The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[Splodj]

Marty Wilde 5, Ritchie Valens 30. Yet today when 'Donna' is played on the radio it is always the Ritchie Valens version. Buyers of it would have had the bonus of a B-side (La Bamba) that was still hip enough to make the Top 50 in 1987.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending April 18th 1959

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending April 18th 1959								NME	MM	DISC	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey					75	25	40	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Side Saddle - Russ Conway					1	1	2	1	1	5975
3	2	It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly					2	2	1	2	1	5885
2	3	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters					3	4	3	3	3	5525
5	4	Petite Fleur - Chris Barber					4	3	4	4	6	5355
9	5	Donna - Marty Wilde					5	5	6	5	4	5235
13	6	C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran					6	6	7	6	8	4855
11	7	Charlie Brown - The Coasters					8	8	9	8	5	4755
4	8	My Happiness - Connie Francis					7	10	5	7	7	4625
7	9	Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price					9	7	8	11	10	4435
6	10	As I Love You - Shirley Bassey					10	12	10	9	9	4150
10	11	Gigi - Billy Eckstine					11	9	11	13	11	4070
12	12	The Little Drummer Boy - The Beverly Sisters					12=	11	16	10	14	3735
8	13	A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty					12=	14	12	12	13	3590
14	14	Tomboy - Perry Como					14=	13	13	15	15	3400
15	15	Sing Little Birdie - Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson					14=	16	15	14	12	3345
16	16	Wait For Me / Willingly - Malcolm Vaughan					17	15	18	18	19	2765
NEW	17	It's Late / Never Be Anyone Else But You - Ricky Nelson					16	22	14	16	16	2600
17	18	By The Light Of The Silvery Moon - Little Richard					18	17		20	18	2270
18	19	Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury					19	18			17	1815
19	20	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour - Lonnie Donegan						20		19		1305
20	21	(All Of A Sudden) - My Heart Sings - Paul Anka						19	20			1175
22	22	I Got Stung / One Night - Elvis Presley					20		17		19	1070
28	23	French Foreign Legion - Frank Sinatra						21				750
26	24	Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me - Shirley Bassey						23				600
27	25	Venus - Frankie Avalon								17		560
RE	26	The Little Drummer Boy - Michael Flanders						24				525
23	27	With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair - Pat Boone						25				450
RE	28	Venus - Dickie Valentine						26				375
29	29	Early To Bed - The Poni-Tails						27				300
21	30	Donna - Ritchie Valens							19			300
24		All American Boy - Bill Parsons						28				225
		The Wonderful Secret Of Love - Robert Earl						29				150
25		Manhattan Spiritual - Reg Owen						30				75
30		Problems - The Everly Brothers

[Robbie]

The 4 newspaper charts are pretty much in agreement with the top 6. This week Disc makes the running on some of the climbers.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending April 11th 1959

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending April 11th 1959								NME	MM	DISC	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey					75	25	40	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Side Saddle - Russ Conway					1	1	1	1	1	6000
2	2	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters					2	2	2	2	3	5740
4	3	It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly					3	3	3	3	2	5660
3	4	My Happiness - Connie Francis					4=	4	5	5	4	5335
6	5	Petite Fleur - Chris Barber					4=	5	4	4	5	5265
5	6	As I Love You - Shirley Bassey					6	6	7	6	5	5035
8	7	Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price					7	7	6	11	7	4665
7	8	A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty					8	9	9	7	10	4420
14	9	Donna - Marty Wilde					10	10	14	8	8	4300
10	10	Gigi - Billy Eckstine					9	8	8	12	11	4260
16	11	Charlie Brown - The Coasters					11=	13	13	10	9	3960
9	12	The Little Drummer Boy - The Beverly Sisters					11=	11	12	9	13	3935
15	13	C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran					13	14	10	13	12	3660
11	14	Tomboy - Perry Como					14	12	15	15	14	3485
12	15	Sing Little Birdie - Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson					15	15	11	14	17	3220
17	16	Wait For Me / Willingly - Malcolm Vaughan					16	16	16		16	2400
20	17	By The Light Of The Silvery Moon - Little Richard					17	17	17		15	2360
22	18	Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury					19=	18		19	18	2235
13	19	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour - Lonnie Donegan					18	19		16	19	2220
19	20	(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings - Paul Anka					19=	20	18	17		1710
RE	21	Donna - Ritchie Valens							20		20	935
18	22	I Got Stung / One Night - Elvis Presley						24	19			825
NEW	23	With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair - Pat Boone						21				750
NEW	24	All American Boy - Bill Parsons						22				675
30	25	Manhattan Spiritual - Reg Owen						28		20		665
21	26	Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me - Shirley Bassey						23				600
NEW	27	Venus - Frankie Avalon								18		520
NEW	28	French Foreign Legion - Frank Sinatra						25				450
NEW	29	Early To Bed - The Poni-Tails						26				375
28	30	Problems - The Everly Brothers						27				300
		Baby Face - Little Richard						29				150
25		The Wonderful Secret Of Love - Robert Earl						30				75
23		To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears
24		Lonely One - Duane Eddy
26		Ciao Ciao Bambina - Marino Marini
27		Venus - Dickie Valentine
29		I'll Remember Tonight - Pat Boone

[Splodj]

In a sales-based chart Buddy might have already been number one.

My theory is that sales for 'records with momentum' rise unevenly. So in some stores sales increase slowly but in others they are soaring ahead. This might be why BMRB and Gallup had them shooting up faster than the points-based charts which were unable to reflect sufficiently the 'soaring ahead' aspect. (I would be interested to hear alternative explanations!)

But I don't know why Disc are slowest now - nor why in the 60s, pre-BMRB, NME were fastest. Perhaps the 'soaring ahead' stores were largely the same and speed depended on the proportion of them you had.

[Robbie]

Disc again seems to be a week behind all the other newspaper charts when it comes to records with momentum - 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore', for example, plus records that were new to the UAC top 20. Thankfully it's relatively low sized sales panel doesn't drag down newer hits by much.

[Splodj]

There was one POTP in which their points calculations were revealed. That was the 1966 chart of the year, available on the web. I tried to recreate the points for a few records but gave up, concluding that it was riddled with mistakes.

Just realised that Pub Without is in waltz time, which is unusual for a singalong-type song and adds to its quirkiness. That other Aussie favourite Waltzing Matilda is not in waltz time, so maybe they got them mixed up!

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending April 4th 1959

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending April 4th 1959								NME	MM	DISC	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey					75	25	40	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Side Saddle - Russ Conway					1	1	1	1	1	6000
2	2	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters					2	2	2	2	2	5800
3	3	My Happiness - Connie Francis					3	5	3	3	4	5390
10	4	It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly					5	3	5	10	3	5270
4	5	As I Love You - Shirley Bassey					6	4	6	7	5	5170
5	6	Petite Fleur - Chris Barber					4	6	4	4	6	5130
6	7	A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty					7	8	7	5	8	4745
7	8	Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price					8	7	8	8	7	4735
8	9	The Little Drummer Boy - The Beverly Sisters					9	11	10	6	9	4345
9	10	Gigi - Billy Eckstine					10	9	9	9	10	4340
12	11	Tomboy - Perry Como					11	10	12	14	12	3870
17	12	Sing Little Birdie - Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson					12	12	11	12	19	3405
11	13	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour - Lonnie Donegan					13=	14	18	11	16	3300
18	14	Donna - Marty Wilde					15	15	20	16	11	3275
14	15	C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran					13=	17	13	15	14	3160
19	16	Charlie Brown - The Coasters					17	16	17	20	13	2995
22	17	Wait For Me / Willingly - Malcolm Vaughan					16	13	16		15	2685
15	18	I Got Stung / One Night - Elvis Presley					19	21	14	18	18	2475
13	19	(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings - Paul Anka					18	18	15	13		2095
NEW	20	By The Light Of The Silvery Moon - Little Richard						20			17	1665
16	21	Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me - Shirley Bassey					20	19		17		1460
24	22	Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury						22		19		1155
25	23	To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears						26	19			675
NEW	24	Lonely One - Duane Eddy									20	660
20	25	The Wonderful Secret Of Love - Robert Earl						23				600
RE	26	Ciao Ciao Bambina - Marino Marini						24				525
RE	27	Venus - Dickie Valentine						25				450
28	28	Problems - The Everly Brothers						27				300
26	29	I'll Remember Tonight - Pat Boone						28				225
23	30	Manhattan Spiritual - Reg Owen						29				150
29		Baby Face - Little Richard						30				75
21		Donna - Ritchie Valens
27		The Little Drummer Boy - The Harry Simeone Chorale
30		Ciao Ciao Bambina - Domenico Modugno

[braindeadpj]

On the 28th February Chart, Chris Barber, The Beverly Sisters and The Everly Brothers should be equal 8 on the BBC Chart as they all have 36 points, No logical reason for spliting them as they did (if anything Chris Barber was climbing further than The Beverly Sisters while The Everly Brothers were stable).

On the 7th March Chart, Perry Como and Billy Eckstine are equal 19 on the BBC chart with 77 points. Perhaps they split them based on Perry Como being a new entry in the Top 20 while Billy Eckstine was at 18 last week (and so dropping).

On the 14th March Chart, pointwise, Buddy Holly and the Teddy Bears appear to have been transposed as Buddy Holly is on 55 and The Teddy Bears on 56 points for the BBC chart.

No errors on the other two BBC charts.

[MrTibbs]

Yip. 3 point rule applied, equal points, equal hierarchy too so goes to highest sample of shops NME so Russ is #1.

[Splodj]

So what is the UAC tiebreaking method used here - NME allegedly having the largest survey?

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 28th 1959

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 28th 1959								NME	MM	DISC	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey					75	25	40	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
3	1	Side Saddle - Russ Conway					1=	1	1	2	2	5900
1	2	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters					1=	2	2	1	1	5900
5	3	My Happiness - Connie Francis					3	4	3	4	3	5485
2	4	As I Love You - Shirley Bassey					4	3	4	5	4	5435
6	5	Petite Fleur - Chris Barber					5	5	5	3	5	5280
4	6	A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty					6	6	6	7	7	4900
8	7	Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price					7	7	8	8	6	4795
7	8	The Little Drummer Boy - The Beverly Sisters					8	10	9	6	9	4445
10	9	Gigi - Billy Eckstine					9	8	7	10	11	4365
11	10	It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly					10	9	10	13	8	4275
9	11	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour - Lonnie Donegan					11	11	12	9	10	4115
15	12	Tomboy - Perry Como					12	14	13	12	12	3625
14	13	(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings - Paul Anka					13	13	11	14	14	3550
16	14	C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran					14	12	16	15	15	3400
13	15	I Got Stung / One Night - Elvis Presley					15	15	15	17	17	3000
12	16	Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me - Shirley Bassey					16	16	18	16	18	2830
18	17	Sing Little Birdie - Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson					17	20	14	19	19	2450
25	18	Donna - Marty Wilde					20	21	19		16	1950
NEW	19	Charlie Brown - The Coasters					19	22			13	1755
20	20	The Wonderful Secret Of Love - Robert Earl						17		20		1490
26	21	Donna - Ritchie Valens					18			11	20	1460
30	22	Wait For Me / Willingly - Malcolm Vaughan						18	20			1250
19	23	Manhattan Spiritual - Reg Owen						24		18		1045
RE	24	Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury						19				900
21	25	To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears						27	17			650
24	26	I'll Remember Tonight - Pat Boone						23				600
23	27	The Little Drummer Boy - The Harry Simeone Chorale						24				525
17	28	Problems - The Everly Brothers						26				375
22	29	Baby Face - Little Richard						28				225
NEW	30	Ciao Ciao Bambina - Domenico Modugno						29				150
		The Story Of My Love - Conway Twitty						30				75
27		Ciao Ciao Bambina - Marino Marini
27		The Day The Rains Came - Jane Morgan
29		The Little Drummer Boy - Michael Flanders

[MrTibbs]

Marino Marini. Italiano!

And he is about to be joined on the chart by another 'Italiano'

[Blondini]

Marino Marini. Italiano!

[MrTibbs]

The Platters now dominate on all charts. They never quite got the recognition they deserved for their contribution to music in the latter half of the fifties.
Buddy Holly is making surprisingly hard work of climbing the chart.
Number 18, least said the better.
Billy Eckstine, a class act. What a voice.
As an overview of this chart it's kind of a battle between the old and the new with the older traditional ballad style songs still holding on and obstinately refusing to let go.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 21st 1959

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 21st 1959								NME	MM	DISC	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey					75	25	40	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters					1	1	1	1	1	6000
2	2	As I Love You - Shirley Bassey					2	2	2	4	2	5720
4	3	Side Saddle - Russ Conway					3	3	5	2	3	5590
3	4	A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty					4	4	3	3	5	5405
8	5	My Happiness - Connie Francis					5	5	4	5	4	5285
5	6	Petite Fleur - Chris Barber					6	6	6	7	6	4960
6	7	The Little Drummer Boy - The Beverly Sisters					7	8	7	6	9	4645
12	8	Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price					8	7	8	11	7	4615
7	9	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour - Lonnie Donegan					9	11	9	8	8	4350
16	10	Gigi - Billy Eckstine					11	8	16	10	11	4140
13	11	It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly					10	10	10	13	10	4080
9	12	Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me - Shirley Bassey					12	12	12	9	14	3800
10	13	I Got Stung / One Night - Elvis Presley					13	16	13	12	12	3475
11	14	(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings - Paul Anka					14	13	11	15	16	3390
17	15	Tomboy - Perry Como					15	14	20	14	15	3190
22	16	C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran					16	15	15		13	2680
15	17	Problems - The Everly Brothers					17	19	14	17		1885
NEW	18	Sing Little Birdie - Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson					18=	22	17		17	1865
19	19	Manhattan Spiritual - Reg Owen						20			18	1605
23	20	The Wonderful Secret Of Love - Robert Earl					20	17		19		1530
14	21	To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears					18=	23	18	16		1525
18	22	Baby Face - Little Richard						24			19	1245
21	23	The Little Drummer Boy - The Harry Simeone Chorale						21	19			1050
20	24	I'll Remember Tonight - Pat Boone						18				975
25	25	Donna - Marty Wilde						29			20	810
RE	26	Donna - Ritchie Valens								18		520
NEW	27	Ciao Ciao Bambina - Marino Marini						25				450
24	27	The Day The Rains Came - Jane Morgan						25				450
RE	29	The Little Drummer Boy - Michael Flanders								20		440
28	30	Wait For Me / Willingly - Malcolm Vaughan						27				300
30		I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time - Rosemary June						28				225
26		The World Outside - Russ Conway						30				75
27		Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury
29		Venus - Dickie Valentime

[Robbie]

'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' is an excellent song. Great lead vocals by Tony Williams.

[Splodj]

As NME are Mr Maverick (again) it would have been churlish to deny it to them!

[MrTibbs]

It was a close run thing but The Platters ease into #1 this week.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 14th 1959

Here are all '' the uppers, the downers, the just hanging 'arounders '

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 14th 1959								NME	MM	DISC	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey					75	25	40	60	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
2	1	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - The Platters					1	2	1	1	1	5925
1	2	As I Love You - Shirley Bassey					2	1	2	3	2	5835
3	3	A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty					3	3	3	2	3	5640
7	4	Side Saddle - Russ Conway					4	4	4	4	4	5400
8	5	Petite Fleur - Chris Barber					7	5	10	7	6	4935
9	6	The Little Drummer Boy - The Beverly Sisters					5	6	5	5	9	4885
4	7	Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour - Lonnie Donegan					6	8	7	6	5	4885
10	8	My Happiness - Connie Francis					8	9	9	8	7	4560
6	9	Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me - Shirley Bassey					10	6	11	9	12	4395
5	10	I Got Stung / One Night - Elvis Presley					9	11	6	10	8	4345
13	11	(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings - Paul Anka					11	10	8	11	13	4030
14	12	Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price					12	12	13	14	10	3815
16	13	It Doesn't Matter Anymore - Buddy Holly					14	13	16	15	11	3565
11	14	To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears					13	16	12	13	15	3280
12	15	Problems - The Everly Brothers					15	15	14	12	17	3225
17	16	Gigi - Billy Eckstine					16	14	15	16	20	2935
20	17	Tomboy - Perry Como					17	18	17	17	14	2905
15	18	Baby Face - Little Richard					18	21	19	18	16	2470
21	19	Manhattan Spiritual - Reg Owen					20=	23			17	1440
27	20	I'll Remember Tonight - Pat Boone						22			19	1395
18	21	The Little Drummer Boy - The Harry Simeone Chorale					19	18	18			1300
25	22	C'mon Everybody - Eddie Cochran						20	20			1100
23	23	The Wonderful Secret Of Love - Robert Earl					20=	17				1050
19	24	The Day The Rains Came - Jane Morgan						24		19		1005
NEW	25	Donna - Marty Wilde						29		20		590
26	26	The World Outside - Russ Conway						25				450
24	27	Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury						26				375
RE	28	Wait For Me / Willingly - Malcolm Vaughan						27				300
NEW	29	Venus - Dickie Valentine						28				225
22	30	I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time - Rosemary June						30				75
28		The Little Drummer Boy - Michael Flanders
29		Livin' Lovin' Doll - Cliff Richard

[MrTibbs]

19 29 It's Only Make Believe - Conway Twitty
NEW 30 Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury

Did Billy Fury not record It's only make believe, or is that a different song?

Billy Fury's version is my favourite one. The song suited his voice perfectly. It was made for him.

[kjell]

Billy’s version hit the charts July 64 and climbed to 10.

[brian05]

19 29 It's Only Make Believe - Conway Twitty
NEW 30 Maybe Tomorrow - Billy Fury

Did Billy Fury not record It's only make believe, or is that a different song?

[Splodj]

Interesting to see how the Shirls/Platters battle is played out in the UAC. So far it looks like reflecting a Disc-type middle way!

It may be that sales of the two were close but, after looking at those Gallup figures, alternatively it may be that one or more charts were way out and simply wrong. (In 84 we are coming up to a Phil Collins record that was number one for 4 weeks in MM and I shall be looking to see how close the sales were.) In this case it could be that one of them was a long term number one and the other not at all or for only 1 week - as NME and RM claim.

[MrTibbs]

Numbers 1 and 2 were obviously close sales wise this week.
Slim Dusty's 'Pub' was really popular and probably the most sung and performed song by all the amateur performers in the pubs and clubs at the time.
Winifred Atwell must have been seriously p****d off at the time. Russ Conway stole her thunder not only in stand alone piano hits but copied her formula of piano medleys too and swept her aside in 1959.

I have to express my eternal disappointment that in 1959 the beautiful, haunting, heart wrenching, 'Since I Don't Have You' by The Skyliners was totally ignored over here. It is one of my very favourite records of any era and still blows me away.