The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[MrTibbs]

Yeah Robin. It's one of only a few records throughout the entire decade that left me bitterly disappointed that it failed to reach the top. If only MM and NME had agreed on the same week

[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 January 16th 1960.

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending January 16th 1960								NME	RM	MM	DISC	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	80	60	38	50	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - Emile Ford and The Checkmates					1	1	1	1	1	6840
2	2	What Do You Want - Adam Faith					2	2	2	2	2	6612
3	3	Oh Carol - Neil Sedaka					3	3	3	3	3	6384
14	4	Starry Eyed - Michael Holiday					4	5	4	7	4	5962
4	5	Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat - The Avons					5	6	7	4	5	5766
5	6	Johnny Staccato Theme - Elmer Bernstein					7	4	5	9	9	5656
6	7	Little White Bull - Tommy Steele					6	7	6	6	6	5620
8	8	Bad Boy - Marty Wilde					8	9	8	8	10	5064
7	9	Rawhide - Frankie Laine					9	8	15	12	8	4672
9	10	Travellin' Light - Cliff Richard					10	12	14	5	14	4378
21	11	Way Down Yonder In New Orleans - Freddy Cannon					11	10	9	10	20	4348
16	12	Be My Guest - Fats Domino					12	11	12	14	13	4286
15	13	Reveille Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes					15	14	10	17	17	3852
11	14	Some Kind-A Earthquake - Duane Eddy					14	17	13	13	12	3834
NEW	15	Why - Anthony Newley					13	12	10	11		3540
20	16	In The Mood - Ernie Fields					17	15	18	20	16	3228
12	17	Among My Souvenirs - Connie Francis					16	24	17	15	7	3208
10	18	Red River Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes					17	20	20	18	11	3034
18	19	Teen Beat - Sandy Nelson					19	18	16	16		2510
25	20	Too Good - Little Tony					20=	19	19		19	2280
22	21	Heartaches By The Number - Guy Mitchell					20=	15				1280
23	22	Wild Cat - Gene Vincent						21		19		1256
17	23	More And More Party Pops - Russ Conway									15	800
24	24	Put Your Head On My Shoulder - Paul Anka						22				720
19	25	Jingle Bell Rock - Max Bygraves									18	650
28	26	Dance With Me - The Drifters						23				640
NEW	27	Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard						25				480
29	28	I'll Stay Single - Jerry Lordan						26				400
NEW	29	When You Ask About Love - The Crickets						27				320
RE	30	Deck Of Cards - Wink Martindale						28				240
		Too Young - Bill Forbes						29				160
		I Wanna Be Loved - Ricky Nelson						30				80

[MrTibbs]

Anthony Newley's Why debuts this week. My memories of music prior to 1963, when I was catapulted headlong into a love of music and charts I hold dear to this day, was vague but a handful of songs before then stand out for me as a specific memory. This is one of them, I can clearly remember it being played on the jukebox in a cafe one of my parents took me into at the time, and it's stayed with me since.
Another one I hold dear from 1960 that's soon gonna appear is Percy Faith's wonderful 'Summer Place'. mmmmmmmmm !

[Metalweb]

Forgotten fact: Blondie used to open their early gigs with their own interpretation of "Summer Place".....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_4puBs9AbY

[Splodj]

Yeah Robin. It's one of only a few records throughout the entire decade that left me bitterly disappointed that it failed to reach the top.

To me 'Macarthur Park' also had the grandeur of a number one. And it would have been nice not to wait 27 years for 'Love is all around' to make it!

[Graham76man]

To me 'Macarthur Park' also had the grandeur of a number one. And it would have been nice not to wait 27 years for 'Love is all around' to make it!

On a similar vain to that John Miles Music should have done that too. Stopped by Brotherhood of Man Euro trash song! That's what I call injustice

[Robbie]

On a similar vain to that John Miles Music should have done that too. Stopped by Brotherhood of Man Euro trash song! That's what I call injustice

Not just Brotherhood Of Man but also the combined might of Barry White (1 week) and Abba too (for 2 weeks) at number 2.

[MrTibbs]

Macarthur Park was epic and in Richard Harris's hands it was a work of art, and then Donna Summer came along and reduced its grandeur to mere sterile disco fodder.

[Metalweb]

The Four Tops version was pretty good...

[MrTibbs]

The Four Tops version was pretty good...

Yeah, The Tops at least kept to the original arrangement, and Levi Stubbs did it justice.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are 10 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart Top 20 and The Ultimate Averaged Chart.

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending January 23rd 1960.

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending January 23rd 1960								NME	RM	MM	DISC	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	80	60	38	50	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - Emile Ford and The Checkmates					1	1	3	1	1	6720
4	2	Starry Eyed - Michael Holliday					2	3	2	3	3	6444
2	3	What Do You Want - Adam Faith					3	4	4	2	2	6332
15	4	Why - Anthony Newley					4	2	1	4	13	6046
3	5	Oh Carol - Neil Sedaka					5	6	5	5	7	5748
6	6	Johnny Staccato Theme - Elmer Bernstein					7	7	6	12	4	5492
7	7	Little White Bull - Tommy Steele					6	8	8	7	5	5432
11	8	Way Down Yonder In New Orleans - Freddy Cannon					8	5	7	6	15	5270
5	9	Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat - The Avons					9	12	11	9	6	4806
21	10	Heartaches By The Number - Guy Mitchell					10	9	9	10	18	4528
9	11	Rawhide - Frankie Laine					12	11	12	16	8	4460
NEW	12	A Voice In The Wilderness - Cliff Richard					11	10	10	8	19	4414
8	13	Bad Boy - Marty Wilde					13	13	14	11	10	4270
13	14	Reveille Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes					15	15	14	18	14	3644
12	15	Be My Guest - Fats Domino					14	14		13	12	2994
20	16	Too Good - Little Tony					19	21	13	17		2412
14	17	Some Kind-A Earthquake - Duane Eddy					16		17	19	9	2396
10	18	Travellin' Light - Cliff Richard					18	19		14	16	2356
16	19	In The Mood - Ernie Fields					17	16			11	2200
NEW	20	Why - Frankie Avalon					20=	20	20	15		2148
27	21	Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard					20=	18	16			1940
17	22	Among My Souvenirs - Connie Francis						21		20	17	1918
26	23	Dance With Me - The Drifters						17	19			1840
NEW	24	Summer Set - Mr. Acker Bilk						23	18			1420
18	25	Red River Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes						25			20	1030
22	26	Wild Cat - Gene Vincent						24				560
NEW	27	The Big Hurt - Maureen Evans						26				400
NEW	28	Poor Me - Adam Faith						27				320
NEW	29	Hallelujah I Love Her So - Eddie Cochrane						28				240
NEW	29	Pretty Blue Eyes - Craig Douglas						28				240
		Mack The Knife - Bobby Darin						30				80
		Deck Of Cards - Wink Martindale						30				80

[Splodj]

So far the most discernible trait is that Disc appears to be the slowcoach.

[MrTibbs]

Ha Ha, told you these early years the charts are all over the place, and that's even before RR enters the arena

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are 7 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart Top 20 and The Ultimate Averaged Chart.

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending January 30th 1960.

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending January 30th 1960								NME	RM	MM	DISC	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	80	60	38	50	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
2	1	Starry Eyed - Michael Holliday					1	1	2	2	1	6742
4	2	Why - Anthony Newley					2	2	1	1	4	6610
1	3	What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - Emile Ford and The Checkmates					3	3	5	3	2	6314
12	4	A Voice In The Wilderness - Cliff Richard					4	4	3	4	3	6266
8	5	Way Down Yonder In New Orleans - Freddy Cannon					5	5	4	5	6	5938
3	6	What Do You Want - Adam Faith					6	7	7	6	5	5610
10	7	Heartaches By The Number - Guy Mitchell					7	6	6	8	7	5574
5	8	Oh Carol - Neil Sedaka					8	7	8	7	8	5362
7	9	Little White Bull - Tommy Steele					9	11	9	9	10	4806
6	10	Johnny Staccato Theme - Elmer Bernstein					10	9	12	12	9	4722
11	11	Rawhide - Frankie Laine					11	12	17	10	16	3908
15	12	Be My Guest - Fats Domino					12	14	15	13	14	3854
21	13	Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard*					14	15	10		19	3763
9	14	Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat - The Avons					13	10		18	11	3174
16	15	Too Good - Little Tony					15=	23	13	14	20	2916
24	16	Summer Set - Mr. Acker Bilk					15=	15	11			2480
20	17	Why - Frankie Avalon					19=	20	15	17		2372
NEW	18	Misty - Johnny Mathis					17	19		11	18	2370
19	19	In The Mood - Ernie Fields					18	13			17	2140
23	20	Dance With Me - The Drifters						22	18	15		2108
29	21	Pretty Blue Eyes - Craig Douglas						25	14	19		1956
13	22	Bad Boy - Marty Wilde					19=	29	19		12	1830
NEW	23	Harbour Lights - The Platters						17		16		1690
17	24	Some Kind-A Earthquake - Duane Eddy								20	13	1318
28	25	Poor Me - Adam Faith						18				1040
NEW	26	El Paso - Marty Robbins						28	20			900
18	27	Travellin' Light - Cliff Richard						21				800
14	28	Reveille Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes									15	800
NEW	29	Beyond The Sea (La Mer) - Bobby Darin						24				560
NEW	30	What More Do You Want - Frankie Vaughan						25				480
		The Big Hurt - Maureen Evans						27				320
		Among My Souvenirs - Connie Francis						29				160

* Average of 14.6 taken from NME, RM, Disc, and
awarded to MM to give a more representative chart
position.

[Splodj]

There are 6 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart Top 20 and The Ultimate Averaged Chart.

However those are the bottom 6 places, so quite a high degree of alignment.

[brian05]

Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard

Present in 3 of the papers but not Melody Maker. Wonder why?

[kingofskiffle]

Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard

Present in 3 of the papers but not Melody Maker. Wonder why?

Melody Maker had an EP chart from November 1959 and so it was listed in that. Below is the chart for 30 Jan 1960 from Melody Maker.

Wks	Lwk	Twk	Artist	Title	UKLabel	CatNum
7	1	1	Cliff Richard and the Shadows	Expresso Bongo (OST)	Columbia	7'': SEG 7971
9	2	2	Tommy Steele, Accompaniment directed by Stanley Black	Tommy The Toreador	Decca	7'': DFE 6607
2	4	3	Elvis Presley	Strictly Elvis	RCA	7'': RCX 175
11	3	4	Paddy Roberts	Strictly For Grown-Ups	Decca	7'': DFE 6584
11	6	5	Cliff Richard and the Shadows	Cliff Sings No. 2	Columbia	7'': SEG7987
3	10	6	Nina and Frederik	Nina And Frederik No. 1	Columbia	7'': SEG 7926
10	5	7	Elvis Presley	A Touch Of Gold (Volume 1)	RCA	7'': RCX 1045
1	NE	8	Robert Horton	Sunday Night At The London Palladium	Pye	7'': NEP 24118
7	RE	9	Cliff Richard and the Shadows	Cliff No 1	Columbia	7'': SEG 7903
10	7	10	Mario Lanza	The Student Prince (OST)	RCA Victor	7'': RCX 133

[Splodj]

The first EP in MMs singles chart that I can see is 'Twist and Shout' on 27th July 1963.

[kingofskiffle]

The first EP in MMs singles chart that I can see is 'Twist and Shout' on 27th July 1963.

The last EP chart they printed on it's own was 25 May 1963 - which makes sense as to seeing EP's after that date.

[MrTibbs]

It's amazing how records can rank high in one or more charts yet not appear at all in another.

[Splodj]

Sunday 3rd January 1960 was when the Radio Luxembourg chart show switched over to being records, using the NMEs Top 20. So in this respect the BBC were ahead of them!

Previously Luxembourg had used the best selling sheet music chart compiled by The Music Publishers Association. In the last one of these broadcast on 27th December 1959 'Little Donkey' had been number one, so it was quite a change for it to be at only 16 in their first record chart the following week.

[Graham76man]

Sunday 3rd January 1960 was when the Radio Luxembourg chart show switched over to being records, using the NMEs Top 20. So in this respect the BBC were ahead of them!

Previously Luxembourg had used the best selling sheet music chart compiled by The Music Publishers Association. In the last one of these broadcast on 27th December 1959 'Little Donkey' had been number one, so it was quite a change for it to be at only 16 in their first record chart the following week.

The MPA didn't stop publishing the Sheet Music chart at that point. In fact it continued till 1985. Though publication in the press ceased in 1965.
Mary's Boy Child in comparison with Brian's Chart was the highest causality at 5. And the sheet music chart was a top 30 too!
Even in 1960 the Music Publishers themselves still controlled the industry. Song writers went to the publishers first and then the record companies got the songs sent to them and then a few men would say which artist sang what song. Hence the duplicate songs by different artists. The phrase "old grey whistle test" started with this system. If the song was whistled by the music publishers cleaner, then it was certain to be a hit!

At this point in time the Friday release date was still in the future. And it's likely all the new hits for each month went to the shops in week one or two (though mostly week one) of the start of each month. So even "Misty - Johnny Mathis" had probably been out for several weeks before it entered the chart. 45 Cat has it down for December!
It makes you wonder why it took nearly 8 weeks to sell, if that was the case?

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers ! Just in from work guys !

Craig Douglas's cover of Steve Lawrence's Pretty Blue Eyes was actually the better version and Steve's never charted here. Similarly Anthony Newley's Why was superior to Frankie Avalon's, who did also chart here.

There are 8 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart Top 20 and The Ultimate Averaged Chart.

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending February 6th 1960.

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 6th 1960								NME	RM	MM	DISC	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	80	60	38	50	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
2	1	Why - Anthony Newley					1	1	1	1	1	6840
4	2	A Voice In The Wilderness - Cliff Richard					2	2	2	2	2	6612
1	3	Starry Eyed - Michael Holliday					3	3	3	3	3	6384
5	4	Way Down Yonder In New Orleans - Freddy Cannon					4	4	4	4	5	6106
7	5	Heartaches By The Number - Guy Mitchell					5	5	5	5	6	5878
3	6	What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - Emile Ford and The Checkmates					6	6	7	6	4	5740
25	7	Poor Me - Adam Faith					7	7	6	7	10	5382
6	8	What Do You Want - Adam Faith					8	8	11	8	7	5114
8	9	Oh Carol - Neil Sedaka					9	9	12	11	8	4810
9	10	Little White Bull - Tommy Steele					10	11	13	9	11	4516
10	11	Johnny Staccato Theme - Elmer Bernstein					11	10	15	18	9	4234
18	12	Misty - Johnny Mathis					13	15	16	10	18	3628
21	13	Pretty Blue Eyes - Craig Douglas					12	12	9	12		3562
16	14	Summer Set - Mr. Acker Bilk					14=	17	10	20	17	3498
12	15	Be My Guest - Fats Domino					17	17	19	15	15	3248
11	16	Rawhide - Frankie Laine					14=	13		14	16	2836
29	17	Beyond The Sea (La Mer) - Bobby Darin					18	15	14	17		2832
13	18	Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard					14=	14	8			2740
23	19	Harbour Lights - The Platters					19	17	20	13		2464
NEW	20	On A Slow Boat To China - Emile Ford and The Checkmates						21	20	16		2030
26	21	El Paso - Marty Robbins						24	17	19		1856
19	22	In The Mood - Ernie Fields					20	20			13	1780
14	23	Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat - The Avons						23			12	1590
17	24	Why - Frankie Avalon						27	18			1100
22	25	Bad Boy - Marty Wilde									14	850
RE	26	Hallelujah I Love Her So - Eddie Cochran						22				720
24	27	Some Kind-A Earthquake - Duane Eddy									19	600
28	28	Reveille Rock - Johnny and The Hurricanes									20	550
RE	29	Teen Beat - Sandy Nelson						25				480
30	30	What More Do You Want - Frankie Vaughan						26				400
		I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Johnny Ray						28				240
		Happy Anniversary - Joan Regan						29				160
		Among My Souvenirs - Connie Francis						30				80

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

There are again 8 differences this week in chart positions between the BBC Chart Top 20 and The Ultimate Averaged Chart.

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending February 13th 1960.

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 13th 1960								NME	RM	MM	DISC	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	80	60	38	50	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Why - Anthony Newley					1	1	1	1	1	6840
2	2	A Voice In The Wilderness - Cliff Richard					2	2	2	2	2	6612
4	3	Way Down Yonder In New Orleans - Freddy Cannon					4	3	4	4	4	6236
3	4	Starry Eyed - Michael Holliday					3	5	3	3	3	6224
7	5	Poor Me - Adam Faith					5	4	5	5	6	5958
13	6	Pretty Blue Eyes - Craig Douglas					6	6	7	6	10	5440
20	7	On A Slow Boat To China - Emile Ford and The Checkmates					7	6	8	7	9	5392
6	8	What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - Emile Ford and The Checkmates					8	9	9	8	5	5254
5	9	Heartaches By The Number - Guy Mitchell					9	10	6	9	7	5216
17	10	Beyond The Sea (La Mer) - Bobby Darin					11	8	10	11	19	4460
8	11	What Do You Want - Adam Faith					10	14	11	13	8	4394
14	12	Summer Set - Mr. Acker Bilk					12	11	13	14	14	4176
12	13	Misty - Johnny Mathis					13	12	14	12	16	4012
19	14	Harbour Lights - The Platters					14	16	14	10	15	3818
11	15	Johnny Staccato Theme - Elmer Bernstein					15	14	20	16	13	3490
9	16	Oh Carol - Neil Sedaka					17	20	19	17	12	3082
NEW	17	Running Bear - Johnny Preston					16	13	12	18		3074
16	18	Rawhide - Frankie Laine					19	18	20	15	20	2858
10	19	Little White Bull - Tommy Steele					18	17		20	11	2538
15	20	Be My Guest - Fats Domino					20		17	19	18	1946
NEW	21	You Got What It Takes - Marv Johnson						21	18			1580
18	22	Expresso Bongo (EP) - Cliff Richard						23	16			1540
21	23	El Paso - Marty Robbins						19				960
NEW	24	Let It Be Me - The Everly Brothers						22				720
25	25	Bad Boy - Marty Wilde									17	700
26	26	Hallelujah I Love Her So - Eddie Cochran						24				560
NEW	27	You Got What It Takes - Johnny Kidd and The Pirates						25				480
NEW	28	Strictly Elvis (EP) - Elvis Presley						26				400
24	29	Why - Frankie Avalon						27				320
22	29	In The Mood - Ernie Fields						27				320
		Time And The River - Nat King Cole						29				160
		The Big Hurt - Toni Fisher						30				80

[MrTibbs]

Most of the records I like from this era , have been liked retrospectively as I have little memory of most from the actual time.
Having said that I usually listen to those I don't immediately recognise on You Tube as I compile the chart and a surprising amount stir a distant memory which I assume was from radio or such at the time and since long forgotten.

Entering this week is Running Bear, well remembered as I had an older cousin who learned it off by heart and performed it on family occasions for years to come. Needless to say his version never charted !!!