The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[MrTibbs]

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending October 15th 1955							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 25 Singles Chart					20	Scored
1	1	The Man From Laramie - Jimmy Young					1	1	2240
3	2	Cool Water - Frankie Laine					2	2	2128
2	3	Rose Marie - Slim Whitman					4	3	1956
6	4	Blue Star - Cyril Stapleton					3	5	1912
8	5	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller					5	4	1844
5	6	Everywhere - David Whitfield					6	6	1680
4	7	Learnin' The Blues - Frank Sinatra					7	8	1516
7	8	The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente					8	9	1404
14	9	Hey There - Rosemary Clooney					10	7	1388
12	10	Hernando's Hideaway- The Johnston Brothers (A)					11	10	1172
19	10	Hernando's Hideaway - Johnnie Ray (B)					11	10	1172
NEW	12	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets					13	12	948
10	13	Close The Door - The Stargazers					9	18	876
9	14	Indian Love Call - Slim Whitman					14	13	836
11	15	Every Day Of My Life - Malcolm Vaughan					15	15	672
21	16	Hey There - Johnnie Ray (A)					16	14	664
13	17	Love Me Or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jnr.					17	17	448
17	18	Humming Bird - Frankie Laine						16	260
16	19	Evermore - Ruby Murray					18		180
NEW	20	I'll Come When You Call - Ruby Murray					19		120
22	21	Hey There - Sammy Davis Jnr.						19	104
NEW	22	Go On By - Alma Cogan					20		60
20	22	Hey There - Lita Roza					20		60
NEW	24	Love Me Or Leave Me - Doris Day						20	52
NEW	24	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Ronnie Hilton						20	52
15		Strange Lady In Town - Frankie Laine
18		John And Julie - Eddie Calvert
23		Stars Shine In Your Eyes - Ronnie Hilton
24		The Dam Busters March - The Band Of The R.A.F.

[kjell]

Guess you’ve made the right decision Brian. It’s according to what I’ve meant for decades, but earlier discussions lead me to believe I was in minority. Therefore I hesitated to take part in the debate because I didn’t want to make the discussion more difficult.

[MrTibbs]

Guess you’ve made the right decision Brian. It’s according to what I’ve meant for decades, but earlier discussions lead me to believe I was in minority. Therefore I hesitated to take part in the debate because I didn’t want to make the discussion more difficult.

Your valid and relevant opinions are always welcomed kjell. They have always proved invaluable in the past and I'm glad you too approve of the amended chart.

For you and everyone else here is today's new chart

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending October 22nd 1955

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending October 22nd 1955							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 25 Singles Chart					20	Scored
1	1	The Man From Laramie - Jimmy Young					1	1	2240
5	2	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller					3	2	2068
4	3	Blue Star - Cyril Stapleton					2	4	2024
3	4	Rose Marie - Slim Whitman					5	3	1896
2	5	Cool Water - Frankie Laine					6	6	1680
12	6	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets					8	5	1612
6	7	Everywhere - David Whitfield					4	10	1592
10	8	Hernando's Hideaway - The Johnston Brothers (A)					10	7	1388
8	9	The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente					7	11	1360
9	10	Hey There - Rosemary Clooney					10	8	1336
16	11	Hey There - Johnnie Ray (A)					9	12	1188
10	12	Hernando's Hideaway - Johnnie Ray (B)					12	9	1164
7	13	Learnin' The Blues - Frank Sinatra					13	15	792
20	14	I'll Come When You Call - Ruby Murray					15	14	724
13	15	Close The Door - The Stargazers					14	19	524
14	16	Indian Love Call - Slim Whitman						13	416
19	17	Evermore - Ruby Murray					16		300
18	18	Humming Bird - Frankie Laine						16	260
NEW	19	I'll Never Stop Loving You - Doris Day					17		240
21	20	Hey There - Sammy Davis Jnr.						17	208
RE	21	The Dam Busters March - The Band Of The R.A.F.					18		180
NEW	22	Hey There - The Johnston Brothers (B)						18	156
NEW	23	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Gary Miller					19		120
17	24	Love Me Or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jnr.						19	104
22	25	Go On By - Alma Cogan					20		60
15		Every Day Of My Life - Malcolm Vaughan
22		Hey There - Lita Roza
24		Love Me Or Leave Me - Doris Day
24		Yellow Rose Of Texas - Ronnie Hilton

[Splodj]

Therefore I hesitated to take part in the debate because I didnt want to make the discussion more difficult.

I felt like that too. Funnily enough in the Early Record Mirror thread at post 165 I naively say that the songs at 7& 18 are two sides of the same record. It is explained to me that this is how charts operated then.

[RokinRobinOfLocksley]

Excellent decision Brian !! Thanks for being open to us presenting various thoughts and eye deers.

Now for another: for those records that are split at two different positions, how about adding an indication of some kind to the right of the artist name? Maybe the side that debuts first (if they debuted at different weeks), or the side that debuts at the highest position gets the A, and the flip gets the B? Or you could look up which side was the actual A side. Something like that. With a quick glance, we would know to look for the other sides on the chart.

Groovy movie...

[Splodj]

Or a simple '(split)'.

[MrTibbs]

Excellent decision Brian !! Thanks for being open to us presenting various thoughts and eye deers.

Now for another: for those records that are split at two different positions, how about adding an indication of some kind to the right of the artist name? Maybe the side that debuts first (if they debuted at different weeks), or the side that debuts at the highest position gets the A, and the flip gets the B? Or you could look up which side was the actual A side. Something like that. With a quick glance, we would know to look for the other sides on the chart.

Groovy movie...

Good news ! I have taken both yours, Robin and Splodj's suggestion for identification on board and retrospectively added A and B to split sides that will appear on the chart to identify each. Good suggestion !

[Robbie]

Good idea to note double sided singles. The early charts contain many songs which I recognise by name only (from seeing them listed in the Top 20 book and Hit Singles) so it's good to see why acts were having two hits at the same time.

[Graham76man]

Some title errors one of which is very confusing
Central Band Of The Royal Air Force for number 21. - Took ages to find that!!!
Sammy Davis - ONLY for 20, but 24 is Jnr!
Everywhere - David Whitfield - is spelled Ev'rywhere
Hummingbird - Frankie Laine - the title in the UK is all one word. Other countries it can be two.

I checked the records for the 22 October chart. The following chart places were NOT on 45.
2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 14, 18, 19, 21, 23 and 25.
Number 3 had the lowest amount of owns for both formats - 14 in total. Number 6 had the most on both formats.

[braindeadpj]

Note that Band of the R.A.F. is a re-entry (on the 22/10/1955 chart) as there were at 24 on the 8/10/1955 chart.

[Graham76man]

There is no such act as that. It was the Central Band Of The Royal Air Force.

[MrTibbs]

Note that Band of the R.A.F. is a re-entry (on the 22/10/1955 chart) as there were at 24 on the 8/10/1955 chart.

I have amended that. Thanks brain.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending October 29th 1955

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending October 29th 1955							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 27 Singles Chart					20	Scored
1	1	The Man From Laramie - Jimmy Young					1	1	2240
2	2	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller					2	2	2128
3	3	Blue Star - Cyril Stapleton					2	4	2024
8	4	Hernando's Hideaway - The Johnston Brothers (A)					4	5	1852
6	5	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets					7	3	1776
4	6	Rose Marie - Slim Whitman					5	6	1740
5	7	Cool Water - Frankie Laine					6	9	1524
10	8	Hey There - Rosemary Clooney					8	8	1456
11	9	Hey There - Johnny Ray (A)					10	7	1388
7	10	Everywhere - David Whitfield					9	10	1292
12	11	Hernando's Hideaway - Johnny Ray (B)					11	11	1120
9	12	The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente					12	12	1008
14	13	I'll Come When You Call - Ruby Murray					13	13	896
13	14	Learnin' The Blues - Frank Sinatra					15	14	724
15	15	Close The Door - The Stargazers					14		420
16	16	Indian Love Call - Slim Whitman						15	312
25	17	Go On By - Alma Cogan					16		300
22	18	Hey There - The Johnston Brothers (B)						16	260
23	19	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Gary Miller					17		240
NEW	20	Bring Your Smile Along - Frankie Laine						17	208
NEW	21	Song Of The Dreamer - Johnnie Ray					18		180
18	22	Humming Bird - Frankie Laine						18	156
NEW	22	That Old Black Magic - Sammy Davis Jnr.						18	156
19	24	I'll Never Stop Loving You - Doris Day					19		120
NEW	25	Blue Star - Ron Goodwin					20		60
NEW	25	The Man From Laramie - Al Martino					20		60
20	27	Hey There - Sammy Davis Jnr.						20	52
17		Evermore - Ruby Murray
21		The Dam Busters March - The Band Of The R.A.F.
24		Love Me Or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jnr.

[Robbie]

Jimmy Young was certainly a massively successful singer prior to becoming a DJ at first Radio Luxembourg (who seemed to employ chart stars in the 1950s as much as professional DJs) then at the BBC on the Light Programme then Radio 1 then his long running show on Radio 2. I have to admit I only know 'Unchained Melody' by him. 'The Man From Laramie' doesn't ring any bells at all.

It must have caused some confusion for record buyers that the two singers who covered 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas' both had the surname Miller. I'm sure my mother owned the record on 10" but I can't remember which Miller it was by. She certainly owned 'Rock Around The Clock' on 10" as I remember dropping it as a child and it breaking! Those old (shellac?) records certainly could be very brittle...

[Graham76man]

Jimmy Young was certainly a massively successful singer prior to becoming a DJ at first Radio Luxembourg (who seemed to employ chart stars in the 1950s as much as professional DJs) then at the BBC on the Light Programme then Radio 1 then his long running show on Radio 2. I have to admit I only know 'Unchained Melody' by him. 'The Man From Laramie' doesn't ring any bells at all.

It must have caused some confusion for record buyers that the two singers who covered 'The Yellow Rose Of Texas' both had the surname Miller. I'm sure my mother owned the record on 10" but I can't remember which Miller it was by. She certainly owned 'Rock Around The Clock' on 10" as I remember dropping it as a child and it breaking! Those old (shellac?) records certainly could be very brittle...

The Man From Laramie is a film released in August 1955 with James Stewart in the title role. The title song was written by lyricist Ned Washington and composed by Lester Lee.
In the film it was sung by a chorus.

The old 78's were made from Shellac a resin secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is still collected for the production of varnish for old furniture and nail polish.

[MrTibbs]

Those old (shellac?) records certainly could be very brittle...

How true, I was never supposed to touch my dad's record collection because he always said they were easily broken. However being the single minded kid that I was I often played them when he wasn't around.

I can remember (painfully) the end result when I managed to break a few and he discovered. Ouch !

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending November 5th 1955

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending November 5th 1955							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 25 Singles Chart					20	Scored
1	1	The Man From Laramie - Jimmy Young					1	1	2240
3	2	Blue Star - Cyril Stapleton					3	3	2016
4	3	Hernando's Hideaway - The Johnston Brothers (A)					2	5	1972
2	4	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller					5	2	1948
5	5	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and The Comets					4	4	1904
8	6	Hey There - Rosemary Clooney					8	6	1560
9	7	Hey There - Johnnie Ray (A)					6	9	1524
6	8	Rose Marie - Slim Whitman					9	7	1448
7	9	Cool Water - Frankie Laine					11	8	1276
10	10	Everywhere - David Whitfield					7	14	1204
13	11	I'll Come When You Call - Ruby Murray					10	12	1128
12	12	The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente					13	10	1052
11	13	Hernando's Hideaway - Johnnie Ray					14	13	836
19	14	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Gary Miller					15	17	568
21	15	Song Of The Dreamer - Johnnie Ray					12		540
18	16	Hey There - The Johnston Brothers						11	520
NEW	17	Let's Have A Ding Dong - Winifred Atwell					18	18	336
16	18	Indian Love Call - Slim Whitman						15	312
NEW	19	Cloudburst - Don Lang					16		300
NEW	20	Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing - The Four Aces						16	260
15	21	Close The Door - The Stargazers					17		240
RE	22	Love Me Or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jnr.					19		120
NEW	23	Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing - Nat King Cole						19	104
17	24	Go On By - Alma Cogan					20		60
NEW	25	The Dam Busters March - Billy Cotton						20	52
14		Learnin' The Blues - Frank Sinatra
20		Bring Your Smile Along - Frankie Laine
24		I'll Never Stop Loving You - Doris Day
22		Humming Bird - Frankie Laine
22		That Old Black Magic - Sammy Davis Jnr.
25		Blue Star - Ron Goodwin
25		The Man From Laramie - Al Martino
27		Hey There - Sammy Davis Jnr.

[braindeadpj]

Sammy Davis Jnr "Love Me or Leave Me" is a re-entry on the 5/11 chart. Also with regards to the last week position on the 29/10 chart , Alma Cogan "Go On By" was at 25 on the 22/10 (She was at 22 on the 15/10) chart.

[MrTibbs]

Sammy Davis Jnr "Love Me or Leave Me" is a re-entry on the 5/11 chart. Also with regards to the last week position on the 29/10 chart , Alma Cogan "Go On By" was at 25 on the 22/10 (She was at 22 on the 15/10) chart.

I have amended Sammy and Alma brain. Well spotted.

It's an obvious error. Don't know how I missed it

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending November 12th 1955

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending November 12th 1955							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 25 Singles Chart					20	Scored
5	1	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets					2	1	2180
3	2	Hernando's Hideaway - The Johnston Brothers (A)					1	4	2084
1	3	The Man From Laramie - Jimmy Young					3	2	2068
2	4	Blue Star - Cyril Stapleton					4	5	1852
4	5	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller					9	3	1656
7	6	Hey There - Johnnie Ray (A)					5	8	1636
6	7	Hey There - Rosemary Clooney					7	6	1620
11	8	I'll Come When You Call - Ruby Murray					6	11	1420
17	9	Let's Have A Ding Dong - Winifred Atwell					10	7	1388
8	10	Rose Marie - Slim Whitman					14	9	1044
10	11	Everywhere - David Whitfield					8	17	988
15	12	Song Of The Dreamer - Johnnie Ray					11		600
RE	13	Bring Your Smile Along - Frankie Laine						10	572
9	14	Cool Water - Frankie Laine					12		540
14	15	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Gary Miller					13		480
13	16	Hernando's Hideaway - Johnnie Ray (B)						12	468
20	17	Love Is A Many Splendored Thing - The Four Aces						13	416
12	18	The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente					20	15	372
NEW	19	Ain't That A Shame - Pat Boone						14	364
RE	20	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Ronnie Hilton					15		360
RE	21	Humming Bird - Frankie Laine					16		300
NEW	22	Meet Me On The Corner - Max Bygraves						16	260
NEW	23	Twenty Tiny Fingers - The Stargazers					17		240
22	24	Love Me Or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jnr.					18		180
19	24	Cloudburst - Don Lang					18		180
21		Close The Door - The Stargazers
18		Indian Love Call - Slim Whitman
24		Go On By - Alma Cogan
23		Love Is A Many Splendored Thing - Nat King Cole
25		The Dam Busters March - Billy Cotton
16		Hey There - The Johnston Brothers (B)

[MrTibbs]

After taking a pause at #5 Bill Haley takes a leap to the top of the chart this week, making history as the first Rock'n'Roll single to reach #1 in the UK. The Crew Cuts with Sh Boom are generally considered to be the first in the US the year previous.

Much debate still rages on as to the first actual Rock'n'Roll single with a number of contenders in contention. My personal choice is the wonderful 'Gee' by The Crows. A stunning early record

[Graham76man]

About time Bill Haley was top, he's been top since the 30 October on the Real Chart. But it doesn't make him the first Rock and Roll act, if you consider The Crew Cuts to be a contender, since that made the top in the UK on September 19 1954.

[Robbie]

The two component charts for 12 November 1955 seem at odds with each other with only 12 titles common to both charts. None of those titles occupy the same place on both charts. The UAC is acting amost as a compromise chart for this week, given how little the NME and RM charts agree with each other.

[MrTibbs]

The two component charts for 12 November 1955 seem at odds with each other with only 12 titles common to both charts. None of those titles occupy the same place on both charts. The UAC is acting amost as a compromise chart for this week, given how little the NME and RM charts agree with each other.

Yeah Robbie I noticed that too when compiling it. It reminded me of when I compiled the Early Record Mirror Charts using their dealer returns. It amazed me then how two large record shops in the same area could report two completely different top tens as their best sellers. I think NME and RM had to be using very different store samples to account for these differences.

[Splodj]

Next week the Glasgow Evening Times started publishing a Top 10. Looks like it is home grown! (Later in the 50s they would use NME and then change to MM in 1965.)

Scroll left a bit from here to see it ...
https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...6842%2C2121312

Nothing special about the Times, just that they are the only evening newspaper I know of freely available online. But it may be indicative that newspapers were now starting to carry record charts.

The Evening Times also had the Radio Luxembourg programme schedule. Soon this will include Alan Freed's Rock & Roll Jamboree at 9.30 on Saturdays.