| "Half the Way" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Side A of US single | ||||
| Single by Crystal Gayle | ||||
| from the album Miss the Mississippi | ||||
| B-side | "Room for One More" | |||
| Released | September 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 1978 | |||
| Genre | Country pop, adult contemporary | |||
| Length | 4:03 (Album version) 3:32 (Single version) | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ralph Murphy, Bobby Wood | |||
| Producer(s) | Allen Reynolds | |||
| Crystal Gayle singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Half the Way" is a song written by Ralph Murphy and Bobby Wood, and recorded by American country music artist Crystal Gayle. It was released in September 1979 as the first single from the album Miss the Mississippi.
After achieving major Country crossover success in 1977 with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.", followed by a Top 20 Pop hit and No. 1 Country hit the next year ("Talking In Your Sleep"), Gayle attempted this new crossover piece of music.
After signing with Columbia Records in early 1979, Gayle immediately started recording for them. "Half the Way" was the first song recorded under her new record label. The song's up-tempo, soft rock production made it reach Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart; peaking at number fifteen for the week ending Saturday, December 15, 1979. One month prior, the song climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart for the week ending Saturday, November 3, 1979. It also reached number nine on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Following "Half the Way"'s success, Gayle never achieved another solo Top 40 Pop hit. Her singles did continue to chart on Billboard's Hot Country Singles and A.C. charts, however.
Chart performance
| Chart (1979–1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 2 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 56 |
| South Africa (Springbok) | 4 |
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) | 2 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) | 9 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 15 |
References
- Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 131.
- "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1979-12-08. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- "Crystal Gayle Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
- "Crystal Gayle Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
- "Crystal Gayle Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
