 In December 1962 , Frank Ifield 's version of " Lovesick Blues " topped the UK Singles Chart , and reached number forty @-@ four on the Billboard Hot 100 the following month . Gramophone compared his singing to a " rough and raucous Jimmie Rodgers " . Meanwhile , Elizabethan delivered a negative review , stating : " No true country singer would dare do to a Hank Williams number what Frank Ifield has done to ' Lovesick Blues ' . " The review finished by declaring that Ifield had " none of Jim Reeves ' depth and character , nor of the subtle melodic quality ( of ) Don Gibson . " By the end of February 1963 , Billboard estimated that the single had sold close to a million copies worldwide . 
