Monday, 01 August 2011
Last week, I mentioned that I keep track of the singles that go to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. A friend asked me why bother since it’s almost all really bad music anyway.
Here’s the deal: Like films that win the Oscar for Best Picture, The Presidents, The Elements, and the Countries of the World, The #1 Songs is a finite, slowly changing list from which to cull all sorts of interesting facts and figures. More than that, it’s fascinating to see how songs and artists that I enjoy are doing on the charts. Of course, as another friend has repeatedly pointed out, going to #1 (or not) doesn’t have an inherent influence on the quality of the song. But, as a trivia buff, it’s fun to wonder why, what if, and how come: I lament Bush’s victory in the Presidential election of 2000, and Rear Window’s loss of Best Picture, but the stats and the accompanying trivia is fun.
Here, then, are a few bits of Hot 100 trivia that I think are pretty interesting (and I’m just listing these off the top of my head, so feel free to double-check):
-No woman has been on top of the charts more than Diana Ross: 12 times as a member of the Supremes, 5 times as a soloist, once with Lionel Richie, and once as a member of USA for Africa (total = 19).
-The biggest gap a musician ever had between #1 songs is nearly 25 years (March 1974-March 1999). The record belongs to Cher.
-Creedence Clearwater Revival holds the record for most #2 songs without ever attaining a #1 song (it happened to them 5 times).
-The Barenaked Ladies song “One Week” stayed at number one for …one week. Prince’s song “7,” meanwhile, only peaked at #7.
-As a writer, Barry Gibb had four #1 songs in a row in 1978.
-Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” is the shittiest ‘song’ to ever go to #1.
-The oldest person to have a #1 song was Louie Armstrong, in 1964. He was 62.
-Speaking of 1964, The Beatles dominated the charts that year. They scored six #1 hits (a record!). The song “A World Without Love,” by Peter Gordon also went to #1 that year. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, meaning those two men penned seven #1 hits in a single year. The Beatles’ song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was succeeded at #1 by “She Loves You,” which was then succeeded at #1 by “Can’t Buy Me Love.” No other act has ever had three in a row like that. During the week of April 4th, The Beatles had the #1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 song. During the week of April 11th, they had 14 songs on the Hot 100. Their song “Twist and Shout” failed to become a #1 song. It was blocked from the top spot by another Beatles song.
-Lots of songs have gone to #1, then dropped down to #2 or 3 for a week or two, then jumped back up to #1, but the only song to go to #1, then drop all the way off the charts, then climb all the way back up to #1 is Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.”
-The shortest title for a #1 song is Britney Spear’s “3.” The longest title is so long I can’t even remember it, but it went to #1 in 1981, and the title begins with “Medley: Intro Venus…”
Since there have been several #1 songs that I do like, I will here make a chronological listing of my favorite #1 songs…
“That’ll Be the Day” Buddy Holly (1957)
Like so many artists here, Holly’s best songs did not make it to #1. This, in fact, was his only song that did. So even though it’s not my favorite Holly song, it’s the only one I can list here. And it’s not so bad.
“The Battle of New Orleans” Johnny Horton (1959)
“Mack the Knife” Bobby Darin (1959)
“Hit the Road Jack” Ray Charles (1961)
“Oh, Pretty Woman” Roy Orbison (1964)
“I Feel Fine” The Beatles (1964)
“Help!” The Beatles (1965)
“Yesterday” The Beatles (1965)
“The Sounds of Silence” Simon and Garfunkel (1966)
“Paint It, Black” The Rolling Stones (1966)
“Good Vibrations” The Beach Boys (1966)
It’s a tough call, but I gotta say this is the best song to ever go to #1.
“All You Need is Love” The Beatles (1967)
“The Dock of the Bay” Otis Redding (1968)
“Mrs. Robinson” Simon and Garfunkel (1968)
“Come Together/Something” The Beatles (1969)
These two songs were #1 at the same time (they formed the A- and B-sides to a record). I’m listing them both because they’re both awesome.
“Let It Be” The Beatles (1970)
“My Sweet Lord” George Harrison (1970)
This is a close contender for best #1 song ever. Like I said, tough call.
“Me and Bobby McGee” Janis Joplin (1971)
I like songs by women, too.
“I Feel the Earth Move” Carol King (1971)
See? Told ya.
“How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” The Bee Gees (1971)
“Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey” Paul and Linda McCartney (1971)
“American Pie” Don McLean (1972)
“Heart of Gold” Neil Young (1972)
“A Horse With No Name” America (1972)
“Superstition” Stevie Wonder (1973)
Another contender for best #1 song ever.
“Bennie and the Jets” Elton John (1974)
“Sundown” Gordon Lightfoot (1974)
“Whatever Get You Through the Night” John Lennon (1974)
“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (1976) Paul Simon
Simon’s got 50 songs that are better than this…but this is the only one that went to #1.
“Sir Duke” Stevie Wonder (1977)
“What a Fool Believes” The Doobie Brothers (1979)
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” Queen (1980)
Another Brick in the Wall” Pink Floyd (1980)
“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” Billy Joel (1980)
“Another One Bites the Dust” Queen (1980)
…Geez, looks like 1980 was the best year ever for #1 songs.
“Starting Over” John Lennon (1980)
…See what I mean?
“Sledgehammer” Peter Gabriel (1986)
Another strong contender for best #1 ever.
“Higher Love” Steve Winwood (1986)
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” U2 (1987)
Like Paul Simon, U2 has lots of songs that are better than this one, but hardly ever had a #1 hit.
“We Didn’t Start the Fire” Billy Joel (1989)
“Praying for Time” George Michael (1990)
“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” Elton John and George Michael (1992)
“Smooth” Santana and Rob Thomas (1999)
“Makes Me Wonder” Maroon 5 (2007)
“Viva la Vida” Coldplay (2008)
and, of course…
“Rolling in the Deep” Adele (2011)
I don’t know if I’d ever heard “I’ll Be Missing You” before, but after giving it a listen I’d say that the #1’s are in pretty good shape if that’s the worst of them. I mean, I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to listen to it again, but if it came on the radio, I don’t think I’d turn it off.
I wonder if I could say that for every #1. If so, that’d be reason enough for me to keep tabs on it.
Oh wait, “Smooth” hit #1?
Never mind. 😛
I gave this some thought before publishing it, and I think “I’ll Be Missing You” is a good choice for worst ever (though I’d readily concede there are dozens of other close contenders).
There are, of course, lots of #1 songs I don’t like, but this one seems to have everything rolled into one.
For example, I could have listed off a some schmaltzy Barbara Streisand song as my least favorite #1 song, but I gotta admit…she is a talented vocalist. Likewise, I could have lambasted an Eminem song…but at least he wasn’t sampling some far superior tune.
But as I mentioned last week, this kind of song has more to hate:
-It’s mostly just rapping (not bad in itself, but, like country music, it’s just not my thing)
-It takes a decent song (“Every Breath You Take”) and just samples it. It’s not even a remake of the song, it’s an exact copy. Other #1 songs did similar stunts – in fact, only a few months earlier, Puff Daddy had a #1 song with “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” which rips Matthew Wilder’s “Break My Stride,” but since “Every Breath You Take” is a better song, the transgression is greater (IMO). In both cases, the few times I’ve had the displeasure of hearing them, all I could think was, “Why isn’t the radio station just playing the original? That was better.”
In my above list, you may notice a shortage of #1s from the mid-1990s onward. That’s because most of them are rap, and several sample songs from people who actually took the time to write and perform actual music. If you don’t think the Puff Daddy tune is that bad, then you probably would like to listen to the #1 songs from the past decade-and-a-half. (I realize that may sound facetious, but I don’t mean to be. I’m being sincere – it might be fun for you to call up a list of #1 songs and then call them up on YouTube and listen to a mini-history lesson of pop music.)
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