Chart Of All Time - 1968

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by Tom Eames

After three more weeks at the top for The Beatles with "Hello Goodbye", Georgie Fame got to No. 1 with "The Ballad Of Bonnie & Clyde", which was inspired but not used in the movie, "Bonnie & Clyde", which was followed by popular teen quartet Love Affair, with "Everlasting Love". Manfred Mann returned to No. 1 with "The Mighty Quinn", a song written by Bob Dylan, and their only No. 1 sang by Mike D'Abo. After appearing on such shows as Rolf Harris and Eamonn Andrews, Esther & Abi Ofarim rocketed up the charts to the No. 1 position with novelty record "Cinderella Rockafella". Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich who had already had massive success in the charts, finally got their first and final No. 1 for a week with "Legend Of Xanadu".

The Beatles reached No. 1 yet again with "Lady Madonna", a song recorded by McCartney when the others were meditating in India. Cliff Richard was stil around of course, and got to No. 1 with "Congratulations", runner up in the Eurovision Song Contest (he was robbed), and was his biggest worldwide seller to date. The best charting song of the year went to the very talented Louis Armstrong with "What A Wonderful World / Cabaret". It took 10 weeks to reach No. 1 and then spent five weeks there. He still holds the record for the oldest artist ever to reach the top.

The best charting act of the year was sex bomb Tom Jones. He had two very high charting singles, both of which failed to reach the top but did extremely well in the charts. The first was "Delilah" which got to No. 2 and spent 17 weeks in the chart, and the other was "Help Yourself" which got to No. 5 but spent 20 weeks in the chart, and this of course wasn't the end of Tom. The fifth best charting song of the year was "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, who sold more singles in the US in 1968 than The Beatles, and stayed at the top for four weeks. The Rolling Stones returned after a two year absence to reach the top with "Jumpin' Jack Flash", with more of their earlier sound.

Eddy Grant's The Equals reached No. 1 with "Baby Come Back", a classic reggae track, which would return to No. 1 for Pato Banton in 1994. The third best charter of the year was popular TV presenter Des O'Connor (who of course is still presenting today), for a week with "I Pretend", a song penned by the same writers who provided No. 1s for Engelbert and Tom Jones. Tommy James & The Shondells who were very popular in the US had their only UK hit with "Mony Mony" which spent three weeks at the top.

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, fronted by a future priest, had a one hit wonder hit with "Fire" which stayed at the top for a single week, but insipred clothing for the likes of Alice Cooper. Although we didn't get to see much sun and surf over here, it didn't stop The Beach Boys to get their final No. 1 with "Do It Again" for a week. The Bee Gees scored a No. 1 with "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", the second No. 1 in the late 1960s about a man on death row. The Beatles' biggest hit of the year was the absolute classic, "Hey Jude" (usually said to be their best). It was the longest No. 1 to date (7 mins 10 secs), and spent 9 weeks at No. 1 in the US, which no one could better in the 60s.

The second best charter of the year was "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkins, which got to No. 1 for six weeks, and was produced by Paul McCartney and was based on Russian folk song, "Darogoi Dimmoyo". The third consecutive Beatle-connected No. 1 went to Joe Cocker, and his cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends", his only chart topper, and reached No. 1 again in 1988 by Wet Wet Wet. The fourth best charter of the year was intrumental classic "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" by Hugo Montenegro, from the movie of the same name. It was the first instrumetal track to hit No. 1 in the US for six years.

The Scaffold, which featured Paul McCartneys brother Mike and funny poet Roger McGough had the Christmas No. 1 in 1968 with the very funny "Lily The Pink", a song about medicinal compounds. Other big songs this year included: "Bend Me Shape Me" by Amen Corner, "Fire Brigade" by Move, "Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding, "This Wheels On Fire" by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" by Dionne Warwick, "My Name Is Jack" by Manfred Mann, "Mrs Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel, "I Say A Little Prayer" by Aretha Franklin and "All Along The Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix.

Here are the 20 best charting singles of the year:

Here are the ten most successfully charting artists of 1968: