The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 10th 1956

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 10th 1956							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 25 Singles Chart					20	Scored
1	1	Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin					1	1	2240
2	2	Zambesi - Lou Busch					2	2	2128
3	3	It's Almost Tomorrow - The Dream Weavers					3	3	2016
4	4	Rock And Roll Waltz - Kay Starr					4	6	1800
10	5	Memories Are Made Of This - Dave King					5	5	1792
5	6	Only You - The Hilltoppers					6	4	1784
6	7	Band Of Gold - Don Cherry					7	7	1568
7	8	(Love Is) The Tender Trap - Frank Sinatra					8	9	1404
NEW	9	See You Later Alligator - Bill Haley and His Comets					9	8	1396
11	10	Young And Foolish - Edmund Hockridge					10	11	1180
9	11	Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan					11	10	1172
8	12	Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford					14	12	888
20	13	The Great Pretender - Jimmy Parkinson					12	15	852
13	14	Dreams Can Tell A Lie - Nat King Cole					13	14	844
16	15	Jimmy Unknown - Lita Roza						13	416
19	16	In Old Lisbon - Frank Chacksfield					15		360
27	17	Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Slim Whitman					20	16	320
21	18	Pickin' A Chicken - Eve Boswell					16		300
15	19	Robin Hood - Dick James					17		240
NEW	20	Chain Gang - Jimmy Young						17	208
NEW	20	Poor People Of Paris - Winifred Atwell						17	208
NEW	22	Zambesi - Eddie Calvert					18		180
RE	23	Young And Foolish - Ronnie Hilton					19		120
23	24	My September Love - David Whitfield					20	20	112
12	25	Ballad Of Davy Crockett - Bill Hayes						19	104
14		Love And Marriage - Frank Sinatra
17		Rock A Beatin' Boogie - Bill Haley and His Comets
17		Ballad Of Davy Crockett - Tennessee Ernie Ford
22		With Your Love - Robert Earl
24		Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets
25		Young And Foolish - Dean Martin
25		With Your Love - Malcolm Vaughan

[Splodj]

I believe Melody Maker are about to enter the fray. Although their first survey used only 19 stores, according to the Wiki article on their number ones, and it was not until the early 60s that they became the largest sampler.

[MrTibbs]

I believe Melody Maker are about to enter the fray. Although their first survey used only 19 stores, according to the Wiki article on their number ones, and it was not until the early 60s that they became the largest sampler.

Yeah Splodj Melody Maker will be joining on 7th April. Not only the Wiki article but Alan Smith's research also indicated a static level throughout the fifties so I will be using a figure of 20 stores for them throughout this decade as you will see soon. Also on 7th April I will be moving NME to 65 stores and RM to 60. I decided to keep NME slightly ahead on the basis it is likely they used a slightly bigger sample by now to compile a Top 30.

[Graham76man]

I believe Melody Maker are about to enter the fray. Although their first survey used only 19 stores, according to the Wiki article on their number ones, and it was not until the early 60s that they became the largest sampler.

I bet there were 19 record shops very close to Melody Maker's offices. I wonder how many were used for the London area? Many people report that a large number of the shops taking part in all the surveys were London based during the 50's. And the list of chart shops was available to anyone who had the cash to buy it.
Though I do not believe there was a lot of chart fiddling going on by any record companies at this point. The fact there are only a few charts around shows it would be pointless to fiddle these charts. But when more charts started entering clearly the market for hyping would open up. With only 60 shops to a chart for the UK, one part of the country could easily wipe out many of the tracks in any chart. And I bet some of the record company people were laughing at the charts at times, like the Cadbury Smash robots saying: "that record is number one!"

[brian05]

21 Pickin' A Chicken - Eve Boswell

That was a finger lickin' record!

[MrTibbs]

Good one lol .

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 17th 1956

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 17th 1956							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 24 Singles Chart					20	Scored
3	1	It's Almost Tomorrow - The Dream Weavers					1	1	2240
2	2	Zambesi - Lou Busch					2	2	2128
1	3	Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin					3	3	2016
4	4	Rock And Roll Waltz - Kay Starr					4	4	1904
5	5	Memories Are Made Of This - Dave King					5	5	1792
6	6	Only You - The Hilltoppers					6	6	1680
9	7	See You Later Alligator - Bill Haley and His Comets					7	8	1516
7	8	Band Of Gold - Don Cherry					8	9	1404
11	9	Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan					9	10	1292
20	10	Poor People Of Paris - Winifred Atwell					12	7	1268
13	11	The Great Pretender - Jimmy Parkinson					10	13	1076
10	12	Young And Foolish - Edmund Hockridge					11	15	912
8	13	(Love Is) The Tender Trap - Frank Sinatra					14	12	888
20	14	Chain Gang - Jimmy Young					18	11	700
12	15	Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford					13		480
17	16	Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Slim Whitman					19	15	432
18	17	Pickin' A Chicken - Eve Boswell					17	18	396
NEW	18	My September Love - Robert Earl						14	364
NEW	19	Theme From 'The Threepenny Opera' - Dick Hyman					15		360
14	20	Dreams Can Tell A Lie - Nat King Cole					16		300
NEW	21	I Hear You Knocking - Gale Storm						17	208
NEW	22	The Rudder And The Rock - David Whitfield (B)						19	104
16	23	In Old Lisbon - Frank Chacksfield					20		60
15	24	Jimmy Unknown - Lita Roza						20	52
19		Robin Hood - Dick James
22		Zambesi - Eddie Calvert
23		Young And Foolish - Ronnie Hilton
25		Ballad Of Davy Crockett - Bill Hayes
24		My September Love - David Whitfield (A)

[kingofskiffle]

Hehe, still bouncing in and out of the Top 10

[MrTibbs]

Yip. It had amazing longevity.

[Robbie]

I was expecting 'Chain Gang' by Jimmy Young to be an inspid cover of the Sam Cooke classic but it's not. Surprisingly it's a good song.

[MrTibbs]

Yeah Robbie, it's certainly slightly better than his dreary Unchained Melody cover (for me Al Hibbler's and Roy Hamilton's versions were much better) or his Man From Laramie cover. Later in the year I'll never understand why his cover of More performed better than Perry Como's vastly superior version. For me personally Jimmy was at best an average singer who always recorded inferior cover versions.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Sorry about later than usual chart posting as I was away seeing the new Bond movie. Well worth the wait it was. Great stuff !

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 24th 1956

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 24th 1956							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 23 Singles Chart					20	Scored
1	1	It's Almost Tomorrow - The Dream Weavers					1	1	2240
4	2	Rock And Roll Waltz - Kay Starr					2	2	2128
3	3	Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin					3	4	1964
2	4	Zambesi - Lou Busch					6	3	1836
10	5	Poor People Of Paris - Winifred Atwell					5	5	1792
6	6	Only You - The Hilltoppers					4	7	1748
5	7	Memories Are Made Of This - Dave King					8	6	1560
7	8	See You Later Alligator - Bill Haley and His Comets					7	8	1516
8	9	Band Of Gold - Don Cherry					10	9	1284
14	10	Chain Gang - Jimmy Young					9	11	1240
11	11	The Great Pretender - Jimmy Parkinson					11	11	1120
9	12	Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan					13	10	1052
19	13	Theme From 'The Three Penny Opera' - Dick Hyman					12	16	800
12	14	Young And Foolish - Edmund Hockridge					14	17	628
RE	15	Zambesi - Eddie Calvert					16	15	612
24	16	Jimmy Unknown - Lita Roza					19	13	536
NEW	17	Seven Days - Anne Shelton						14	364
NEW	18	The Trouble With Harry - Alfi and Harry					15		360
RE	19	My September Love - David Whitfield (A)					18	18	336
NEW	20	Theme From 'The Three Penny opera' - Billy Vaughan					17	20	292
18	21	My September Love - Robert Earl						19	104
20	22	Dreams Can Tell A Lie - Nat King Cole					20		60
16	23	Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Slim Whitman						20	52
13		(Love Is) The Tender Trap - Frank Sinatra
15		Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford
17		Pickin' A Chicken - Eve Boswell
21		I Hear You Knocking - Gale Storm
23		In Old Lisbon - Frank Chacksfield
22		The Rudder And The Rock - David Whitfield (B)

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

[MrTibbs]

It's a mystery to me how Winifred Atwell's horrendous tinny version of Poor People took off here while the vastly superior version by Les Baxter, a US #1, failed to even chart here. Sometimes there just ain't any justice !

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 31st 1956

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 31st 1956							NME	RM	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	60	52	Points
Week	Week		The Top 24 Singles Chart					20	Scored
2	1	Rock And Roll Waltz - Kay Starr					1	2	2188
1	2	It's Almost Tomorrow - The Dream Weavers					2	1	2180
5	3	Poor People Of Paris - Winifred Atwell					3	3	2016
4	4	Zambesi - Lou Busch					4	4	1904
6	5	Only You - The Hilltoppers					5	6	1740
3	6	Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin					7	5	1672
7	7	Memories Are Made Of This - Dave King					6	7	1628
8	8	See You Later Alligator - Bill Haley and His Comets					8	8	1456
10	9	Chain Gang - Jimmy Young					9	9	1344
13	10	Theme From 'The ThreePenny Opera' - Dick Hyman					10	12	1128
11	11	The Great Pretender - Jimmy Parkinson					11	11	1120
9	12	Band Of Gold - Don Cherry					12	10	1112
15	13	Zambesi - Eddie Calvert					13	13	896
20	14	Theme From 'The Threepenny Opera' - Billy Vaughan					15	15	672
16	15	Jimmy Unknown - Lita Roza					17	17	448
14	16	Young And Foolish - Edmund Hockridge					14		420
NEW	17	Willie Can - Alma Cogan					18	17	388
NEW	18	I'm A Fool - Slim Whitman						14	364
18	19	The Trouble With Harry - Alfi and Harry					16		300
17	20	Seven Days - Anne Shelton						16	260
12	21	Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan					19		120
19	22	My September Love - David Whitfield						19	104
NEW	23	Nothin' To Do - Michael Holliday					20		60
NEW	24	A Tear Fell - Teresa Brewer						20	52
21		My September Love - Robert Earl
22		Dreams Can Tell A Lie - Nat King Cole
23		Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Slim Whitman

[MrTibbs]

It's all change for next week April 7th as Melody Maker's Top Twenty chart is added to the calculations albeit with a much smaller sample size of 20. Note too that from April 7th there will also be a slight adjustment in NME and RM sample sizes too.

[MrTibbs]

I have to say that although the main focus here is on producing a robust averaged composite chart I also find the fact that all competing charts lined up side by side makes for interesting reading and fascinating comparisons that otherwise might go unnoticed.
The thread therefore also provides a detailed and useful database of all these main charts, whichever were available at any given time, to be all together in one place to give an overview as opposed to being presented separately.

[Splodj]

Agreed. Historic charts are always shown as a stream of one particular chart, and seeing them side by side reveals a lot more.

In 'discographies' online it is interesting to see how they sometimes see the need to depart from the 'official' chart positions. With the Kinks for example, their discographies mention that the first single (Long Tall Sally) charted in MM and the EP containing Well Respected Man (Kwyet Kinks) reached number one in the EP chart.

[Graham76man]

It is good to see the charts all set out in comparison, but it is only down to 30 on each chart. It would be nice to see the charts down to 50.

On the other site thing. You would expect that since the discographies are trying to show that certain records did sell. But if they stick to the "official" chart it would like that some records didn't sell at all.

[braindeadpj]

So far the length of the charts has varied between 22 and 28 and averages around 25 (24.81) meaning that are probably on average 5 unique records each week. Of course frequently the unique record will not be unique the following week, but other times...
Once you add MM, this may shift to 25 to 32 each week, so we'll be getting closer to a top 30 each week....
Interestingly the average for 1955 is: 25.62 while for 1956 it is 24 so far suggesting there is more agreement so far in 1956 than in 1955.

[braindeadpj]

I have to say that although the main focus here is on producing a robust averaged composite chart I also find the fact that all competing charts lined up side by side makes for interesting reading and fascinating comparisons that otherwise might go unnoticed.
The thread therefore also provides a detailed and useful database of all these main charts, whichever were available at any given time, to be all together in one place to give an overview as opposed to being presented separately.

Even if some may disagree about the number of stores used, this aspect of the charts (lining them all up side by side) makes it an extremely valuable and informative resource. Thank you again for creating this chart.

[braindeadpj]

Interesting how the last 2 no.1s have been stuck at a prior position (3 and 4) for 3 weeks before either jumping to no.1 or climbing to 2 then 1. They did the same on the NME chart, but the current no.1 behaved differently on the RM chart, actually dropping before climbing back up - not yet to reach no.1 (the previous 1 by The Dreamweavers, behaved the same on both charts).

[MrTibbs]

Even if some may disagree about the number of stores used, this aspect of the charts (lining them all up side by side) makes it an extremely valuable and informative resource. Thank you again for creating this chart.

Although of course the number of stores is open to debate it is as far as possible research based on Alan Smith's in-depth knowledge and contacts in such matters and well documented and accepted including this site.

The exact numbers used are less important than the proportion they create between each chart which is as accurate as is possible using available research info. I think it is fair to say that none of the charts from this era could be considered 100% accurate. All are a guide based on data which could not be substantiated.

However by putting them all together and taking an average gives, I believe, the best result achievable without accurate data from the time which frankly no longer exists.

Factoring in proportions is important and I know this view is supported by many of you fellow 'chartoholics' on here. The music paper charts of the day were not equal in respect of sampling so the BBC methodology was too simplistic by treating them as such. So the further layer of factoring in 'proportions' was adopted to provide a more balanced and fair composite chart.

The end result produces a result not a million miles from the one compiled by the BBC but it smoothes out ties and inconsistencies, even errors, and gives a more balanced outcome. Or so I believe.

[kingofskiffle]

I’d agree with all that. Even assuming that the weighting/combing is wrong (I’m not saying it is - read on!) this side by side comparison is, as others have said, extremely valuable. I like seeing when records first charted and where on the different charts. It’s also interesting seeing different peak positions.

Now, I do feel that the weighting and combining is correct and is as accurate as it can possibly be, given the level of information available. We do not know all and if we did then of course we would do things differently. If we knew, for example, accurate sales from the various shops this list would be different in how it was compiled. I think the data we have is accurate based on Alan’s research. I think it’s really useful having that from a point when some data was kept or remembered. History has a habit of getting re-written (sometimes by accident) when people mis remember facts. Some ‘facts’ get taken as correct simply because the source that used them was accurate for other things so this ‘fact’ must also be correct. I’m sure all authors try and ensure accuracy, but memories do change.

A case in point: When did the Mills Brothers chart with Glow Worm in 1953? Was it 30 Jan or 9 Jan? The compilers of the first Guinness books said 30 Jan, as did all sources issued before about 1992. Now, after 1992 NME printed their chart book and said in the front they had correct a few minor errors (but neglected to say which ones - not knocking them, they didn’t have to). Now Glow Work is listed as 9 Jan. Other works duly corrected they data based on this book. This is reasonable to do, since the publisher was NME, holder of those charts and therefore accurate, right? Only the original printing shows Glow Worm not charting until 30 Jan. I have the scan. This is an error on the part of the NME book when it was printed.

[Graham76man]

Minor errors like Glow "Work" for "Worm" here in your text - he he!

[Splodj]

I have only seen the NME chart book in libraries, but I thought it had the charts week by week so the real week of Glow Worm's entry would be shown anyway.

It must be possible to identify the 'minor errors' corrected. Although I suppose mistakes made when compiling the book might be misconstrued as corrections!

[kingofskiffle]

In that case no, as it is still listed as 1 week on chart.

What is fun is that is is clearly an error when you look at the right chart two columns over.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5n4u7nme6z...EBook.jpg?dl=0

And yet it still got copied as not being an error!

[Metalweb]

The introduction to the NME chart book actually states:

"Under intense pressure of producing the best music weekly in Britain, mistakes were sometimes made in compiling the chart. These have been corrected wherever possible. In very rare cases (three only, we think) a record was missed out of a chart. In these instances we have guessed the likely position and inserted it as an extra."

[Graham76man]

I am confused! Does the original NME of 9 January list the record or not?
I'm guessing it doesn't, since the British Hit Singles book people would have been working with original papers and they have it listed on the 30 January.

Footnote: IF the record was an addition, it would have to have been issued in December of 1952 (nearly all records were released in the first two weeks of the month at this point). The 45 Worlds 78 section shows it was.
http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/05007

A late January entry would have been odd for a December record, but it could happen.