Chart Of All Time - 1952

by Tom Eames

Al Martino This was the year that would change a lot of people's lives for a long time, for this year saw the first ever UK music chart. The New Musical Express (NME) produced the first ever British chart that reflected the record sales in the UK each week. The first chart was a Top 12 on the 14th November, and the chart size stayed like that until October 1954.

The first ever chart included quite a few big names that you may recognise, including Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Nat 'King' Cole, Frankie Laine, Doris Day & Guy Mitchell. However, the first ever No. 1 went to Al Martino's "Here In My Heart", which stayed there for seven weeks and a further two in 1953, also being the first ever Christmas No. 1.

Al Martino Jo Stafford stayed at No. 2 for six of those weeks with "You Belong To Me". Other than that, there isn't much you can comment on this year as there were only seven weeks. But it was the first ever year to compile the British Singles Charts, something that many people would enjoy and talk about.

Here are the 20 best charting singles of the year:

No.	Artist	Single	Points
1	Al Martino	Here In My Heart	10.59
2	Jo Stafford and the Paul Weston Orchestra	You Belong To Me	8.30
3	Bing Crosby	The Isle of Innisfree	6.89
4	Guy Mitchell	Feet Up (Put Him On The Po-Po)	6.74
5	Rosemary Clooney	Half As Much / Botch-A-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)	6.59
6	Mario Lanza	Because You're Mine	5.89
7	Nat 'King' Cole	Somewhere Along The Way	5.87
8	Frankie Laine	High Noon	5.26
9	Doris Day and Frankie Laine with Carl Fischer's Orchestra	Sugarbush	4.54
10	Vera Lynn	Forget Me Not	4.03
11	Ray Martin Concert Orchestra	Blue Tango	2.94
12	Vera Lynn	The Homing Waltz	2.23
13=	Nat 'King' Cole	Because You're Mine	1.69
13=	Mantovani	White Christmas	1.69
15	Johnnie Ray with the Four Lads	Faith Can Move Mountains	1.62
16	Kay Starr	Comes-A-Long-A-Love	1.60
17=	Louis Armstrong	Takes Two To Tango	1.57
17=	Bing Crosby	Silent Night	1.57
19	Tony Brent	Walkin' To Missouri	1.54
20	Doris Day with the Percy Faith Orchestra	My Love and Devotion	1.48

Here are the ten most successfully charting artists of 1952:

No.	Artist	Points
1	Al Martino	11.34
2	Bing Crosby	9.93
3	Frankie Laine	9.80
4	Jo Stafford	9.77
5	Paul Weston Orchestra	8.30
6	Nat 'King' Cole	7.56
7	Vera Lynn	6.99
8	Guy Mitchell	6.74
9	Rosemary Clooney	6.59
10	Doris Day	6.02

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