The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are 10 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 2nd 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 2nd 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
2	1	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					1	1	1	1	16050
1	2	The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann					2	2	2	2	15515
14	3	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich					3	3	3	3	14980
3	4	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					4	4	4	5	14360
7	5	Fire Brigade - The Move					5	5	5	6	13825
4	6	Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner					6	7	6	4	13345
8	7	Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo					7	6	7	7	13040
5	8	Everlasting Love - The Love Affair					8	8	9	9	11970
6	9	Suddenly You Love Me - The Tremeloes					9	9	8	10	11935
18	10	Rosie - Don Partridge					10	10	10	14	10895
10	11	Gimme Little Sign - Brenton Wood					11	12	11	12	10415
12	12	Darlin' - The Beach Boys					12	11	12	16	10025
9	13	Am I That Easy To Forget - Engelbert Humperdinck					15	14	14	13	9180
19	14	Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers					14	15	15	11	8900
13	15	Words - The Bee Gees					13	16	16	8	8705
11	16	Judy In Disguise - John Fred and His Playboy Band					17	17	13	17	8490
26	17	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					16	13	17	15	8460
17	18	Back On My Feet Again - The Foundations					18	18	18	19	6870
15	19	Don't Stop The Carnival - The Alan Price Set					19	19	19	18	6505
16	20	I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving - Herman's Hermits					20	22	20	20	5485
20	21	Anniversary Waltz - Anita Harris					21	20	21	23	5380
NEW	22	Delilah - Tom Jones					24	21	22		4250
27	23	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					22	23	24	21	4200
NEW	24	Guitar Man - Elvis Presley					23	25	25	24	3295
25	25	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					25	27	26	26	2475
NEW	26	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					26	24	27		2400
22	27	Today - Sandie Shaw					27		23	28	2255
NEW	28	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					29	26	28		1750
21	29	Everything I Am - The Plastic Penny					30		29	25	1010
NEW	30	Dear Delilah - Grapefruit					28			22	765
		Nevertheless - Frankie Vaughan						28			600
		Daydream Believer - The Monkees							30	29	420
		Love Is Blue - Jeff Beck						29			400
		The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde - Georgie Fame								27	340
		Little Girl - The Troggs						30			200
		Valley Of The Dolls - Dionne Warwick						30			200
		Bend Me Shape Me - The American Breed								30	85

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are 6 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 9th 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 9th 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					1	1	1	1	16050
3	2	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich					2	2	2	2	15515
5	3	Fire Brigade - The Move					3	3	3	4	14895
2	4	The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann					4	4	4	3	14530
10	5	Rosie - Don Partridge					5	5	5	5	13910
17	6	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					6	7	6	6	13175
4	7	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					7	6	7	9	12870
7	8	Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo					8	8	8	7	12390
14	9	Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers					9	9	9	10	11685
6	10	Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner					10	11	10	8	11205
22	11	Delilah - Tom Jones					11	10	12	12	10565
12	12	Darlin' - The Beach Boys					12	12	11	13	10330
15	13	Words - The Bee Gees					13	14	14	11	9350
9	14	Suddenly You Love Me - The Tremeloes					15	16	13	16	8775
23	15	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					14	15	15	14	8645
11	16	Gimme Little Sign - Brenton Wood					16	17	16	15	7910
26	17	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					17	13	19	20	7535
8	18	Everlasting Love - The Love Affair					18	18	17	17	7290
18	19	Back On My Feet Again - The Foundations					19	19	18	19	6670
13	20	Am I That Easy To Forget - Engelbert Humperdinck					20	20	21	18	5805
24	21	Guitar Man - Elvis Presley					21	21	24	23	4430
19	22	Don't Stop The Carnival - The Alan Price Set					22	25	22	21	4300
28	23	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					23=	23	23	24	4195
21	24	Anniversary Waltz - Anita Harris					23=	22	25	27	3640
16	25	Judy In Disguise - John Fred and His Playboy Band					25	30	20	25	3460
25	26	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					26	24	28	26	2575
30	27	Dear Delilah - Grapefruit					27	29	29	22	1665
27	28	Today - Sandie Shaw					30		26	30	1335
20	29	I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving - Herman's Hermits					28		27	28	1255
NEW	30	Little Girl - The Troggs					29	26	30		1250
		Love Is Blue - Jeff Beck						27			800
		No Face No Name No Number - Traffic						28			600
		No One Can Break A Heart Like You - The Dave Clark Five								29	170

[MrTibbs]

Guys, I have gone back and corrected the No 1 on July 15th 1967. I omitted to apply the rule that the record holding the #1 position on most charts would hold #1 on The Ultimate Averaged Chart.

As Procol Harum were #1 on both RR and Disc they have been placed at #1, the other two charts MM and NME were divided, MM opting for The Monkees, and NME opting for The Beatles.

I have checked retrospectively and this is the only occasion this rule was not applied.
Going forward the same situation will arise in November 1968, Barry Ryan will have most points due to being #1 on MM, but Hugo Montenegro will be placed at #1 as he holds #1 in both NME and RR.

As you know I'm a stickler for accuracy and as some of you guys copy the charts I wanted to let you know about this amendment.

Brian

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are 10 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 16th 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 16th 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					1	1	1	1	16050
2	2	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich					2	2	2	2	15515
5	3	Rosie - Don Partridge					3	3	3	4	14895
11	4	Delilah - Tom Jones					5	4	4	6	14275
3	5	Fire Brigade - The Move					4	5	5	3	14080
6	6	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					6	6	6	5	13460
15	7	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					7	7	8	9	12420
9	8	Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers					8	10	7	7	12240
4	9	The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann					9	8	10	8	11805
7	10	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					10	9	9	12	11515
12	11	Darlin' - The Beach Boys					11	12	11	11	10500
17	12	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					12	11	14	10	10035
8	13	Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo					13	13	12	13	9880
13	14	Words - The Bee Gees					15	15	13	15	9060
10	15	Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner					14	14	15	14	8845
26	16	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					16	16	19	17	7190
23	17	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					18	17	18	21	6900
14	18	Suddenly You Love Me - The Tremeloes					17	22	16	16	6825
16	19	Gimme Little Sign - Brenton Wood					19	21	17	18	6605
20	20	Am I That Easy To Forget - Engelbert Humperdinck					20	19	20	19	6170
21	21	Guitar Man - Elvis Presley					21	18	23	24	5195
18	22	Everlasting Love - The Love Affair					22	26	21	20	4435
19	23	Back On My Feet Again - The Foundations					23	24	22	22	4415
27	24	Dear Delilah - Grapefruit					24	27	25	23	2980
25	25	Judy In Disguise - John Fred and His Playboy Band					25	28	24	26	2775
NEW	26	If I Were A Carpenter - The Four Tops					26	20		30	2285
NEW	27	Nevertheless - Frankie Vaughan					27	25	30	29	1620
NEW	28	Step Inside Love - Cilla Black					28=	23			1600
24	29	Anniversary Waltz - Anita Harris						29	27		1400
30	30	Little Girl - The Troggs							26		1250
		Don't Stop The Carnival - The Alan Price Set					30		28	27	1090
		Love Is Blue - Jeff Beck					28=		29	25	1010
		No One Can Break A Heart Like You - The Dave Clark Five								28	255
		No Face No Name No Number - Traffic						30			200

[brian05]

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending January 13th 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Hello Goodbye - The Beatles					1	1	3	1	15550
2	2	Magical Mystery Tour (EP) - The Beatles					2	4	1	2	15365

As a matter of interest (and mathematics) would these positions change if DAME is included as a 4th chart?
Would a re-calculation result in the EP going to number one?

PS your nice colour scheme did not copy across.

[MrTibbs]

Hi Brian. Disc and Music Echo's returns were by now (since August 1967 when DAME discontinued their own chart) already added to the MM tally of stores to produce the MM chart so the outcome would not differ.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are a massive18 minor differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 23rd 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 23rd 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					1	1	1	2	15965
4	2	Delilah - Tom Jones					3	3	2	3	15230
2	3	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich					2	2	4	1	15100
3	4	Rosie - Don Partridge					4	4	6	4	13945
7	5	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					5	5	5	5	13910
NEW	6	Lady Madonna - The Beatles					6	6	3	11	13700
6	7	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					7	7	7	6	12925
5	8	Fire Brigade - The Move					8	8	8	7	12390
12	9	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					9	9	9	9	11770
8	10	Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers					10	10	11	8	11155
16	11	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					11	11	10	10	11035
10	12	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					12	12	12	12	10165
11	13	Darlin' - The Beach Boys					13	13	13	14	9545
26	14	If I Were A Carpenter - The Four Tops					14	14	17	13	8430
28	15	Step Inside Love - Cilla Black					17	16	14	22	8015
9	16	The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann					15	17	16	15	7910
17	17	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					16	18	15	17	7790
13	18	Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo					19	21	18	19	6270
14	19	Words - The Bee Gees					18	20	20	16	6225
NEW	20	Congratulations - Cliff Richard					22	15	19		6200
21	21	Guitar Man - Elvis Presley					20	19	21	20	5835
15	22	Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner					21	22	22	18	5155
20	23	Am I That Easy To Forget - Engelbert Humperdinck					24	24	24	25	3660
24	24	Dear Delilah - Grapefruit					23	23	27	21	3450
18	25	Suddenly You Love Me - The Tremeloes					27	28	26	26	2275
NEW	26	Love Is Blue - Jeff Beck					25		25	23	2180
NEW	27	Ain't Nothin' But A Houseparty - The Showstoppers					28		23	29	2170
19	28	Gimme Little Sign - Brenton Wood					26	27	28	24	2145
27	29	Nevertheless - Frankie Vaughan					29	25	29	30	1785
NEW	30	Theme From 'Valley Of The Dolls' - Dionne Warwick						26			1000
		Back On My Feet Again - The Foundations					30	29		27	740
		No One Can Break A Heart Like You - The Dave Clark Five								28	255
		If I Only Had Time - John Rowles							30		250
		Simon Says - The 1910 Fruitgum Company						30			200

[Robbie]

Ah, so 'The Legend Of Xanadu' was only a Record Retailer number 1?

[MrTibbs]

Yeah Robbie. The Ofarims defended successfully for a 4th week on MM and NME and next week The Beatles will top all three charts.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are 8 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 30th 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 30th 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
6	1	Lady Madonna - The Beatles					1	1	2	1	15800
2	2	Delilah - Tom Jones					2	2	1	2	15765
1	3	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					3	3	3	4	14895
5	4	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					4	4	4	3	14530
3	5	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich					5	5	6	5	13660
11	6	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					6	6	5	6	13625
4	7	Rosie - Don Partridge					7	8	7	7	12640
20	8	Congratulations - Cliff Richard					8	7	8	8	12505
7	9	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					9	9	9	9	11770
9	10	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					10	10	11	11	10900
15	11	Step Inside Love - Cilla Black					11	11	10	12	10865
14	12	If I Were A Carpenter - The Four Tops					12	12	13	10	10085
8	13	Fire Brigade - The Move					13	13	12	13	9880
12	14	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					14	14	14	15	9010
17	15	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					15	15	16	14	8395
10	16	Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers					16	16	15	16	8275
13	17	Darlin' - The Beach Boys					17	18	17	17	7290
NEW	18	If I Only Had Time - John Rowles					18	17	18	18	7155
21	19	Guitar Man - Elvis Presley					19	19	19	19	6420
27	20	Ain't Nothin' But A Houseparty - The Showstoppers					20	22	20	20	5485
NEW	21	Captain Of Your Ship - Reparata and The Delrons					21	23	24	21	4200
NEW	22	Simon Says - The 1910 Fruitgum Company					23=	23	21		4100
16	23	The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann					22	26	22	25	3760
NEW	24	Valleri - The Monkees					25	20	25		3700
NEW	25	Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams					23=	21	27	27	3340
19	26	Words - The Bee Gees					27	30	23	24	2795
22	27	Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner					26	28	26	22	2615
23	28	Am I That Easy To Forget - Engelbert Humperdinck					29	25	30	29	1620
18	29	Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo					28		28	23	1430
30	30	Theme From 'Valley Of The Dolls' - Dionne Warwick					30	27		28	1055
		Love Is Blue - Jeff Beck							29	26	925
		Dear Delilah - Grapefruit						29		30	485

[Splodj]

Posters have suggested that NME were no longer counting advance orders, and these charts may be further evidence - although I realise that by now advance orders for Beatles records were not what they had been.

Also I notice that when Sgt Pepper entered the LP charts at number one NME felt the need to explain how this had happened, and they said it was because the album had been released for sale in the week before the official release date of 1st June 1967 (indeed Wikipedia now says that the release date was 26-May) and I think it is significant they made no mention of advance orders.

[Graham76man]

Sploodj you make it sound like the NME was counting sales. But the NME was simply adding up points from stores saying which records were selling. If a store put down a record in the return to NME it was them who were using the advanced order thing. But for the whole of the 60's charts that I have only seen records that were available at least for two days of the week covered.
Of course if a store had an order for say 200 record and they only sold 50 in the two days, there was nothing to stop them putting the record at the top of the top 50 return to NME, even if something else for the whole week had actually sold more copies. NME wouldn't know this, as the stores didn't put figures into the return as far as I know.
But if you think the NME is fast you only have to look at the 1970 charts, when BMRB were using actual sales, rather than points. Compare the NME (chart still using points) and the former slow moving RR chart is the fastest.
It might be that the NME was allowing advanced orders more in the 50's. But the records back them all came out in the first two weeks of the month. So you would only see advanced orders at the end of each month, records coming in before the new month!
When the new Friday day for release came in, sometime around 1962/63. I haven't been able to put a precise date on the Friday introduction. But I reckon it messed up the dealers no end. With dealers not knowing when certain records would be issued. The same thing happened in the 1980's when they switched from Friday to Monday. But some records where still issued on Friday and then Mondays for the rest! I bet the shops loved that!!

[brian05]

... and next week The Beatles will top all three charts.

But you show Tom Jones at no. 1 in MM.

[MrTibbs]

My Mistake Brian
I forgot MM went with Tom.

[Splodj]

I would be interested to know where the suggestion comes from that NME included advance orders, but it seems more than likely that there were at least two instances where they did.

First there was The Sun 1964 article which was prompted by NME putting ‘Little Red Rooster’ at number one when the others had it at 9, 21 and 24. In their survey The Sun found that it ‘could not possibly have been the best-selling record of the week before’.

Then there was the 11-Dec-65 Melody Maker which set out in detail a justification of why the Beatles ‘Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out’ entered its chart only at number 3. I have not seen the article so do not know if it made an explicit claim about the NME, but it seems that in both cases there is at least an implication that they included advance orders.

The NME could have instructed their dealers to include ‘sales and advance orders’ in the records they ranked. Alternatively they could have simply seen the advance orders claimed by the record company, realised that it was going to be a number one and decided to be ahead of the game.

The same thing happened in the 1980's when they switched from Friday to Monday.

As I recall this started when CBS released an Abba record on a Monday.

[Robbie]

^
The catalyst for Monday releases is most likely 'Going Underground' by The Jam in March 1980. Polydor Records deliberately held back the release until the Monday and in doing so The Jam not only scored their first number one but the record became the first to enter the chart at number 1 since December 1973. There will have been Monday releases before this but none had the impact this record did. Although it took a while for Monday releases to become the norm, the success of the release strategy behind 'Going Underground' did help shift release dates forward to the start rather than the end of the chart sales week.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

Three cracking new entries this week, Hollies, Paper Dolls, and Honeybus with what would become a Nimble bread advert. Wunderbar !

There are 10 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending April 6th 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending April 6th 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Lady Madonna - The Beatles					1	1	2	1	15800
2	2	Delilah - Tom Jones					2	2	1	2	15765
6	3	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					3=	3	3	5	14810
8	4	Congratulations - Cliff Richard					3=	4	4	3	14530
4	5	(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					5	5	5	4	13995
3	6	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					6	6	6	6	13375
11	7	Step Inside Love - Cilla Black					7	7	7	9	12670
12	8	If I Were A Carpenter - The Four Tops					8	9	8	7	12190
5	9	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich					9	8	9	8	12055
18	10	If I Only Had Time - John Rowles					10	10	10	11	11150
7	11	Rosie - Don Partridge					11	11	11	10	10785
10	12	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					13	12	13	14	9745
9	13	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					12	14	12	13	9680
15	14	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					14	13	15	12	9215
24	15	Valleri - The Monkees					15=	15	16	19	7970
22	16	Simon Says - The 1910 Fruitgum Company					15=	18	14	18	7955
20	17	Ain't Nothin' But A House Party - The Showstoppers					17	16	19	16	7275
25	18	Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams					18	17	18	20	6985
14	19	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					21	20	17	21	6550
13	20	Fire Brigade - The Move					19	19	20	17	6340
21	21	Captain Of Your Ship - Reparata and The Delrons					20	21	21	15	5860
17	22	Darlin' - The Beach Boys					22	23	22	22	4615
NEW	23	Jennifer Eccles - The Hollies					23	22	24	23	4230
16	24	Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers					24	28	23	25	3110
NEW	25	Something Here In My Heart - The Paper Dolls					28	24	27		2400
NEW	26	Cry Like A Baby - The Box Tops					25	29	26	24	2245
19	27	Guitar Man - Elvis Presley					27	30	25	26	2125
NEW	28	I Can't Let Maggie Go - The Honeybus					26	26	28	27	2090
NEW	29	Somewhere In The Country - Gene Pitney					29	25			1200
NEW	30	Little Green Apples - Roger Miller					30	27			800
		Love Is Blue - Jeff Beck							30	28	505
		Jumbo / The Singer Sang His Song - The Bee Gees							29		500
		Pictures Of Matchstick Men - Status Quo								29	170
		Theme From 'Valley Of The Dolls' - Dionne Warwick								30	85

[Robbie]

The Paper Dolls included Susie Mathis who later became a radio DJ and, for a very short time (two episodes, one from 1988 and one from 1989 if I recall), a Top Of The Pops presenter. Beating the Spice Girls by almost 30 years, each member of the trio had a nickname. Susie (then simply Susanne) was Tiger: the other band members were Susan "Copper" Marshall and Pauline "Spyder" Bennett. Their names didn't match their image. They looked quite dowdy rather than vampish or glam, like they'd been picked at random from a sewing machine or similar factory floor. The single 'Something Here In My Heart' has potential but is ruined by the vocals...

Susie did get to play a part in a number 1 though. She was the vocal coach for St Winifred's School Choir and helped them learn to "sing" the words to their Christmas 1980 number 1...

I do like 'I Can't Let Maggie Go' by Honeybus. Another great song from a one hit wonder act from this era. The song later turned up on a Nimble bread advert in the mid 1970s.

[MrTibbs]

I really liked the 'dolls' single. Sometimes imperfection is just so perfect.

[Graham76man]

I would be interested to know where the suggestion comes from that NME included advance orders, but it seems more than likely that there were at least two instances where they did.

First there was The Sun 1964 article which was prompted by NME putting ‘Little Red Rooster’ at number one when the others had it at 9, 21 and 24. In their survey The Sun found that it ‘could not possibly have been the best-selling record of the week before’.

Then there was the 11-Dec-65 Melody Maker which set out in detail a justification of why the Beatles ‘Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out’ entered its chart only at number 3. I have not seen the article so do not know if it made an explicit claim about the NME, but it seems that in both cases there is at least an implication that they included advance orders.

The NME could have instructed their dealers to include ‘sales and advance orders’ in the records they ranked. Alternatively they could have simply seen the advance orders claimed by the record company, realised that it was going to be a number one and decided to be ahead of the game.

The problem is not that NME was using advanced orders, but they didn't give a clear directive to dealers on what to include in the chart.
And the Sun was wrong. It quoted 8,000 shops. To get a 40K sale for the week in those shops, each one only needed to sell just FIVE copies. Any single that was popular can sell a huge amount in two days of chart action. Simply because one of those days was Saturday and most kids bought records on Saturday. Unless you lived very close to a record shop, by the time school finished on weekdays it was too late to get to a shop. Both the Stones and Beatles had massive fan bases. So when a new record came out they rushed out for it. Many of the big entries in Brian's charts and the component ones have records that have been out only two days.
As I was only a young kid in the 60's so I never went into a 60's shop. But I do know later on that records were often in store well before the release date. I recall a David Bowie record being all over HMV in Sheffield. But it wasn't due while the following Monday. They were for sale too. A few days later, come Sunday NOT in the OCC chart. Entered the following week. That meant that any Bowie record sales was ignored by the OCC for the week before it's release. I suspect that records didn't arrive in some shops on the day it was issued, but maybe several days before. I just can't see trucks turning up outside record shops every Friday mourning before 9am to deliver the records. By the way shops used the railway to send records back and forth. I was on BR in 1977 and the Sheffield shops were using Red Star parcels to send records to and from London.

[Robbie]

^
I can only speak about the very late 70s and very early 80s here as that was when I did the bulk of my singles buying, but I used to go to my favourite record shop (Callers on Northumberland Street in Newcastle) on a Saturday morning and records were often being sold out of the boxes in which they had arrived. The guy that ran the record department would be trying to stock the shelves while the shop was open and if you asked for a single that had been released that weekend and if he hadn't yet had a chance to work his way through the package it was in he would just open the packaging and hand you the single. I was always impressed by how he knew which box to open as often there were several on the floor. Needless to say, of course, but the shop wasn't a chart return shop, at least not one that used diaries to record sales.

On the other hand, HMV, further along Northumberland Street, rarely sold new singles on a Saturday. Unless the single was by a big act it would usually be Monday before the singles were out on the shelving display.

I mentioned 'Going Underground' by The Jam in a previous post: I can remember going into Callers on a Saturday (I can date this to Saturday 8 March 1980) and asking for the single. The guy apologised, said he had it in stock, but said he had been instructed (by whom? I don't know, probably a rep from the label), to not sell the single until the Monday. I went in the following Saturday to buy the single and asked how it was selling. The answer? It was selling massively, helped by the fact that all initial copies were a double pack single (which I bought) and the guy said he thought it was going to go straight in at number 1. And he was right.

[Splodj]

The catalyst for Monday releases is most likely 'Going Underground' by The Jam in March 1980.

Yes, it appears the first Abba single released on Monday was 'The Winner Takes It All' in July.

I bought my first records in 1962, or at least grown-ups bought them for me! I heard them on Playtime on the Light Programme at 4.30-5 after school each day, when they played ‘records for the young’.

[MrTibbs]

What were those first records Splodj ? The first I bought by myself after Christmas in 1963 were The Dave Clark Five, Dusty Springfield and The Beatles I Want To Hold Your Hand with money I got. I had already got She Loves You, and The Twist And Shout EP for Christmas.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

Four joint #11's in the BBC chart this week. Even by now it was getting silly.

There are 13 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart and The Ultimate Averaged Chart

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending April 13th 1968

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending April 13th 1968								NME	MM	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	200	250	85	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC		TOP	30	Scored
4	1	Congratulations - Cliff Richard					1	1	2	1	15800
3	2	What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong					2	2	1	3	15680
2	3	Delilah - Tom Jones					3	3	3	2	15065
1	4	Lady Madonna - The Beatles					4	4	5	4	14195
10	5	If I Only Had Time - John Rowles					5	6	4	5	13960
5	6	(Sittin' On) - The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding					6	5	6	6	13575
7	7	Step Inside Love - Cilla Black					7	7	7	8	12755
16	8	Simon Says - The 1910 Fruitgum Company					8	8	8	7	12390
8	9	If I Were A Carpenter - The Four Tops					9	9	9	9	11770
6	10	Cinderella Rockefella - Esther and Abi Ofarim					10	10	11	11	10900
18	11	Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams					11=	12	10	17	10240
17	12	Ain't Nothin' But A Houseparty - The Showstoppers					11=	11	12	16	10025
15	13	Valleri - The Monkees					11=	14	13	12	9515
23	14	Jennifer Eccles - The Hollies					11=	13	16	10	9135
9	15	The Legend Of Xanadu - Dave Dee, Dozy Beaky, Mick and Tich					16	15	14	18	8555
21	16	Captain Of Your Ship - Reparata and The Delrons					15	18	15	13	8130
14	17	Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat					17	16	17	19	7520
25	18	Something Here In My Heart - The Paper Dolls					20	17	19	22	6565
11	19	Rosie - Don Partridge					18	19	20	15	6510
26	20	Cry Like A Baby - The Box Tops					21	21	18	23	5930
28	21	I Can't Let Maggie Go - The Honeybus					19	20	22	14	5895
12	22	Me The Peaceful Heart - Lulu					22	23	21	21	4950
13	23	Jennifer Juniper - Donovan					23	22	24	24	4145
19	24	She Wears My Ring - Solomon King					24	27	25	27	2640
30	25	Little Green Apples - Roger Miller					26=		23	28	2255
29	26	Somewhere In The Country - Gene Pitney					26=	24	28	30	2235
20	27	Fire Brigade - The Move					29		26	26	1675
NEW	28	Jumbo / The Singer Sang His Song - The Bee Gees					28		27	25	1510
NEW	29	Forever Came Today - Diana Ross and The Supremes					30	25			1200
NEW	30	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and The Comets					25	30		20	1135
		I Don't Want Our Loving To Die - The Herd						26			1000
		Rainbow Valley - The Love Affair						28			600
		White Horses - Jacky							29		500
		Darlin' - The Beach Boys							30	29	420
		Lazy Sunday - The Small Faces						29			400

[Splodj]

First record was 'That Noise' by Anthony Newley.

I admit that 'Love Me Do' passed me by, but got all the Beatles from 'Please Please Me' onwards. That it is not recognised as their first number one is an affront I take personally!