Charlie Rich grabbed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his single “The Most Beautiful Girl” on December 15, 1973. The track was released as a single from Rich’s fourth studio album “Behind Closed Doors” for which Rich won three CMA Awards, four ACM Awards and a Grammy. When the track hit number one, it claimed the top spot from "Top of the World" by the Carpenters. Rich held on at number one through December 22, 1973 when he was succeeded by "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. Rich became renowned for blending jazz and blues into country, but while speaking with New York Magazine in 1974, he said it wasn’t always so easy, explaining: “It used to be really rough for us to play in those Southern honky-tonks.”