THE RECORD MIRROR Singles Charts 1954 to 1961 - Revised Re-Calculated And Extended

[braindeadpj]

The proportion of records coming from a single dealer has varied from 33% to 74% (the latter on the very first chart) each week. Since we got between 30 and 40 returns it's been between 34% and 55% (average 45.3%)

[Satchmo76]

No LP has been on more than two dealer returns in a week, but I don't know if it was always the same dealers. In the early weeks, the Beethoven LP had two weeks in the top 6 with just one dealer return each time. I imagine that RM had to deliberately exclude it otherwise it's just not a credible chart.

[MrTibbs]

No LP has been on more than two dealer returns in a week, but I don't know if it was always the same dealers. In the early weeks, the Beethoven LP had two weeks in the top 6 with just one dealer return each time. I imagine that RM had to deliberately exclude it otherwise it's just not a credible chart.

Yeah it was mainly the same dealers who returned an album in their top ten Satchmo. 'Salad Days' for example was returned week after week by the same dealer.

[SharonMawer]

The quantity of one disc being sold is not surprising, given that not that many people were buying records in Britain until rock and roll and teenagers changed the industry. Still, if you look at current sales in reports where they report so many physical sales (extremely embarrassingly low), so many paid for downloads (also terribly low) and sales adjusted streams which is artificial and based on what they say at the time and even these can be terrible for top ten hits.

[Satchmo76]

I imagine that 1963 was a big acceleration. Teenage girls born after the war became consumers and The Beatles were the perfect band for them. Hence 'She Loves You' and 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' broke all the sales records up to that point.

By the 80s, albums were more important and I don't think singles ever recovered as great things in their own right (that weren't already on an album)..

[kingofskiffle]

The 1980’s, as discussed in the 1985 thread, saw the rose of CD and the new technology being more expensive. People bought an album more than a single and while CX single sales rose they then dipped at the start of the 21st century. The rise of downloads initially helped boost sales.

1985 is a bit of a watershed moment for single sales.

[braindeadpj]

RM Chart Talk Column for 01/10/1955
"Rose Marie" has been beaten at least! Just when it looked as though yodelling cowboy Slim Whitman's disc was set to be number one for the rest of the year (!), up comes Frankie Laine to pip Slim at the post with his revivied oldie "Cold Water".
Mr. Rhythm has played second fiddle to slim for so long, we're glad to welcome him to the top of the tree. His Strange Lady is still on the charts, too. Move up one place this week in fact. And watch out for his new one Humming Bird. That missed the charts by only one place.
Jimmy Young to whom we raised our glasses to last week has justified our faith in him. His Man from Laramie has moved up two more places. It's now Great Britain's third best-seller.
Incidently Jimmy our apologies about Unchained and the number of records sold - 200,000 is extremely good. But 300,000 is even better! Jimmy writes to us on p2.
Miracle Man of the week is Cyril Stapleton whose Decca disc of Blue Star, a sheet-music best-seller, jumped from 15th right up to no.8. You've certainly had a sleeper there. Apart from these the only surprise in the Top Ten was the return from temporary retirement of HMV's Malcolm Vaughan with his first record "Ev'ry Day of my Life".
The second Top Ten were of especial interest this week.
Eleventh, as we said was Humming Bird, 12th: another of our prophecies last week, Rosemary Clooney's sensational record of Richard Adler's Hey There from The Pajama Game which opens in London next week.
13th: Sammy Davis (Jr) with Love Me or Love Me which toppled from the charts this week. 14th place is shared by 3 diverse discs. One brand-new, one newish and one niot-so-new. Mitche Miller's Yellow Rose of Texas (advertised on our front page last week and tipped as a hit in sales talk); Sammy Davis' That Old Black Magic (last week's spotlight record) and Ruby Murray's Evermore.
17th comes the RAF Band and The Dam Buster's March. Last week it was in the same position. 18th places goes to the Stargazer's crazy Close the Door. They share the position with another hit from The Pajama Game, the Johnny Ray record we told you to watch last week - Hernando's Hideaway.
20th was Eddie Calvert with John and Julie.
So you see, there should be some changes made in the Top Ten before too long. We'll close this week with two British records, which could well turn out to be sleepers. Ruby Murray's "I'll Come When You Call and Robert Earl's Three Galleons . When the initial returns came in this week, we thought that Robert would be much higher than he actually ended up. But There's still time!

SPOTLIGHT: Blue Star - Cyril Stapleton.
The surprise of the week. Welcome to the Top Ten, BBC Show Band leader, Cyrtil Stapleton, whose previous Elephant tango was on dealer's returns for many months. This lovely Victor Young melody was originally called The Medic Theme and came from an American TV show. Cyril's Blue Star has a strong reverse side- Honey Babe, the marching song from the film Battle Cry which was generally released last week, So he may well have a double-sided hit on his hands. Good luck to him!

[Satchmo76]

The NME chart never credits "Honey Babe" as contributing to Blue Star's chart position but it must have appeared on their dealer returns if it's on RM's.

[MrTibbs]

The NME chart never credits "Honey Babe" as contributing to Blue Star's chart position but it must have appeared on their dealer returns if it's on RM's.

Yeah I think NME dealer returns would share many of the RM titles too just in a slightly different order. But, it is just possible that some of RM's dealers were also supplying info to NME. NME phoned stores so as RM's dealers already had a list of their top ten titles prepared in writing for posting it would have been easy to give this quickly over the phone too to NME.

[Graham76man]

Yeah I think NME dealer returns would share many of the RM titles too just in a slightly different order. But, it is just possible that some of RM's dealers were also supplying info to NME. NME phoned stores so as RM's dealers already had a list of their top ten titles prepared in writing for posting it would have been easy to give this quickly over the phone too to NME.

I have seen Brian Epstein shop NEMS on the lists of shops. He would have been willing to supply any paper I believe. So I have had a thought. If anything was saved from his shop, it might have been deposited at the Liverpool Archives, or Libraries. This might include any chart sales from his shop. So if any UKMIX member lives near or in Liverpool, or can get there easily, it might be well worth a visit to the Archives there. I am certain there will be a stack of stuff about him there anyway.

[MrTibbs]

I have seen Brian Epstein shop NEMS on the lists of shops. He would have been willing to supply any paper I believe. So I have had a thought. If anything was saved from his shop, it might have been deposited at the Liverpool Archives, or Libraries. This might include any chart sales from his shop. So if any UKMIX member lives near or in Liverpool, or can get there easily, it might be well worth a visit to the Archives there. I am certain there will be a stack of stuff about him there anyway.

Thanks Graham, that's useful to know. A definite possibility there for a local to check on.

[MrTibbs]

Greetings Pop Pickers

The Record Mirror Singles Charts Revised Re-Calculated Extended

This chart is compiled from all the dealers charts printed for this week in the Record Mirror.
It is not in competition with Record Mirror's own compiled chart but a chart in it's own right compiled to include every record that appeared on these dealers charts back in the day, thus identifying many hits and artists that would have been acknowledged and credited with a chart hit if Record Mirror had compiled a Top Fifty back in the day, but have until now gone without due credit. So here is the Record Mirror role of honour and the most extensive record chart of the fifties.

The Chart For Week Ending Saturday 8th October 1955

POS	POS	RECORD MIRROR CHART Re-Calculated					RM	Total	Total	Total	Inv	Inv
LAST	THIS	TOP 60 (Based On 51 Dealers Returns)					Own	Gallup	Dealer	Dealer	Points	Points
WEEK	WEEK	(Chart For Week Ending Saturday 8th October 1955)					Chart	Points	Charts	No 1's	Rank	Scored
4	1	The Man From Laramie - Jimmy Young *					1	344.11	48	16	1	407
3	2	Cool Water - Frankie Laine					2	290.35	45	11	2	340
1	3	Rose Marie - Slim Whitman *					3	274.22	43	9	3	328
5	4	Everywhere / Mama - David Whitfield					4	180.52	38	2	4	216
8	5	Blue Star / Honey Babe - Cyril Stapleton					6	180.11	38	4	5	200
2	6	Learnin' The Blues - Frank Sinatra					5	166.16	36	2	6	194
6	7	Indian Love Call / China Doll- Slim Whitman *					7	105.60	24	1	8	122
18	8	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller					8	101.92	19	2	7	123
7	9	The Breeze And I - Caterina Valente					9	88.94	23	1	9	90
10	10	Every Day Of My Life - Malcolm Vaughan					10	73.29	20		10	76
16	11	Close The Door - The Stargazers					11	67.39	17		11	71
13	12	Hey There - Rosemary Clooney					12	61.04	13	1	12	66
15	13	Hernando's Hideaway / Hey There - Johnnie Ray						54.11	12	1	13	61
11	14	Hummingbird - Frankie Laine					13	43.50	12		14	41
9	15	Love Me Or Leave Me - Sammy Davis Jnr.					15	41.89	12		14	41
33	16	Hernando's Hideaway - The Johnston Brothers					14	30.61	7		16	38
19	17	John And Julie - Eddie Calvert					19	25.92	7		18	26
14	18	Strange Lady In Town - Frankie Laine					17	24.56	6		20	25
23	19	The Dam Busters March - The Band Of The R.A.F.					20	22.49	5		17	28
12	20	That Old Black Magic - Sammy Davis Jnr						21.48	7		27	14
#	21	Hey There - Sammy Davis Jnr						19.83	3		18	26
22	22	Stars Shine In Your Eyes - Ronnie Hilton						19.11	6		25	15
17	23	Evermore - Ruby Murray						18.85	5		21	22
29	24	Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets						18.58	3	1	22	21
#	25	Blue Star - Ray Burns						17.34	4		23	18
25	26	Hey There / Hernando's Hideaway - Lita Roza						14.23	3		24	17
43	27	Hernando's Hideaway - Ray Martin						13.95	2	1	25	15
39	28	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Michael Holliday						13.35	4		28	12
21	29	I'll Come When You Call - Ruby Murray						11.33	3		28	12
#	30	The Man From Laramie - Al Martino *						10.00	1	1	32	10
		Hernando's Hideaway - Johnny Ray					16
		Hey There - Johnnie Ray					18
		THE NEXT POSITIONS
42	31	Good And Lonesome - Kay Starr						9.48	3		36	7
#	32	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Billy Cotton						9.17	3		39	6
54	33	Love Me Or Leave Me - Doris Day						8.58	2		30	11
#	33	Malaguena - Caterina Valente						8.58	2		30	11
31	35	Hernando's Hideaway - Archie Bleyer						8.04	2		33	9
30	36	Drinking Song - Mario Lanza						7.81	2		34	8
39	37	Cattle Call - Slim Whitman						7.24	2		36	7
#	38	Unchained Melody - Jimmy Young						6.42	2		42	5
26	39	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Ronnie Hilton						6.35	2		42	5
43	40	Close Your Eyes - Tony Bennett						5.88	2		50	3
#	41	The Pyjama Game - The Original Cast						5.75	1		34	8
27	42	My One Sin - Nat King Cole						5.65	2		53	2
#	43	Yellow Rose Of Texas - Johnny Desmond						4.99	1		36	7
#	44	Pete Kelly's Blues - Ella Fitzgerald						4.42	1		39	6
#	44	You Made Me Love You- Doris Day						4.42	1		39	6
20	46	Three Galleons - Robert Earl						3.95	1		42	5
28	46	Because Of You - Sammy Davis Jnr						3.95	1		42	5
54	46	I'll Walk With God - Mario Lanza						3.95	1		42	5
#	46	Irish Military Two Step - Bobby McLeod						3.95	1		42	5
#	46	Popular Medley No 4 - Vera Lynn						3.95	1		42	5
#	51	You My Love - Frank Sinatra						3.59	1		49	4
33	52	Lady Of Madrid - David Whitfield						3.29	1		50	3
54	52	The Banjo's Back In Town - Alma Cogan						3.29	1		50	3
#	54	Glad Rag Doll - Crazy Otto						3.06	1		53	2
#	54	Alexander's Ragtime Band - Johnnie Ray						3.06	1		53	2
50	56	Unchained Melody - Al Hibbler						2.83	1		56	1
#	56	Alabama Jubilee - The Big Ben Banjo Band						2.83	1		56	1
#	56	Go On By - Rosemary Clooney						2.83	1		56	1
#	56	Stranger In Paradise - Tony Bennett						2.83	1		56	1
#	56	Hummingbird - The Beverly Sisters						2.83	1		56	1
		* Both records/versions were listed at no 1 on the respective dealers charts.

[Satchmo76]

Slightly surprising that only one dealer was selling Al Martino's version of The Man From Laramie, and not every week. Other songs are sold in multiple versions across the dealers, with big regional variations in which version dominates.

Ella Fitzgerald's Pete Kelly's Blues is from a film with Peggy Lee; the soundtrack LP made the Top 10 LP chart in the US.

[Satchmo76]

Full LP credit: Frederick Brisson, Robert E. Griffith And Harold S. Prince Present John Raitt, Janis Paige , Eddie Foy, Jr. And Original Broadway Cast In "The Pajama Game"

This is Liverpool's Top 3 on 1 Oct 55 (Liverpool Echo): UAC positions 42, 11, 4 and 16.

[Satchmo76]

A Cambridge shop was advertising Whitman specifically:

[braindeadpj]

Apologies for the delay in noticing this but on the 1st October chart, I'll Never Stop Lovin' You - David Whitfield with the Roland Shaw Orchestra (54) is the flipside to Lady of Madrid (49) (https://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/f10596), so I make it at 33 instead of 49 and 54.

[braindeadpj]

Based on my calculations of the revised chart - may need to edit if I made an error.
01/10/1955
The number of dealers dropped by 1 (to 39), while the number of records dropped by 3 (to 59). This means that disparity declined slightly to 1.26 (42.37% from 1 dealer). There were 10 different number 1s (though 2 were shared by 2 artists) with an average of 4.875. Rose Marie lost 8 no.1s, 65.75 (67) points and 5 dealers. The average/dealer declined by 0.818 (0.699) to 6.936 (8.091). The lead over Learnin’ the Blues declined to a very narrow margin of 1.36 (8). Learnin’ the Blues gained 4 no.1s, but lost 5 dealers and 8.14 (26) points, though its average/dealer increased by 0.649 (0.310) to 6.69 (7.62). Cool Water gained 1 no.1 but lost 5 dealers and 29.31 (41) points. Its average/dealer increased by 0.135 (-0.03) to 6.833 (7.968). The Man from Laramie gained 1 no.1, 5 dealers and 51.95 (74) points while its average/dealer increased by 0.923 (1.56) to 5.776 (7). Ev’rywhere/Mama remained at 3 no.1s but declined by 6 dealers and 27.48 (34) points, while the average/dealer increased slightly by 0.096 (0.078) to 5.126 (6.107).

The highest record on a single dealer is at 32 for Brass Buttons - Mantovani and his Orchestra, which was at no.2.
The record on the chart the longest is 40 nonconsecutive weeks for Drinking Song/Serenade - Mario Lanza (orchestra conducted by Constantine Callinicos) with 37 consecutive weeks for Drinking Song (34 nonconsecutively shared with Serenade and an additional 2 weeks nonconsecutive for Serenade) and 22 consecutive weeks for Unchained Melody (from ‘Unchained’) - Al Hibbler with Orchestra directed by Jack Pleis and Everywhere/Mama - David Whitfield with the Roland Shaw Orchestra (21 nonconsecutive weeks for Mama and 16 nonconsecutive weeks for Everywhere – 15 nonconsecutive weeks shared by both sides).
Re-entries
20 Three Galleons - Robert Earl with Wally Stott and his Orchestra
26 The Yellow Rose of Texas - Ronnie Hilton with instrumental accompaniment and voices conducted by Frank Cordell
29 (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley and his Comets, vocals Bill Haley (originally charted 23/10/1954. Reached 12 and spent 18 (14/2/2) weeks on the extended chart. Rereleased but with the same catalogue number (Brunswick 05317; note there is also a Decca release BM 05317) due to use in movie The Blackboard Jungle - so label now says (featured in the MGM film “The Blackboard Jungle”)
36 Blue Star (The “Medic” Theme) - Charlie Applewhite with Victor Young and his Orchestra and Chorus
43 Alabama Jubilee – The Ferko String Band
50 Selection of Marches (Intro/Scotland the Brave/Jeanie’s Black E’ee/Rowan Tree (traditional)) - Bowhill Colliery and District Pipe Band

Flipsides
12 That Old Black Magic - Sammy Davis (Jr.) with Orchestra directed by Morty Stevens lost its flipside Give A Fool A Chance after 2 shared weeks
30 Drinking Song - Mario Lanza (orchestra conducted by Constantine Callinicos) loses its flipside Serenade (which actually first charted the week after Rock Around the Clock debuted!)
33 Lady of Madrid - David Whitfield with the Roland Shaw Orchestra gained its flipside I'll Never Stop Loving You
39 The Medic Theme (also known as Blue Star) - Les Baxter, His Chorus and Orchestra enters for the first time 6 weeks after its flipside Unchained Melody (from Unchained) last charted and which spent 14 (13,1) weeks on the chart peaking at 9.
43 I’ll Never Stop Loving You – Slim Whitman gains its flipside I’ll Never Take You Back on its third week in the chart
50 The Engagement Waltz - Dickie Valentine with the Roland Shaw Orchestra enters 5 weeks after the flipside, No Such Luck spent 1 week on the chart at 41.
Full credit for 15 Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game')/Hey There ("from the Pajama Game") is Johnnie Ray, Orchestra under the direction of Joe Reisman
Full credit for 24 I'll Never Stop Loving You (from the MGM Picture 'Love Me or Leave Me') is Doris Day with Percy Faith and his Orchestra
Full credit for 25 Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game') is Lita Roza with Bob Sharples and his Music. Note its flipside is also Hey There making it identical to the Johnnie Ray entry above.
Full credit for 31 Hernando’s Hideaway is Archie Bleyer and his Orchestra and Chorus
Full credit for 32 Brass Buttons is Mantovani and his Orchestra
Full credit for 34 Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game') is The Johnston Brothers with Johnny Douglas and his Orchestra – again the flipside is Hey There (interestingly both this record and Lita Roza’s version are on Decca and are F. 10608 and F. 10611 respectively)
Full credit for 43 Doonaree is Robert Wilson with Jimmy Shand and his Band

There are 8 new entries, 4 that are new to the charts and 1 from a new artist - Archie Bleyer and his Orchestra and Chorus – who has already been on these charts. There is still just the 1 LP on the chart. The first tied position is at 34. There are 8 records that feature both sides on the charts.

There are 7 songs with 22 multiple versions (2 overlap)
5 Hernando’s Hideaway (from The Pajama Game) (Johnnie Ray, Orchestra under the direction of Joe Reisman [flipside Hey There (from the Pajama Game)], Lita Roza with Bob Sharples and his Music, Archie Bleyer and his Orchestra and Chorus, The Johnston Brothers with Johnny Douglas and his Orchestra [flipside Hey There (from the Pajama Game)], Ray Martin and his Concert Orchestra)
4 Hey There (from the Pajama Game) (Rosemary Clooney with Buddy Cole and his Orchestra, Johnnie Ray, Orchestra under the direction of Joe Reisman [flipside Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game)], The Johnston Brothers with Johnny Douglas and his Orchestra [flipside Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game')], Barbara Lyon with Ray Martin and his Orchestra)
3 Blue Star (The ‘Medic’ Theme) (Cyril Stapleton and his Orchestra [flipside Honey Babe from the film Battle Cry], Charlie Applewhite with Victor Young and his Orchestra and Chorus, Les Baxter, His Chorus and Orchestra [flipside to Unchained Melody])
3 (The) Yellow Rose of Texas (Mitch Miller with his Orchestra and Chorus, Ronnie Hilton with instrumental accompaniment and voices conducted by Frank Cordell, Michael Holliday with Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Norrie Paramor)
3 I’ll Never Stop Loving You (Doris Day with Percy Faith and his Orchestra, David Whitfield with the Roland Shaw Orchestra [flipside to Lady of Madrid], Slim Whitman [flipside is I’ll Never Take You Back])
2 Love Me or Leave Me (from the film Love Me or Leave Me) (Sammy Davis Jr with Orchestra directed by Sy Oliver [flipside to Something's Gotta Give (from film "Daddy Long Legs")], Doris Day, Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Percy Faith)
2 The Dam Busters March (The Central Band of the Royal Air Force (by permission of the Air Council, Cond.: Wing Comdr. A. E. Sims, O.B.E. (Organising Director of Music), Sydney Torch and his Orchestra)
Meaning that there are 46 different songs

There are 9 artists with 23 multiple records
5 Slim Whitman (Rose Marie, Indian Love Call / China Doll, Cattle Call, Roll On Silvery Moon, I'll Never Stop Loving You / I'll Never Take You Back)
3 Frankie Laine (Cool Water [with Paul Weston and his Orchestra and the Mellomen], Hummingbird [Orchestra under the direction of Jimmy Carroll], Strange Lady in Town [from the film Strange Lady in Town; with Mitch Miller and his Orchestra and Chorus]) – Mitch Miller and his Orchestra and Chorus also has The Yellow Rose of Texas
3 Sammy Davis (Jr) (Love Me or Leave Me/Something's Gotta Give (from film "Daddy Long Legs") [with Orchestra directed by Sy Oliver], That Old Black Magic [with Orchestra directed by Morty Stevens], Because of You [with Orchestra Directed by Morty Stevens])
2 David Whitfield with the Roland Shaw Orchestra (Ev’rywhere/Mama, Lady Of Madrid/I'll Never Stop Loving You)
2 Ruby Murray with Ray Martin and his Orchestra (Evermore, I’ll Come When You Call); note Ray Martin and his Orchestra also has Hernando’s Hideaway and is on Hey There by Barbara Lyon
2 Ronnie Hilton with Orchestra conducted by Frank Cordell (Stars Shine in Your Eyes [from the film La Strada], The Yellow Rose of Texas)
2 Doris Day with Percy Faith and his Orchestra (I'll Never Stop Loving You (from the MGM Picture 'Love Me or Leave Me'), Love Me or Leave Me (from the Soundtrack of the MGM film "Love Me or Leave Me"))
2 Mario Lanza orchestra conducted by Constantine Callinicos (Drinking Song, I’ll Walk With God)
2 Dickie Valentine (The Engagement Waltz [flipside to No Such Luck; with the Roland Shaw Orchestra], I Wonder [with Johnny Douglas and his orchestra])
meaning there are 45 different artists

[Satchmo76]

Typo: Blackboard Jungle

The age of Rock Around The Clock is shown by the fact that the Brunswick series had reached 05483 by this time ( Peggy Lee – Bella Notte / La La Lu), so 166 releases had elapsed.

[braindeadpj]

Oops, You are of course right it should be Blackboard Jungle. I have corrected it. I have heard that the flipside Thirteen Women was the original A side when it was released in 1954. Of course only Rock Around the Clock appeared on the dealer returns suggesting that this was the more popular side, but it was its use in the movie Blackboard Jungle that really broke the record here and in the States.

[braindeadpj]

RM Chart Talk Column 8/10/1955
Three Cheers for "The Man fro Laramie". And for Britain's own Jimmy Young whose record has shot to the top of the tree this week. This disc has been astonishingly successful. In four short weeks, its risen from nowhere to 11, to 5th, to 3rd. And now to first base! The 100,000 mark was passed nearly two weeks ago. So Here's to the next 100,000! And to think that Jimmy wasn't sold on the song the first time he heard it, but after playing it over and over again, it finally got under his skin. Now he's got another big hit on his hands. Once again, well done Jimmy!
In one of the biggest polls this department has yet known, six discs stood out head and shoulders above the others [We have the highest number of dealers printed this week - 51 - 11 higher than the previous record. Our chart does show the top 6 (with a spread of 177.95 [213] points) being some way ahead of the next records (a gap of 60.56 (72) points.]
Cyril Stapleton's Blue Star a surprise entry on last week's charts continued its upward trend. This week it's 6th. Could go higher still.
The only newcomer to the Top Ten (and our Spotlight disc this week) was the fantastic American success "Yellow Rose of Texas" by Mitch Miller and his Orchestra.
The assong seems to have caught on as well. Four other versions showed up upon the charts. By "new boy" Michael Holliday (Columbia), Billy Cotton (Decca), Ronnie Hilton (HMV) and Johnny Desmond (Vogue-Coral) [We have the same 5 on our chart in that order too]. Watch this grow. It should be BIG.

A special paragraph for HMV's Malcolm Vaughan. Everyone thought that "Ev'ry Day of My Life" had had its day. But far from it. The record id doing very well still. And its NUMBER TEN AGAIN.

This week RM specifically list 11-20 as "Now for the Second Top Ten"

18/11 Close The Door - The Stargazers
A RM "Spotlight" disc of a few weeks back. Close the Door is doing well in all areas. Might make the Top Ten next week.
12/12 Hey There - Rosemary Clooney
The lovely sophisticated song from "The Pajama Game" Rosie had the big record in the USA. She's ahead of her competitors here, too.
11/13 Humming Bird - Frankie Laine
With Strange Lady in Town on its way out, here's "Mr Rhythm" with another contender for the Hit Parade.
-/14 Hernando's Hideaway - Johnston Bros.
Another big Pajama Game number and the British Brothers have beaten Johnnie Ray this week [ but not in the Extended chart - though this may be due inclusion of Hey There - the flip side]. Though Mr Ray's tour here may well rocket this record into the best-sellers.
13/145 Love Me or Leave Me - Sammy Davis
With the Doris Day film of the same name going on general release, this disc (and Doris' version) should be on dealers' returns for some time to come.
18/16 Hernando's Hideaway - Johnnie Ray
(see comments for no.14) Other H. H. discs in the running are by Ray Martin, Archie Bleyer and Lita Roza [Extended chart has Lita Roza (probably due to inclusuion of Hey There), Ray Martin and Archie Bleyer in that order; good to see that Archie Bleyer gets a mention even if never reaches the charts].
20/19 John and Julie - Eddie Calvert
If this fades out , the Man with the Golden Trumpet has a new potential hit called Love is a Many Splendoured Thing. Though he'll have lots of competition on this from Nat King Cole, The Four Aces, Don Cornell and David Hughes.
17/20 The Dam Busters March - R.A.F. Band
A steady seller where the film is showing.

SPOTLIGHT: Yellow Rose of Texas - Mitch Miller
At last a big hit of his own for the man who has been responsible for so many other artiste's hits - American Columbia's brilliant A & R chief-arranger-conductor Mitch Miller. Mitch has made hits galore for Guy Mitchell, Doris Day, Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray, among others. This Philips record of Yellow Rose (which was tipped as a potential big-seller in Sales Talk two weeks ago) has had a fantastic success in the States. It seems perfectly capable of repeating that success here in Britain. A star disc by the :Star-Maker".

[braindeadpj]

I just noticed that Rosemary Clooney - Hey There (with Buddy Cole and his Orchestra) is Philips PB 494 while Johnnie Ray, Orchestra under the direction of Joe Reisman Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game') with Hey There on the flipside is Philips PB 495. Interesting that one record company would release competing versions of the same song - though of course perhaps they considered It Just Happened to Happen to Me (with Percy Faith and his Orchestra) as the main A side at the time.... though of course so far only Hey There has been mentioned.

EDIT: another one:
Well I guess this isn't that unusual. Decca has The Johnston Brothers with Johnny Douglas and his Orchestra Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game')/Hey There ("from the Pajama Game") as F 10608 and Lita Roza with Bob Sharples and his Music - Hernando's Hideaway (from The Pajama Game')/Hey There ("from the Pajama Game") as F 10611. So identical records - a male and a female version with close catalogue numbers.

[Splodj]

Again they specify all 11-20, this time in a way that looks even more like the continuation list for a Top 20.

Jimmy Young reached number one a week later in NME. RM continued to be the most 'ahead' chart until it's demise, with records tending to enter higher and rise faster in its chart than the others, when NME took on that mantle.

[Robbie]

Again they specify all 11-20, this time in a way that looks even more like the continuation list for a Top 20.

Jimmy Young reached number one a week later in NME. RM continued to be the most 'ahead' chart until it's demise, with records tending to enter higher and rise faster in its chart than the others, when NME took on that mantle.

Do records also fall faster on the RM chart and perhaps even fall off the chart quicker? I must admit I've not studied the RM and NME charts from 1955-1962 close enough to have picked up on these trends.

[MrTibbs]

Apologies for the delay in noticing this but on the 1st October chart, I'll Never Stop Lovin' You - David Whitfield with the Roland Shaw Orchestra (54) is the flipside to Lady of Madrid (49) (https://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/f10596), so I make it at 33 instead of 49 and 54.

Thanks for picking up on that David. I have amended that and the last week positions affected for 8th October and posted the amended charts above and also amended the spreadsheets.

[MrTibbs]

The chart for 8th October is significant. The chart itself and brain's post both indicate that 51 returns were printed in the paper. Given just the slight difference in positions in the original RM chart and the 'extended' chart this would seem to indicate that RM used a few more returns for theirs. I think this is the first evidence that Alan Smith's research, and subsequently used by the UAC, that RM was using around 60 returns at this time is indeed accurate. This is an important development as it confirms Alan's research was thorough and correct so also gives confidence that his other researched figures were also just as correct.