The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th Edition: Complete Chart Information about America's Most Popular Songs and Artists, 1955-2009

912 Pages·2010·1.66 MB·english

by  Joel Whitburn

Copyright © 2010 by Joel Whitburn
The Billboard chart data used in this work is copyright
© 1955 through 2009 by Billboard Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Billboard Books, an
imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Billboard is a registered trademark of Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010930782
eISBN: 978-0-307-98512-5
v3.1

CONTENTS
Author’s Note
Researching the Charts
THE ARTISTS
How To Use this Section
Alphabetical listing by artist of all singles to make the Top 40 of Billboard’s Pop singles charts from 1955 to present
THE SONGS
Alphabetical listing by song title of all singles to make the Top 40 of Billboard’s Pop singles charts from 1955 to present
THE RECORD HOLDERS
Hot 100 Hits of the Rock Era 1955–2009
Top 25 #1 Hits by Decade
Top 100 Artists 1955–2009
Top 25 Artists by Decade
Top 40 Artist Achievements
Most Chart Hits
Most Top 10 Hits
Most #1 Hits
Most Weeks at the #1 Position
#1 Singles Listed Chronologically 1955–2009

AUTHOR’S NOTE
In 1970, I published my first book. It was a compilation of my longtime research of Billboard magazine’s
pop singles charts. I titled this 208-page, staple-stitched softcover Record Research—a name that fit so
well that I incorporated it several months later. That first edition not only inspired a business but 150
more books, including a 1,344-page, hardcover twelfth edition now entitled Top Pop Singles.
My first book caught on as a tool for disc jockeys and music professionals, and then with record
collectors the world over. My small business was able to deliver to this select market. As Top Pop
Singles grew in popularity, it became evident that a more limited edition of my research would appeal
to a larger base of music fans, which we did not have the means to reach.
I approached Billboard’s book division, Watson-Guptill Publications, about creating a “spin-off”
version that would go where no other Record Research book had gone before—bookstores. Whereas
my Top Pop Singles book covered every song and artist that hit the Hot 100 chart, in great detail, I
proposed a book covering those that hit the Top 40 of the Hot 100, the songs and artists heard most
frequently on the radio. Jules Perel, then president of Watson-Guptill, came to Wisconsin to meet me
and see if there was any merit to my proposal. It took some convincing for this publisher of art books to
take a chance on a new venture—a mass market music reference book.
In 1983, I flew to New York for the publication of the first edition of The Billboard Book Of Top
40 Hits. To celebrate, I was invited to dinner by Mr. Perel and Mr. W.D. Littleford, the grandson of
the founder of Billboard, who began working there in 1934 and was now the president of Billboard! I
had seen his name on his magazine’s masthead for decades and now we were strolling down Broadway
—quite a thrill for a record collector from Wisconsin! Mr. Littleford picked up a copy of the New York
Times and read, to our amazement, that the book was at #6 on the bestsellers list!
This is our ninth edition—proof that America’s Top 40 hits still have great appeal! And this book
spans the breadth of pop music, from Joan Weber’s “Let Me Go Lover,” the first #1 hit in 1955, to the
Black Eyed Peas’ amazing achievement of holding the #1 spot on the Hot 100 for twenty-six
consecutive weeks! If you’re a trivia buff, this book could be the highlight of your next get-together
with family and friends. For instance, what were Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs two Top 10 gold hits?
Name the teen idol who was married to Nancy Sinatra and whose mother was a big band vocalist.
What female singer from Australia had her only Top 40 hit go platinum in 1978 with her version of a
Bee Gees’ song? Name the famous jazz keyboardist who wrote Mongo Santamaria’s hit “Watermelon
Man”? Which former cast member of TV’s Saturday Night Live had a seasonal hit with “The Chanukah
Song”? And these are just a few teasers from a two-page spread in this book.
My hope is that you’ll have fun as you browse through the thousands of songs and artists that had the
most success on the national charts in the past fifty-five years. You may find yourself thinking, “Wow, I
forgot about that artist,” or “I haven’t heard that song in twenty years!” You will certainly further your
expertise about who recorded what and when, and from where. So, enjoy your trip down memory lane,
and, if you feel inspired to go beyond the Top 40, then stroll over to my website
www.recordresearch.com where you’ll find plenty of more music research books to satisfy every top
music expert in your neighborhood.
JOEL WHITBURN
A special note of thanks to Billboard for a 40-year career as the longest licensee in their history. Thanks
also to my wife, Fran, my daughter, Kim Bloxdorf, and my staff: Jeanne Olynick, Paul Haney, and Brent
Olynick.
RESEARCHING THE CHARTS
This book features America’s most popular songs and artists from the beginning of the rock era through
June 2009. It is an abridged version of Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles book, which includes all of the
songs and artists that hit Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. In the pages ahead, you’ll rediscover the biggest-
selling and most-played hits and recording artists on pop radio from New York to Los Angeles.
The research of Top 40 Hits begins with 1955—the year rock ‘n’ roll scored its first mainstream success
with the chart-topping hit “Rock Around The Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets. At that time,
Billboard magazine published three main pop singles charts: Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played By
Jockeys, and Most Played In Juke Boxes. The research begins with the issue of Billboard dated January
1, 1955, and includes all hits within the Top 40 on the above-mentioned charts, even if they first
charted in 1954. In November of 1955, Billboard introduced their first 100-position chart, The Top
100. These four charts reported on different aspects of the sales and radio airplay of the hottest singles.
Each of these charts are researched in order to impart an intricate picture of popular music of the mid-
1950s.
August 4, 1958, marked the first issue of Billboard to feature the Hot 100 chart. It was Billboard’s first
chart to fully integrate the hottest-selling and most-played singles. Ever since, the Hot 100 has stood the
test of time as the premiere monitor of the most popular songs in America each week. All songs to
make the first forty positions of this 100-position ranking through June of 2009 constitute the bulk of this
book.
For the Hot 100’s first four decades, an essential qualification for a song’s placement on the chart was its
commercial availability in America as a single. The record industry’s practice of releasing singles
commercially declined dramatically in the 1990s. More and more radio hits were ineligible to chart on
the Hot 100, as they were never released as singles. The Hot 100 Airplay chart that Billboard created in
1984 became a valued accompaniment to the Hot 100 chart in providing a thorough picture of each
week’s biggest hits. For this reason, all Top 40 hits of Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart that did not
appear on the Hot 100 chart are included. Billboard made major adjustments to the compilation of their
Hot 100 in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing music marketplace. On December 5, 1998,
Billboard debuted a completely revised Hot 100 that included, for the first time, songs that were not
commercially available in America as singles.
All chart data within Top 40 Hits are related to the charts listed below. The beginning dates researched
are also the debut dates of most charts, with the exception of Best Sellers, Jockeys, and Juke Box charts,
all of which debuted prior to 1955. As “# of Positions” indicates, the size of certain charts varied from
week to week.

BILLBOARD’S POP SINGLES CHARTS 1955–2009
Chart Title Dates Researched # of Positions
Best Sellers In Stores 1/1/55–10/13/58* 25-50
Most Played By Jockeys 1/1/55–7/28/58* 20-25
Most Played In Juke Boxes 1/1/55–6/17/57* 20
Top 100 11/12/55–7/28/58* 100
Hot 100 8/4/58–present 100
Hot 100 Airplay 10/20/84–11/28/98 30-75
* date of final chart
For songs that hit the Top 40 on more than one of the 1950s charts, their chart-by-chart breakdowns
are listed to the right of these titles.
MULTIPLE POP CHARTS 1955–1958
The single’s date (DATE) is taken from the chart on which it first entered the Top 40 if it hit in the
Top 40 on more than one of the following charts published from 1955–58: Best Sellers In Stores, Most
Played By Jockeys, Most Played In Juke Boxes, The Top 100 or Hot 100. The date shown is Billboard’s
actual issue date, and is not taken from the “week ending” dates as shown on the various charts when
they were originally published. (The issue and week ending dates were different until January 13, 1962,
when Billboard began using one date system for both the issue and the charts inside.)
The single’s highest position (POS) is taken from the chart on which it achieved its highest ranking.
The single’s weeks in Top 40 (WKS) and weeks at positions #1 or #2 are taken from the chart on
which it achieved its highest total.
HOT 100 AIRPLAY CHARTS 1984–1998
The data used to compile each week’s Hot 100 chart is also used to compile the weekly Hot 100
Airplay charts. The early Airplay chart was compiled from the most-played songs based on radio station
playlists. From June 8, 1991 through November 23, 1991, the Airplay charts were not compiled from
the same data as the Hot 100. During that period Billboard began compiling the Airplay charts from
data provided by BDS and SoundScan. As of November 30, 1991, Billboard also began compiling the
Hot 100 via BDS and SoundScan; the charts were once again directly related.
The songs that hit the Airplay charts but did not hit the Hot 100 are denoted by the superscript letters
“A” (Airplay chart) in the peak position (POS) column. If a song peaked at #1, #2, or #3, the total
weeks charted at #1, #2, or #3 are shown in parentheses after the peak position.
As mentioned previously, Billboard revamped the Hot 100 on December 5, 1998, and included, for the
first time, songs that were not commercially available in America as singles.
THE ARTISTS
LISTS, ALPHABETICALLY BY ARTIST NAME,
EVERY SONG THAT CHARTED IN THE Top 40
ON BILLBOARD’S POP SINGLES CHARTS
FROM JANUARY 1, 1955
THROUGH JUNE 27, 2009.