The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[Robbie]

I notice that MMs 20-Dec chart has a tie at number 3. Isn't this indicative that they have reduced their sample significantly?

On Wikipedia it says: "By the end of 1969, however, with the establishment of the BMRB, Melody Maker and NME had reduced their sample pool to 100 stores."

This is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...9-1988) at the end of the 'Melody Maker' section, citing Sixties City.

Direct link: https://www.sixtiescity.net/60trivia/60charts.htm

It's an old article (it appears to be from 2014) which I remember reading a few years ago. The site is owned by Chris Hough and I assume he also wrote the article.

[braindeadpj]

I notice that MMs 20-Dec chart has a tie at number 3. Isn't this indicative that they have reduced their sample significantly?

On Wikipedia it says: "By the end of 1969, however, with the establishment of the BMRB, Melody Maker and NME had reduced their sample pool to 100 stores."

This is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...9-1988) at the end of the 'Melody Maker' section, citing Sixties City.

The webpage given as evidence for this: Sixties City https://www.sixtiescity.net/60trivia/60charts.htm may be giving a date of October 9th for this to occur. Also says they (MM and NME) compile the chart on a thursday/friday to compete with BMRB issuing theirs on a Saturday, but presumably that's still using the previous week's Mon-Sat data as per BMRB.

[Splodj]

Another tie at 3 in the most recent MM chart.

[Splodj]

I notice that MMs 20-Dec chart has a tie at number 3. Isn't this indicative that they have reduced their sample significantly?

On Wikipedia it says: "By the end of 1969, however, with the establishment of the BMRB, Melody Maker and NME had reduced their sample pool to 100 stores."

This is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...9-1988) at the end of the 'Melody Maker' section, citing Sixties City.

[Peter C]

Weren't the BRMB charts affected by the postal strike Dec 1973/Jan 1974 with very few new entries during that time and Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody staying top until February 1974?

[Richard M White]

As Dave explained to me, the first published chart of 1980 was actually compiled (I assume) on Monday 24 December 1979 which was why many of the Christmas records made big gains.

[kingofskiffle]

It would have been a better fit using that method. The next follow through week would have been more consistent.

Yes and no - some weeks they printed (The Top 30 charts in 1973) they used the previous weeks plus new diaries. So removing sales from the previous week would, theoretically, make the new chart.

[MrTibbs]

Most interesting. So instead of freezing the previous week's chart for the missing week, the more correct thing to do would be to repeat the FOLLOWING week chart for the previous missing week. Hmmm...

It would have been a better fit using that method. The next follow through week would have been more consistent.

[RokinRobinOfLocksley]

Dave Taylor told me that BMRB combined whatever diaries they had received over the two week period for the first new chart of the year .

Most interesting. So instead of freezing the previous week's chart for the missing week, the more correct thing to do would be to repeat the FOLLOWING week chart for the previous missing week. Hmmm...

[MrTibbs]

Am I right in thinking that when a chart takes a week off, the next one reflects two weeks of sales?

Dave Taylor told me that BMRB combined whatever diaries they had received over the two week period for the first new chart of the year .

[Splodj]

Am I right in thinking that when a chart takes a week off, the next one reflects two weeks of sales?

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

1969 is now behind us, leaving without a shadow of a doubt the most exciting decade of music behind us and yet still with us. The '70's lie ahead and now unfold

Here is the Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending January 3rd 1970

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending January 3rd 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	Two Little Boys - Rolf Harris					1	1		13500
2	2	Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition					2	3		12800
3	3	Sugar Sugar - The Archies					4	2		12650
4	4	Melting Pot - Blue Mink					3	3		12600
6	5	Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday - Stevie Wonder					5	5		11700
5	6	Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley					6	6		11250
7	7	All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell					7	7		10800
8	8	Winter World Of Love - Engelbert Humperdinck					8	8		10350
9	9	Tracy - The Cuff Links					9	10		9650
11	10	The Onion Song - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell					11	9		9500
10	11	Without Love - Tom Jones					9	12		9150
12	12	(Call Me) - Number One - The Tremeloes					13	11		8600
19	13	The Liquidator - Harry J All Stars					16	13		7500
14	14	Love Is All - Malcolm Roberts					14	15		7400
15	15	Good Old Rock'n'Roll - The Dave Clark Five					12	17		7300
13	16	Leavin' (Durham Town) - Roger Whittaker					15	16		6950
21	17	Something / Come Together - The Beatles					20	14		6450
17	18	Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival					17	18		6050
16	19	Loneliness - Des O'Connor					18	20		5350
20	20	Wonderful World Beautiful People - Jimmy Cliff					24	19		4400
22	21	The Highway Song - Nancy Sinatra					21	24		3750
24	22	But You Love Me Daddy / Snowflake - Jim Reeves					23	25		3100
25	23	Sweet Dream - Jethro Tull					26	23		3000
27	24	Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes					22	28		2550
26	25	Return Of Django - The Upsetters						21		2500
18	26	With The Eyes Of A Child - Cliff Richard					19			2400
RE	27	Oh Well - Fleetwood Mac						22		2250
28	28	Love's Been Good To Me - Frank Sinatra					27	26		2050
30	29	Comin' Home - Delaney and Bonnie and Friends					25	30		1450
23	30	Nobody's Child - Karen Young					29	27		1400
B		Reflections Of My Life - The Marmalade					28			600
		What Does It Take - Junior Walker and The All Stars						29		500
29		If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind - Cilla Black					30			200
		* RR did not compile a chart for this week.

[MrTibbs]

I'm working on March 71 just now and about to wind this segment up. I will be working on 56 I reckon from Wednesday.

Oops, just noticed Splodj that u were referring to end of year info from MM and NME not weekly charts. My mistake there sorry. I need to read more carefully

[MrTibbs]

It was still an improvement on whatever MM and NME could offer. In Disc they had a 1970 year-end chart based on the number of weeks spent in the MM chart, they couldn't even be bothered to add up the weekly position points.

I can't fully agree with that Splodj as the BMRB chart at this point was still bedding in. It was still prone to erratic moves. Both MM and NME agreed on a lot of the same number one single especially and both were using a substantively large number of stores still. So I believe they were still at least its equal still. That will change from April 71 though as at that point BMRB came into its own and achieving around 200 store returns.

[Splodj]

It was still an improvement on whatever MM and NME could offer. In Disc they had a 1970 year-end chart based on the number of weeks spent in the MM chart, they couldn't even be bothered to add up the weekly position points.

[MrTibbs]

But that was the problem Lonnie, if the 'best sellers of the year, was exactly that it would have been a first class chart service but the BMRB used those notorious 'multipliers' to assess sales in all record shops across the country not included in their diaries which was a highly dubious method at best and totally arbitrary at worst. It would have been much better to just use the exact figures they had in their diary returns as at least that would have been factual. If that was a good enough method to determine a weekly chart it was certainly good enough for an overall best sellers end of year chart.

[kingofskiffle]

Actually it might be quite accurate…. If they had done it on the sales including diaries arriving too late etc. I agree it probably wasn’t that accurate. But as we have seen it could have been and I think that’s the real shame of the BMRB chart. It had potential. So much potential.

[MrTibbs]

In 1970 BMRB provided them with a Top 50 for the year.

Yeah and like this was accurate .. not !

[Splodj]

The BBC chart programmes this week featured a look back on the year.

The following week's POTP did a 'catch up' by adding this week's entrants - Marmalade and Cilla - to the New Entries section.

This was the last time POTP did a 'best of the year' based on the top 3. In 1970 BMRB provided them with a Top 50 for the year.

[kingofskiffle]

The rise of the concept album helped with this - War Of The Worlds in the 1970's is the (probably) most well known example of the concept album, but I'd argue Sgt Pepper was also that, and the Wall really is. Those all helped to cement albums, as well as the price and more money around.

[MrTibbs]

The 1960s ends with a song that would have sounded old at the end of the 1950s. Looking at the final UAC of the 1960s there seems to be no general musical trend other than "pop" and safe, middle of the road pop at that. The appearance, or non appearance, of 'Whole Lotta Love' by Led Zeppelin perhaps gave an indication that some acts no longer saw the singles chart as the ultimate measure of success. It also shows that the album had definitely come of age when just a decade earlier it was something, film soundtracks apart, that only a small amount of music fans bought.

1970 will continue in more or less the same vein although heavy metal and progressive rock will also make inroads into the chart. The next trend of course will be 'Glam Rock' spearheaded by no other than T. Rex who will chart towards the end of 1970 then explode into popularity in 1971.

Albums are most certainly the mainstay of the record buying public by now. Increasingly singles will now be used as promotional tools for albums. It's a shame this became the case because both formats could have lived comfortably together going forward if artists also only released singles that would not appear on albums.

[Robbie]

The 1960s ends with a song that would have sounded old at the end of the 1950s. Looking at the final UAC of the 1960s there seems to be no general musical trend other than "pop" and safe, middle of the road pop at that. The appearance, or non appearance, of 'Whole Lotta Love' by Led Zeppelin perhaps gave an indication that some acts no longer saw the singles chart as the ultimate measure of success. It also shows that the album had definitely come of age when just a decade earlier it was something, film soundtracks apart, that only a small amount of music fans bought.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

Here is the Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending December 27th1969.

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

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending December 27th 1969							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	Two Little Boys - Rolf Harris					1		1	9750
2	2	Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition					2		2	9425
4	3	Sugar Sugar - The Archies					4		3	8900
5	4	Melting Pot - Blue Mink					3		5	8850
6	5	Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley					6		4	8375
3	6	Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday - Stevie Wonder					5		6	8325
9	7	All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell					7		7	7800
7	8	Winter World Of Love - Engelbert Humperdinck					8		8	7475
11	9	Tracy - The Cuff Links					9		9	7150
15	10	Without Love - Tom Jones					10		10	6825
10	11	The Onion Song - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell					10		11	6700
8	12	(Call Me) Number One - The Tremeloes					12		14	5925
14	13	Leavin' (Durham Town) - Roger Whittaker					14		13	5650
12	14	Love Is All - Malcolm Roberts					13		15	5600
21	15	Good Old Rock'n'Roll - The Dave Clark Five					16		12	5375
22	16	Loneliness - Des O'Connor					15		18	4825
18	17	Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival					16		19	4500
27	18	With The Eyes Of A Child - Cliff Richard					18		22	3725
16	19	The Liquidator - Harry J All Stars					22		16	3675
17	20	Wonderful People Beautiful People - Jimmy Cliff					19		24	3275
13	21	Something / Come Together - The Beatles					21		21	3250
24	22	The Highway Song - Nancy Sinatra					20		26	2825
23	23	Nobody's Child - Karen Young					24		20	2775
29	24	But You Love Me Daddy / Snowflake - Jim Reeves					27		17	2550
19	25	Sweet Dream - Jethro Tull					26		23	2000
25	26	Return Of Django - The Upsetters					23		28	1975
NEW	27	Someday We'll Be Together - Diana Ross and The Supremes					25		27	1700
26	28	Love's Been Good To Me - Frank Sinatra							25	750
NEW	29	If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind - Cilla Black					29		29	650
NEW	30	Comin' Home - Delaney and Bonnie and Friends					28			600
X		Seventh Son - Georgie Fame					30			200
X		Reflections Of My Life - The Marmalade							30	125
20		Oh Well - Fleetwood Mac
28		What Does It Take - Junior Walker and The All Stars
30		Biljo - Clodagh Rodgers
		* MM did not compile a chart this week.

[MrTibbs]

LMAO

[Splodj]

As if there was not enough Christmas novelty with Rolf's two, Jim Reeves arrives with another little boy.