album is complete without the obligatory addition of at least two new songs, and Strait fulfilled that obligation with a slightly appealing duet with fellow country artist Alan Jackson, crooning about "Murder on Music Row," and "The Best Day."