# On This Day in 1980, Waylon Jennings Was at No. 1 With Every Outlaw’s Favorite TV Theme

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/on-this-day-in-1980-waylon-jennings-was-at-no-1-with-every-outlaws-favorite-tv-theme/
- Published: 2026-11-03T23:45:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T08:08:27+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/on-this-day-in-1980-waylon-jennings-was-at-no-1-with-every-outlaws-favorite-tv-theme/
- Topics: Americas, Entertainment, TV, World

## Key points

- Jennings’s Dukes of Hazzard theme topped the country chart in 1980.
- It reached No. 21 on the pop chart.
- The TV and single versions have different arrangements.

## Summary

On 3 November 1980, Waylon Jennings’s “Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol’ Boys)” topped the US Hot Country Songs chart. Its role as the opening theme to a popular television series helped make it one of Jennings’s best-known songs, and it became his biggest hit on the pop chart.

Jennings had narrated the 1975 film Moonrunners, which inspired the series, and was asked to reprise that role as The Balladeer and record the theme. He released the song as a single in August 1980, after the show’s second season; it sold more than a million copies and reached No. 21 on the pop chart. The television and album versions differ: the TV recording features banjo and a line followed by John Schneider’s “Yee-haw!”, while the single uses a musical bridge.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.