Chart Of All Time - 1959

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by Matthew Dixon

On into 1959 we go - and there were still three more weeks of Conway Twitty topping the chart to sit through. The classic "Tea For Two Cha-Cha"'s 1950s remake made its highest chart position through this time, Jane Morgan topped the chart for a week - but the first really big new hit was the new Elvis hit, "I Got Stung", kicking off yet another big year for him. We have to thank him for keeping an act called the Teddy Bears off the top of the chart, however he also kept another more famous song off the top of the chart.

1957 saw the debut of Shirley Bassey - but she was relatively quiet after her first hit, until "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me" came out - the classic film theme tune. Elvis managed to keep it off the top of the chart, but Shirley's next hit "As I Love You" that knocked Elvis off the top, and managed to be one of the biggest charting hits of the year. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by the Platters is another classic song but it only managed one week at the top of the chart, to be quickly usurped by the best charting hit of the year, by the best charting artist of the year - Russ Conway.

The piano player was massive in 1959, charted every year from 1957-62 but is largely forgotten about nowadays. This track, the first of his No. 1s, "Side Saddle" managed four weeks at the top of the chart. Then Buddy Holly had three weeks with "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and then one of Elvis's biggest hits "(Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I" had a further seven weeks at the top. Ricky Nelson's "It's Late" and Chris Barber's Jazz Band's "Petite Fleur" were amongst the tracks that were kept off the top of the chart during this period - although both were massive charters. In fact, by the time that "A Fool Such As I" had left the top of the chart, the next Russ Conway chart topper, "Roulette" had come to replace it for a couple of weeks, meaning that these three men held the top of the chart for 14 weeks!

Anthony Newley's "I've Waited So Long" came, stayed around for ages, peaked at No. 3 and then left, Marty Wilde had two massive hits with a total of 35 weeks on the chart between them. Bobby Darin got his first chart topper with "Dream Lover" which itself stayed on the top of the chart for four weeks, only to be usurped by one of the most famous hits of the decade.

Cliff Richard's last No.  was in 1999, but you have to go back over 40 years from "The Millennium Prayer" to find his first No. 1; single, the classic "Living Doll". He had a massive year, with that being one of eight hits to chart in the year, but he still didn't really have a continuous run of consistent charting hits - with the previous hit only making No. 21 and the follow-up only making No. 16. He held the top spot amidst competition from Lonnie Donegan and Paul Anka's biggest hits of the year, "Battle Of New Orleans" and "Lonely Boy" respectively, together with the Connie Francis classic "Lipstick On Your Collar", and "I Know" by Perry Como which managed 16 weeks on the chart, without ever getting higher than No. 13.

It was left to Craig Douglas to knock Cliff off the top spot for the first time with his hit "Only Sixteen". After a one-week wonder from Jerry Keller, the stage was set for two weeks at the top for the best known version of another of the 1950s' greatest hits - Bobby Darin's version of "Mack The Knife". It only had two weeks at the top of the chart, because Cliff Richard was back with "Travellin' Light" and yet another five weeks at the top of the chart.

Johnny and the Hurricanes never quite topped the chart with "Red River Rock" but Cliff couldn't hold on in the top 2 for the end of the year, however, as December held the massive battle. It was between the not-to-be-confused "What Do You Want" by Adam Faith and "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For" by Emile Ford and the Checkmates. Adam won for two weeks, then they had one week equal at the top, before Emile took over.

Here are the 20 best charting singles of the year:

Here are the ten most successfully charting artists of 1959: