The Ultimate Averaged Chart - The BBC Chart Re-Imagined

[brian05]

Might be worth mentioning that 'Please Please Me' had entered the two Top 50 charts on 19-Jan, MM at 47 and RR at 45, on only 2 days of sales. The following week it had risen to 39 and 33 respectively.

Did not realise that. So this week is the 3rd week of release. Only 2 days of sales - must have had a good publicity campaign. Weren't they on a BBC radio program at this time? Maybe an appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars?

[brian05]

Yes, I was correct. From Record Mirror on 12th January 1963,

"THE BEATLES appeared on Scottish T.V.'s 'Roundup' last week during their five-day tour north of the border. Other T.V. and sound dates following the release of their new disc 'Please Please Me' (written by Beatlemen John Lennon and Paul McCartney) include 'Thank Your Lucky Stars', Jan. 19th; `Here We Go', Jan. 25th; and 'Saturday Club', Jan. 26th."

[MrTibbs]

The race is on .. Frank Ifield climbs to 4 but The Fab Four take a 12 place leap from 18 to 6.

Bobby Vee debuts with his last big hit. He has been an upper chart regular since 1961. He will have one more minor hit in 1963 then .. vanish .. one of many until now chart regulars swept aside by the wave of Beatlemania and British band chart domination to come.

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 9th 1963								NME	MM	DISC	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	100	150	50	30	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Diamonds - Jet Harris and Tony Meehan					1	1	1	1	1	9900
2	2	Bachelor Boy / The Next Time - Cliff Richard					2	6	2	2	2	9170
4	3	Globetrotter - The Tornados					4	3	3	5	6	9050
9	4	The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield					3	2	5	3	4	9010
7	5	Little Town Flirt - Del Shannon					5	4	4	4	7	8820
18	6	Please Please Me - The Beatles					6	5	9	7	3	7940
6	7	Don't You Think It's Time - Mike Berry					7	8	7	6	8	7840
5	8	Like I Do - Maureen Evans					8	10	6	10	5	7680
3	9	Dance On - The Shadows					9	9	8	9	9	7410
13	10	All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee					10	11	10	11	11	6750
14	11	Island Of Dreams - The Springfields					11=	14	11	12	10	6280
23	12	Loop-De-Loop - Frankie Vaughan					11=	7	17	8	15	6130
20	13	Sukiyaki - Kenny Ball					14	15	12	16	14	5710
16	14	Big Girls Don't Cry - The Four Seasons					13	15	14	13	13	5590
17	15	A Taste Of Honey - Mr. Acker Bilk					16	19	13	17	16	5050
15	16	Some Kinda Fun - Chris Montez					15	20	15	14	12	4920
8	17	Return To Sender - Elvis Presley					17	18	16	19	17	4570
30	18	Walk Right In - The Rooftop Singers					18	13	22	15	21	4250
10	19	Up On The Roof - Kenny Lynch					20	22	18	21	18	3740
22	20	Loo-Be-Loo - The Chucks					21	21	21	23	23	3140
12	21	Comin' Home Baby - Mel Torme					22	23	20	22	24	3110
11	22	Go Away Little Girl - Mark Wynter					23	24	19	28	20	2980
25	23	My Little Girl - The Crickets					19	25	24	20	19	2560
NEW	24	The Night Has A Thousand Eyes - Bobby Vee					25	17		18	30	2080
NEW	25	Hava Nagila - The Spotnicks					24	26	26	24	26	1750
NEW	26	It's Up To You - Rick Nelson					26	30	25	26	22	1520
19	27	(Dance With The) Guitar Man - Duane Eddy					27		23		25	1380
28	28	Charmaine - The Bachelors					28	28	30	27	27	770
26	29	He's A Rebel - The Crystals							27			600
NEW	30	The Alley Cat Song - David Thorne					29=		28		29	510
		The Next Time - Cliff Richard						12
B		Tell Him - Billie Davis					29=	27		30		450
24		Lovesick Blues / She Taught Me How To Yodel - Frank Ifield					29=		29		28	390
X		What Now - Adam Faith						29		29		300
X		I Saw Linda Yesterday - Doug Sheldon								25		300
21		Sun Arise - Rolf Harris
27		It Only Took A Minute - Joe Brown
29		Bobby's Girl - Susan Maughan

[kingofskiffle]

For Lonnie and any other guys who want to make corrections on their files to typo errors I have picked up on the BBC manuscript here is a list of these from January 1960 up to June 1963 where I am just now.

January 28th 1961 Poetry In Motion should be 2 not 1.
March 25th 1961 Exodus should be 7 not 8.
August 31st 1962 Sealed With A Kiss should be 6 not 8.
November 9th 1962 Sheila should be 10 not 7.
January 26th 1963. Confirming the manuscript omits a #30.
March 15th 1963 Like I've Never Been Gone should be 3 not 5.
April 19th 1963 Say Wonderful Things should be 8 not 6

Throughout May 1963 the manuscript also lists Rhythm Of The rain by The Crystals when it should be The Cascades.

Also picked up 2 errors on Disc

July 29th 1961 Ricky Nelson omitted from #6 and later corrected so all other records below this need pushed down a place.

January 12th 1963. #29 lists Island Of Dreams by The Tijuana Brass. The title should be The Lonely Bull. The DISC chart list here on UK Mix also lists this error.

Hope this info helps in correcting your files.

Brian

A long time ago, I know, but finally updated these in my database. Do let me - and others - know if you spot any other errors for the manuscript because I think my database comes form the same original source.

[Splodj]

On 2-Feb the Beatles set out on their theatre tour with Helen Shapiro. While we regard this period as a time of renaissance, Lennon looked back on it differently ...

"We sold out. The music was dead before we even went on the theatre tour of Britain ... The Beatles music died then. We killed ourselves to make it - and that was the end of it."

(Lennon Remembers, Wenner)

[MrTibbs]

A long time ago, I know, but finally updated these in my database. Do let me - and others - know if you spot any other errors for the manuscript because I think my database comes form the same original source.

I will do Lonnie

[Woz1234]

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 9th 1963

It's Up To You - Rick Nelson should be #22 in RR Chart.

[MrTibbs]

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 9th 1963

It's Up To You - Rick Nelson should be #22 in RR Chart.

Oops

That slipped through the chart check before posting as well. Well spotted and thanks for picking up on that rare error Woz.

Please see the amended chart above

[RokinRobinOfLocksley]

A long time ago, I know, but finally updated these in my database. Do let me - and others - know if you spot any other errors for the manuscript because I think my database comes form the same original source.

Lonnie, do you have the most recent BBC Dave/Trevor file? The most recent one (of the 4 Dave/Trevor revised files that I have) is the one Trevor sent me 18 June 2015.

[kingofskiffle]

Not actually sure... I think I entered them around 2010 or so but I seem to have a file with a save date of 27 Jul 2016 (although that could be when I saved it.... Dropbox has a habit of amending save dates). The file does have all those errors listed in it though

[MrTibbs]

I know its early days yet but I'm defo impressed with the initial averaging process result for the 'fun' chart as opposed to the BMRB chart in 1969.

Averaging is really smoothing things out. It's only when you work with the BMRB chart you realise just how many records have huge chart fluctuations up down up down week on week and the number of tied positions it had. Combining it with MM and NME fixes this well without hugely disadvantaging BMRB and the end result is a smooth flowing chart. I'm liking what I'm seeing a lot.

[MrTibbs]

Lonnie, do you have the most recent BBC Dave/Trevor file? The most recent one (of the 4 Dave/Trevor revised files that I have) is the one Trevor sent me 18 June 2015.

It is a shame because although the 4th version of the BBC chart manuscript does indeed have some much needed corrections made to it, it still carries quite a number of errors not corrected retrospectively. Like most of you I've had to correct these too on my copy as we discover more of them.

[kingofskiffle]

I probably need to go through yours and mine side by side and see what the changes are

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending February 16th 1963

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 16th 1963								NME	MM	DISC	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	100	150	50	30	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
1	1	Diamonds - Jet Harris and Tony Meehan					1	1	1	2	1	9850
4	2	The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield					2	2	3	1	2	9470
6	3	Please Please Me - The Beatles					3	3	2	3	3	9390
5	4	Little Town Flirt - Del Shannon					4	4	4	4	4	8910
2	5	Bachelor Boy / The Next Time - Cliff Richard					5	9	5	5	5	8180
3	6	Globetrotter - The Tornados					8	8	6	9	13	7690
12	7	Loop-De-Loop - Frankie Vaughan					6	5	11	6	6	7600
8	8	Like I Do - Maureen Evans					7	10	7	10	7	7470
7	9	Don't You Think It's Time - Mike Berry					9	12	8	8	8	7190
11	10	Island Of Dreams - The Springfields					10	7	10	11	12	7120
10	11	All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee					11	11	9	12	9	6910
24	12	The Night Has A Thousand Eyes - Bobby Vee					12	6	15	7	14	6610
13	13	Sukiyaki - Kenny Ball					13	13	13	13	10	6030
9	14	Dance On - The Shadows					14	18	12	14	11	5600
18	15	Walk Right In - The Rooftop Singers					15	14	16	15	18	5140
15	16	A Taste Of Honey - Mr. Acker Bilk					16=	19	14	17	16	4900
14	17	Big Girls Don't Cry - The Four Seasons					16=	16	17	18	15	4730
16	18	Some Kinda Fun - Chris Montez					19	20	18	22	20	3830
25	19	Have Nagila - The Spotnicks					18	22	19	16	19	3810
23	20	My Little Girl - The Crickets					20	29	20	21	17	2770
NEW	21	Tell Him - Billie Davis					21=	21	24	20	27	2720
20	22	Loo-Be-Loo - The Chucks					24=	23	23	26	25	2430
NEW	23	That's What Love Will Do - Joe Brown					21=	17	30	19	26	2300
17	24	Return To Sender - Elvis Presley					24=	27	22	25	23	2290
19	25	Up On The Roof - Kenny Lynch					23		21	24	28	1940
27	26	It's Up To You - Rick Nelson					26=	25	26	28	24	1710
28	27	Charmaine - The Bachelors					26=	24	28	29	22	1520
21	28	Comin' Home Baby - Mel Torme					30		25		30	930
30	29	The Alley Cat Song - David Thorne					28		27		21	900
NEW	30	Like I've Never Been Gone - Billy Fury					29	28		23		700
		The Next Time - Cliff Richard						15
B		Hey Paula - Paul and Paula						26				500
22		Go Away Little Girl - Mark Wynter							29		29	360
B		Boss Guitar - Duane Eddy								27		200
X		What Now - Adam Faith						30				100
X		Fireball XL5 - Don Spencer								30		50
26		(Dance With The) Guitar Man - Duane Eddy
29		He's A Rebel - The Crystals

[MrTibbs]

Diamonds is under pressure .. both Frank and The Beatles close in but who is The Ultimate Chart gonna favour ?

The theme from one of my very first favourite TV shows is just outside the top thirty this week. The wonderful theme to Fireball XL5, ''I wish I was a spaceman, the fastest guy alive, I'd fly you round the universe in Fireball XL5'', Magical Stuff for a 9 year old. !!

[kingofskiffle]

Yes, a lovely song! Shame it never went that high (32 on RR in an 11 week run then back again in June). Very pleased though that it was re-issued at the end of last year on vinyl and got to 9 on the Vinyl chart (2 Jan 2021) and 14 in Scotland and 10 in Wales (those regional charts are now Physical and not iTunes downloads) and is 83 this week in Scotland. A lovely tune and a lovely series.

[MrTibbs]

Yes, a lovely song! Shame it never went that high (32 on RR in an 11 week run then back again in June). Very pleased though that it was re-issued at the end of last year on vinyl and got to 9 on the Vinyl chart (2 Jan 2021) and 14 in Scotland and 10 in Wales (those regional charts are now Physical and not iTunes downloads) and is 83 this week in Scotland. A lovely tune and a lovely series.

Captain Steve Zodiac and his female co-pilot Venus if I remember correctly. It's one of those iconic theme tunes that have stayed with me down through the years. Conjures up magical memories of a more innocent time.

[Robbie]

A thought just crossed my mind: the charts being posted at present are from one of the coldest and snowiest winters of the 20th Century. From Christmas 1962 to early March 1963 the UK was quite literally snowed under in the coldest winter since 1740 (though 1947 was snowier). I wonder how high sales were in this period given how severe the weather was for 2½ months?

[Splodj]

The wonderful theme to Fireball XL5

I bought the EP version which was released in April when the single was still rising in the charts.

The other theme tune I rushed out to buy was Doctor Who.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers !

Here is the next Ultimate Averaged Chart for Week Ending February 23rd 1963

The Ultimate Averaged Chart - Week Ending February 23rd 1963								NME	MM	DISC	RR	Total
Last	This		The Sound Survey				Stores	100	150	50	30	Points
Week	Week		The Top 30 Singles Chart				BBC			TOP	30	Scored
3	1	Please Please Me - The Beatles					1	1	2	1	2	9720
2	2	The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield					2	1	3	2	1	9550
1	3	Diamonds - Jet Harris and Tony Meehan					3	3	1	3	3	9540
12	4	The Night Has A Thousand Eyes - Bobby Vee					4	4	6	4	4	8610
4	5	Little Town Flirt - Del Shannon					6	6	4	6	5	8580
7	6	Loop-De-Loop - Frankie Vaughan					5	5	5	5	6	8550
10	7	Island Of Dreams - The Springfields					7	8	8	8	8	7590
11	8	All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee					8	12	7	9	7	7320
5	9	Bachelor Boy / The Next Time - Cliff Richard*					12	16	10	10	9	7000
13	10	Sukiyaki - Kenny Ball					9	10	9	12	10	6980
15	11	Walk Right In - The Rooftop Singers					11	11	11	11	11	6600
23	12	That's What Love Will Do - Joe Brown					10	7	15	7	12	6570
8	13	Like I Do - Maureen Evans					13	14	13	15	14	5710
6	14	Globetrotter - The Tornados					14	15	12	17	16	5600
19	15	Hava Nagila - The Spotnicks					15	20	14	16	15	4880
9	16	Don't You Think It's Time - Mike Berry					16	17	16	19	13	4790
NEW	17	Summer Holiday / Dancing Shoes - Cliff Richard					18	9	24	13	27	4270
30	18	Like I've Never Been Gone - Billy Fury					17	13	23	14	22	4120
16	19	A Taste Of Honey - Mr. Acker Bilk					19	22	17	24	17	3770
21	20	Tell Him - Billie Davis					20	21	19	18	24	3660
14	21	Dance On - The Shadows					22	28	18	20	21	3100
17	22	Big Girls Don't Cry - The Four Seasons					21	26	20	22	18	2990
NEW	23	Hey Paula - Paul and Paula					23	19	25	21	26	2750
18	24	Some Kinda Fun - Chris Montez					25	27	22	27	20	2280
20	25	My Little Girl - The Crickets					24		21	23	19	2260
27	26	Charmaine - The Bachelors					26	23	26	30	23	1840
NEW	27	Hi-Lili Hi-Lo - Richard Chamberlain					27	24		25		1000
22	28	Loo-Be-Loo - The Chucks					29=	29	27		29	860
26	29	It's Up To You - Rick Nelson					28		29	29	25	580
29	30	The Alley Cat Song - David Thorne							28		28	540
		* This week the split sides would have affected NME's averaged chart positionso an average was taken from the other 3 charts giving an average of 9.6 to Cliff Richard and awarded to NME to give a more representative chart position for both sides together.
		The Next Time - Cliff Richard						18
		Dancing Shoes - Cliff Richard						25
B		Boss Guitar - Duane Eddy					29=	30	30	26	30	530
X		Fireball XL5 - Don Spencer								28		150
24		Return To Sender - Elvis Presley
25		Up On The Roof - Kenny Lynch
28		Comin' Home Baby - Mel Torme

[MrTibbs]

and there is your answer .. the battle is easily won, The Beatles easily overtake Frank to capture #1 and music history begins.

Cliff has 4 songs on the NME Top 30 due to split sides.

[TopTwenty]

A thought just crossed my mind: the charts being posted at present are from one of the coldest and snowiest winters of the 20th Century. From Christmas 1962 to early March 1963 the UK was quite literally snowed under in the coldest winter since 1740 (though 1947 was snowier). I wonder how high sales were in this period given how severe the weather was for 2½ months?

Two of Cliff’s biggest selling records of the sixties came during the first three months of a snowy, freezing 1963. It seems that some people at least were facing the elements and trudging to the record shops.

[Splodj]

It has been said that the particularly bad weather on the night Please Please Me was featured on Thank Your Lucky Stars gave it a boost because of the increased audience.

When it made number one EMI hosted a party to celebrate. It occurs to me that latterly EMI could have made a stand against 'official' chart revisionism by including it on the '1' album.

[Richard M White]

Interesting the smallest sample (RR) and the biggest sample (MM) had Please Please Me at no 2

[RokinRobinOfLocksley]

It makes no sense that a record company would credit an artist with FEWER #1 records than what they actually achieved. EMI staff in 2000 probably had few if any employees that were still working there from 1963. So they just pulled out the Guinness book with its revisionism, and a Billboard book for the US, and went with that. They probably ran the track list by Paul, George, Ringo, and John's widow for approval, who may not have even looked at it, or didn't voice any objections. Or if there were objections, EMI would have responded they were going by the 'official' charts, or could only get so many tracks on the CD, they had to leave off some. Case closed.

Never mind that The Beatles had 5 other #1 records on the other major charts in the UK and US that weren't on the '1' CD: Please Please Me, Strawberry Fields Forever, Twist and Shout, Nowhere Man, and b-side For You Blue. EMI could have done the math and left off the least performing #1's. Or made separate '1' CDs for the UK and US. Or made it a 2-CD set and included everything. But why go thru all that trouble when you could just go with the worst UK chart, and the only US chart with a readily accessible chart book series? They were going to produce this '1' CD on a single CD, and the track list (plus or minus a song or two) wouldn't have made any difference in net sales.

So instead of getting "all" the #1's, or the "biggest" #1's, we get "some" of the #1's. Or 27 out of 32 = "84% of the #1's which may not necessarily be the biggest". That would be a great CD title, ha...

But yeah, Paul and Ringo should take a public stand against the 'official' charts. Wouldn't that be kool? And Mick and Keith as well. Check out my 1-star rant review of the '1' CD on Amazon when you get a free minute...

[MrTibbs]

I've long been amazed and perplexed at how little opposition materialised to RR being adopted as the 'official' chart even initially in 1977 by Guinness.. Artists, record companies, music papers, all just seemed to roll over and accept it without question. Given there was no opposition to speak of no wonder the OCC rubber stamped it and adopted it too. Even now I can't understand how easy the whole process was.