Editing Clint Black (section)

===1989–1991: Breakthrough===
Black soon signed with RCA in October of 1987, and at the time, RCA was considered one of the "most aggressive" labels in country music.<ref name=racine>{{citation |last=Racine |first=Marty |title=Clint Black wows home crowd |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |date=May 8, 1989 |page=Star, p. 1 |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1989_622002 |access-date=April 9, 2009}}</ref> His first album, ''[[Killin' Time (Clint Black album)|Killin' Time]]'', was released in 1989.  Each song on the album was penned at least in part by Black; four of them were attributed solely to him, while the rest were collaborations with Nicholas.  In a departure from most other country albums, Black used his road band instead of session musicians to record ''Killin' Time''.<ref name=mitchell1989 /> The album was a critical and commercial success,<ref name=graff /> reaching [[List of number-one country albums of 1990 (U.S.)|number one]] on the [[Billboard Country Albums|''Billboard'' Country Albums]] chart and certified platinum in 1990.<ref name=mitchell1991>{{citation |last=Mitchell |first=Rick |title=Clint Black's time has come |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |date=January 2, 1991 |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1991_754465 |access-date=April 9, 2009 |page=Section A, p. 15}}</ref> He made his debut in 1989 with the single, "[[A Better Man (Clint Black song)|A Better Man]]", which reached number one on the [[Hot Country Songs|''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs]] in early June. This marked the first time in 14 years that a debut single by a male artist had peaked at the top of the chart.<ref name=mitchell1989 /> In total, five singles off of his debut album reached number one, the first time any country artist had accomplished this feat.<ref name=hodges2000 /> Black won the [[Country Music Association]]'s Horizon Award for best newcomer in 1989.<ref name=long /><ref>{{cite web |title=23rd Annual CMA Awards |url=http://www.cmt.com/microsites/cma/archives/1989.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081021035701/http://www.cmt.com/microsites/cma/archives/1989.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 21, 2008 |publisher=CMT |access-date=July 13, 2012}}</ref> At the end of the year, his singles, "A Better Man" and "[[Killin' Time (Clint Black song)|Killin' Time]]" place number one and number two on the year-end country singles charts.  It had been 36 years since another artist had claimed both top spots in a single year.<ref name=long /> Looking back at the early stages of his career, Black recalled: "'At one point, I knew I crossed this line out of obscurity and I felt like no matter what happened from that point on I would always be remembered for ''Killin' Time''. There was this kind of mixed feeling of remorse and excitement.'"<ref name=mitchell1992>{{citation |last=Mitchell |first=Rick |title=New Album: New Image – Clint Black |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |date=July 5, 1992 |page=Zest, p. 16 |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1992_1065589 |access-date=April 9, 2009}}</ref>

In late 1990, the ''Los Angeles Times'' surveyed country music industry insiders to determine which acts could be expected to sell the most records over the next seven years.<ref group=Note>Seven years was the typical length of a recording contract.</ref> Black placed second in the poll, two votes behind [[Garth Brooks]].  The survey results were surprising in that 10 of the top 20 artists named were relative newcomers to the industry; in the past, country music had been dominated by artists with several decades experience.<ref name=hilburn>{{cite news |last=Hilburn |first=Robert |title=Country's new crop |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 30, 1990 |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1991_755354 |access-date=April 9, 2009}}</ref> The plethora of new acts confused some reviewers, however.  Many reviewers lumped many of the new acts together; as ''Newsweek''{{’}}s David Gates wrote: "Good song, good voice, hot band: who cares which one it is this time?"<ref name=gates />  Black soon became known as one of Nashville's "hat acts"; like other country artists such as [[Tracy Lawrence]], [[Alan Jackson]], and [[John Michael Montgomery]], Black was a relative newcomer who wore a hat, and had "clean, neotraditional sound with pop appeal".<ref name=gates />

''Killin' Time'' was certified platinum in 1990.  Black's second album, ''[[Put Yourself in My Shoes]]'', was released in November 1990.  It reached number two on the country chart and was in the top 20 on the pop album charts.<ref name=mitchell1991 /> This success on the pop charts resulted from a change in the way Billboard calculated album sales; a new reliance on [[Nielsen SoundScan]] instead of information from selected record stores showed that sales of country albums had previously been under counted.<ref name=gates>{{citation |last=Gates |first=David |newspaper=Newsweek |title=New Kids on the Range |date=October 7, 1991 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/127087 |access-date=April 9, 2009}}</ref> The album did not meet with as much critical acclaim as his debut, but nonetheless still included several hit singles. He began touring with [[Alabama (American band)|Alabama]].

Black has been a member of the [[Grand Ole Opry]] since 1991.<ref>{{cite web|title=Opry Member List PDF |url=http://www.opry.com/img/Opry%20Members%20List.pdf |date=April 23, 2012 |access-date=June 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607030858/http://www.opry.com/img/Opry%20Members%20List.pdf |archive-date=June 7, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Clint Black |url=http://www.opry.com/artists/b/Black_Clint.html |access-date=June 29, 2012 |archive-date=May 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525022256/http://www.opry.com/artists/b/Black_Clint.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>