The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[Splodj]

^

Could make a case for 'Shapes Of Things' by The Yardbirds...

Or 'What have they done to the rain' by The Searchers in 64.

[MrTibbs]

The BBC genome site lists a TV programme in 1952 called 'Hit Parade' and (further digging reveals) it featured a chart 10 months before the NME started their record one. This BBC chart was based on record sales, sheet music sales and requests.

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/4d66bf70...33a054f7392248

I wonder if this was similar to the American Your Hit Parade.

[Metalweb]

^

Could make a case for 'Shapes Of Things' by The Yardbirds...

[Graham76man]

It's just amazing that My Way spent some much time in the charts of BMRB and is still selling and yet I don't believe is a million seller.
I have clocked it in the Real Chart at a million just for 1970! I remember placing it in the charts after 1970 and had to stop when it went over 100 solid weeks, due to the fact I had not allowed column space for more than two figures! It would have taken me ages to redo each page!

I consider the Cliff and Hank (correct title by the way) record to be the first environmental song to make the charts, beating Big Yellow Taxi.
It's about the impact of the car. When you consider that two thirds of L. A. is devoted to the car, you can understand the line "Won't it be great when the whole of the land becomes one big motorway".

[Splodj]

The BBC genome site lists a TV programme in 1952 called 'Hit Parade' and (further digging reveals) it featured a chart 10 months before the NME started their record one. This BBC chart was based on record sales, sheet music sales and requests.

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/4d66bf70...33a054f7392248

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending March 7th1970

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending March 7th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total	NME
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	125	Points	Inverse
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored	Points
2	1	Wand'rin Star - Lee Marvin					1	1	1	17250	30
1	2	I Want You Back - The Jackson Five					2	2	2	16675	29
4	3	Let's Work Together - Canned Heat					3	3	3	16100	28
3	4	Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Edison Lighthouse					4	5	4	15275	27
5	5	Instant Karma - Lennon/Ono and The Plastic Ono Band					5	4	5	15200	26
6	6	Leaving On A Jet Plane - Peter Paul and Mary					7	6	6	14175	24
9	7	My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains					8	7	9	13350	23
7	8	Temma Harbour - Mary Hopkin					9	8	10	12775	22
10	9	United We Stand - The Brotherhood Of Man					6	10	11	12750	25
8	10	Venus - Shocking Blue					10	9	12	12075	21
20	11	Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel					11	11	7	12000	20
12	12	Years May Come Years May Go - Herman's Hermits					12	12	8	11425	19
18	13	Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam					14	13	13	10150	17
13	14	Both Sides Now - Judy Collins					15	14	17	9200	16
22	15	Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - Sacha Distel					13	17	15	9100	18
19	16	Elizabethan Reggae - Boris Gardner					17	15	14	8925	14
11	17	The Witch's Promise / Teacher - Jethro Tull					16	16	21	8000	15
NEW	18	That Same Old Feeling - Pickettwitch					18	18	19	7350	13
27	19	Don't Cry Daddy - Elvis Presley					18	20	18	6975	13
14	20	Two Little Boys - Rolf Harris					20	19	20	6575	11
30	21	Something's Burning - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition					22	22	16	5925	9
16	22	Come And Get It - Badfinger					21	23	22	5125	10
15	23	I'm A Man - Chicago					23	21	23	5100	8
17	24	I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations					26	24		2750	5
26	25	Down On The Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival					27	25		2300	4
21	26	Hitchin' A Ride - Vanity Fare						27	26	1625	0
NEW	27	Sympathy - Rare Bird					28	28	29	1600	3
NEW	28	Farewell Is A Lonely Sound - Jimmy Ruffin					24			1400	7
NEW	29	Young Gifted And Black - Bob and Marcia						26		1250	0
RE	30	Just A Little Misunderstanding - The Contours					25			1200	6
25		Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition							24	875	0
B		Joy Of Living - Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin							25	750	0
B		Till - Dorothy Squires						29		500	0
		All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry and Glen Cambell							27	500	0
B		You're Such A Good Looking Woman - Joe Dolan					29			400	2
B		Everybody Get Together - The Dave Clark Five							28	375	0
24		Wedding Bell Blues - The Fifth Dimension						30		250	0
X		Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy - The Tams						30		250	0
23		Reflections Of My Life - The Marmalade					30			200	1
		My Way - Frank Sinatra							30	125	0
28		Friends - Arrival
29		Tracy - The Cuff Links

[Metalweb]

^

I copied down all the 70s sheet music charts in the Music Week issues on worldradiohistory.com recently and will post in a separate thread soon....

[Robbie]

^
the MPA compiled Sheet Music Charts were published in Music Week in 1978 and possibly the years either side of it too.

I contacted MPA a number of years ago to find out if they still held all the charts until 1985 and was informed that they no longer did. I did wonder if perhaps there was an archive of them somewhere in the MPA library (assuming they have one) that some of the staff weren't aware of.

Example: Sheet Music Top 20 - Music Week 02/09/78

Sheet Music Top 20 - 020978.PNG

[MrTibbs]

[QUOTE

MM had sheet music charts before NME. And before either of them or Luxembourg, during WW2, the BBC broadcast AFNs 'Hit Parade' show.

It had been thought that The Sheet Music chart only started in July 1946 with a weekly list of an alphabetical chart before moving later to a numbered chart at the end of May 1947.

However it was later discovered that The Sheet Music Charts actually commenced as a proper numbered chart way back in 30th December 1939. I'm Sending A Letter To Santa Claus was the first #1. Due to the war years weekly charts were often disrupted with many weeks not compiled. 25 weekly charts were compiled throughout 1940, 15 for 1941, 30 for 1942, 35 for 1943, a scant 12 for 1944, 32 for 1945, then completely settled down after the war by producing a weekly Top 20 from 4th January 1946. The first #1 of 1946 being I'm In Love With Two Sweethearts.

I have all the weekly Sheet Music Charts right up to its published demise in February 1965 (although it was apparently compiled until 1985 by the MPA but not published). More glorious chart history showing what we were listening to and buying throughout the forties and early fifties before record charts started to identify what versions of songs were the most popular.

That said Colin Morgan and Brian Henson authors of 'First Hits' were of the view that it was towards the end of 1955 before record charts were finally recognised as being more influential than The Sheet Music Chart.

[Graham76man]

Clint song was just as good. I used to sing "I talk to the trees, but they don't listen to me. I'm not surprised they think I'm bloody daft".

[Graham76man]

'I want you back' is an example of the NME and MM putting a different number one than BMRB at the top for a week as sales of the strong number one fade. I think it is explained by the levelling effect of the points system which produced many more number ones than the sales system.
We know that typically a number one sells much more than the runner up and that one much more than the next and so on. I wonder if this sales pattern was known at the time and therefore how it was out of kilter with one point differences.

The Real Chart has the full sales and on the 1 March (week ending 7) Lee and Clint had dropped 1,000 sales at 159K and the Jackson's were only 155K only four thousand behind the number one, so that wasn't the case here.
The points system doesn't take into account how many records each store sells. You only need one store to have a record top over the other and that will be number one. Having said that the above chart was way out, with the Jacksons at five on 100K and Lee and Clint at the top on 160K.
The most likely reason the Jackson's didn't get to the top was they were not in the UK performing the record. Most of the time TOTP used the dancing to the disc option with either the crowd or the shows dancers for the Jackson. While they had the film for Lee. Total sales for Lee and Clint 1 million 674 thousand. The Jacksons 897 thousand.

[Splodj]

'I want you back' is an example of the NME and MM putting a different number one than BMRB at the top for a week as sales of the strong number one fade. I think it is explained by the levelling effect of the points system which produced many more number ones than the sales system.

You could argue that the points system was superior because it was more egalitarian - giving more records a chance at number one. But they claimed to be sales charts, just using points as a cost-effective way of producing a chart that reflected sales.

We know that typically a number one sells much more than the runner up and that one much more than the next and so on. I wonder if this sales pattern was known at the time and therefore how it was out of kilter with one point differences.

[Robbie]

'I Want You Back' gets the top spot on UAC from the dreadful 'Wand'rin' Star'. BMRB are out of kilter here with Edison Lighthouse still at the top and the Jackson 5 still at #4. Unfortunately Lee Marvin is in the ascendancy and will be the next number 1 on , presume, all three charts. Who was buying 'Wand'rin' Star'? Was it viewed as a novelty, joke-type, song?

[Splodj]

[QUOTE=Graham76man;n10672333]by 1967 Fiona Foulgar and a team of six people were contacting 150 Shops by phone.[/QUOTE]

This tallies with what Alan Smith and others have said, that NME brought back the process in-house in 1963 with a team of 6 led by Fiona phoning about 25 shops each on Mondays

MM had sheet music charts before NME. And before either of them or Luxembourg, during WW2, the BBC broadcast AFNs 'Hit Parade' show.

------

In comes 'Bridge over troubled water'. This was number one in the year-end MM/Disc chart I mentioned, by dint of it spending most weeks on the weekly chart.

[MrTibbs]

One of the biggest offences of the time against good music takes place this week. I will never comprehend how Sacha Distel charted successfully with his horrendous version of 'Raindrops' while the original and totally sublime version by B. J. Thomas was totally ignored despite an appearance on TOTP. The Sacha Distel version was just plain awful. Sometimes their just ain't no justice.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending February 28th1970

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 28th 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	125	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
4	1	I Want You Back - The Jackson Five					1	1	4	16875
7	2	Wand'rin Star - Lee Marvin					2	2	2	16675
1	3	Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Edison Lighthouse					3	4	1	16100
2	4	Let's Work Together - Canned Heat					4	3	3	15900
14	5	Instant Karma - Lennon/Ono and The Plastic Ono Band					5	6	5	14700
3	6	Leaving On A Jet Plane - Peter Paul and Mary					6	5	6	14625
5	7	Temma Harbour - Mary Hopkin					7	7	7	13800
8	8	Venus - Shocking Blue					9	8	8	13025
12	9	My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains					8	9	9	12850
21	10	United We Stand - The Brotherhood Of Man					10	11	10	11825
6	11	The Witch's Promise / Teacher - Jethro Tull					11	10	12	11625
17	12	Years May Come Years May Go - Herman's Hermits					12	12	11	11050
16	13	Both Sides Now - Judy Collins					16	13	14	9625
11	14	Two Little Boys - Rolf Harris					13	16	15	9350
10	15	I'm A Man - Chicago					15	14	18	9075
9	16	Come And Get It - Badfinger					14	15	19	8900
15	17	I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations					21	17	17	7250
26	18	Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam					19	18	21	6900
25	19	Elizabethan Reggae - Boris Gardner					17	19	23	6800
NEW	20	Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel					23	20	13	6600
18	21	Hitchin' A Ride - Vanity Fare					18	21	22	6225
NEW	22	Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - Sacha Distel					20	23	16	6075
13	23	Reflections Of My Life - The Marmalade					22	22	26	4675
22	24	Wedding Bell Blues - The Fifth Dimension					25	24	25	3700
19	25	Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition					27	27	20	3175
30	26	Down On The Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival					26	26		2250
NEW	27	Don't Cry Daddy - Elvis Presley					23		30	1725
20	28	Friends - Arrival						25		1500
27	29	Tracy - The Cuff Links						29	24	1375
NEW	30	Something's Burning - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition					30	28	28	1325
28		Just A Little Misunderstanding - The Contours					28	30		850
B		That Same Old Feeling - Pickettwitch							27	500
24		Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes					29			400
		Sugar Sugar - The Archies							29	250
23		All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell
29		Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

[Graham76man]

I got a book today about the history of the NME. It does give some more information about the charts, but doesn't answer many questions I have. However one interesting thing did emerge. In the early days of the compilation of the charts each member of the staff had to phone one of the shops up that were taking part in the chart compilation to get the chart done!
Also though most sources say it was Percy Dickins who started the chart, the book makes it clear that it was the paper's owner Maurice Kinn who had the vision to see a sales chart was the way to go. The book says Kinn ORDERED Dickins to phone the shops up.
Later on in the book it mentions that by 1967 Fiona Foulgar and a team of six people were contacting 150 Shops by phone.

[Graham76man]

There's a bit of an interesting tale about the Edison track. It was written by Tony Macaulay, Barry Mason. However in 1983 Barry Mason's ex-wife Sylvan Whittingham claimed she was Mason's uncredited co-lyricist on a number of songs, among them "Love Grows". The case was settled out of court on 4 June 1985. Whittingham has never been registered as "Love Grows"' co-writer by the song's publishers, but is legally entitled to claim a writing credit. This has never been disputed by Mason & Macaulay.
Tony Burrows and Barry Mason's wife, Sylvan Whittingham, found a group called Greenfield Hammer, who a week later appeared on Top of the Pops as 'Edison Lighthouse' to mime to Love Grows. Tony also appeared singing lead for The Brotherhood of Man ("United We Stand") or White Plains ("My Baby Loves Lovin'"), who also had hits during that same month-long stretch at number one. The lead vocalist on the record My Baby Loves Lovin is still widely debated to this day. It has been believed for many years that session singer Tony Burrows was the lead singer on the track, however, various sources claim that band member Ricky Wolff was the lead singer. But obviously Tony would have mimed it on TOTP.
That track itself was written by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway and they became the main songwriters of the year, turning out hit records like Stock Aitken Waterman many years later.

Tony Macaulay's best-known songs he also wrote include "Baby Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up Buttercup" with The Foundations, "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All," and "Don't Give Up on Us". Not surprisingly he has won the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Award twice as 'Songwriter of the Year' in 1970 and 1977.

[MrTibbs]

Hmm not heard that one. Must take a listen

[Graham76man]

Dory could have had hits in 1973 and 1974 with King Kong and Cold Water Canyon, but it's unlike they got higher than 65 if they enter the chart.

[Graham76man]

Edison Lighthouse by that point had become a million seller, the first of the year.

[Splodj]

A track in 1970 that I thought might have been a hit, had it been released as a single, was 'Beware of young girls' by Dory Previn.

[Metalweb]

With 'Venus' and 'Na Na etc' there are two future Bananarama hit cover versions in the chart at the moment - on w/e 7 Mar they will be adjacent at #12 and #13 on BMRB!

[MrTibbs]

Four new entries this week and every one a gem. I bought all four but had bought Steam months before it had charted

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending February 21st 1970

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 21st 1970							NME	MM	BMRB	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey			Stores	200	250	125	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart					TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Edison Lighthouse					1	1	1	17250
9	2	Let's Work Together - Canned Heat					2	3	2	16425
2	3	Leaving On A Jet Plane - Peter Paul and Mary					3	2	3	16350
14	4	I Want You Back - The Jackson Five					4	5	4	15275
6	5	Temma Harbour - Mary Hopkin					5	4	6	15075
3	6	The Witch's Promise / Teacher - Jethro Tull					6	6	8	14125
22	7	Wand'rin Star - Lee Marvin					8	8	5	13600
11	8	Venus - Shocking Blue					7	7	9	13550
5	9	Come And Get It - Badfinger					9	10	13	11900
7	10	I'm A Man - Chicago					11	9	14	11625
8	11	Two Little Boys - Rolf Harris					10	13	10	11325
23	12	My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains					11	14	11	10750
4	13	Reflections Of My Life - The Marmalade					13	11	15	10600
NEW	14	Instant Karma - Lennon/Ono and The Plastic Ono Band					17	17	7	9300
12	15	I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations					14	16	17	8900
18	16	Both Sides Now - Judy Collins					19	12	20	8525
29	17	Years May Come Years May Go - Herman's Hermits					16	21	12	7875
17	18	Hitchin' A Ride - Vanity Fare					18	18	16	7725
13	19	Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition					21	19	18	6625
10	20	Friends - Arrival					20	15	28	6575
NEW	21	United We Stand - The Brotherhood Of Man					15	24	19	6450
21	22	Wedding Bell Blues - The Fifth Dimension					21	20	21	6000
15	23	All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell					24	22	22	4775
16	24	Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes					26	23	29	3250
28	25	Elizabethan Reggae - Boris Gardner					28	25	24	2975
NEW	26	Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam					25	28	27	2450
20	27	Tracy - The Cuff Links						26	23	2250
25	28	Just A Little Misunderstanding - The Contours					23	29		2100
19	29	Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley					29	27	30	1525
NEW	30	Down On The Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival					27	30		1050
B		Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - Sacha Distel					30		26	825
		Sugar Sugar - The Archies							25	750
24		Good Old Rock'n' Roll - The Dave Clark Five
26		Let It All Hang Out - Jonathan King
27		The Liquidator - Harry J All Stars
30		Melting Pot - Blue Mink