{"id":1866,"date":"2011-08-03T10:20:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T15:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2011-08-04T09:07:27","modified_gmt":"2011-08-04T14:07:27","slug":"the-number-one-1s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2011\/08\/the-number-one-1s\/","title":{"rendered":"The number one #1s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, 01 August 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last week, I mentioned that I keep track<\/a> of the singles that go to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100<\/a>. A friend asked me why bother since it’s almost all really bad music anyway.<\/p>\n

Here’s the deal: Like films that win the Oscar for Best Picture<\/a>, The Presidents<\/a>, The Elements<\/a>, and the Countries of the World<\/a>, 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<\/em> loss of Best Picture, but the stats and the accompanying trivia is fun.<\/p>\n

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):<\/p>\n

-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).<\/p>\n

-The biggest gap a musician ever had between #1 songs is nearly 25 years (March 1974-March 1999). The record belongs to Cher.<\/p>\n

-Creedence Clearwater Revival holds the record for most #2 songs without ever attaining a #1 song (it happened to them 5 times).<\/p>\n

-The Barenaked Ladies song “One Week” stayed at number one for …one week. Prince’s song “7,” meanwhile, only peaked at #7.<\/p>\n

-As a writer, Barry Gibb had four #1 songs in a row in 1978.<\/p>\n

-Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” is the shittiest ‘song’ to ever go to #1.<\/p>\n

-The oldest person to have a #1 song was Louie Armstrong, in 1964. He was 62.<\/p>\n

-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.<\/p>\n

-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.”<\/p>\n

-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…”<\/p>\n

Since there have been several #1 songs that I do like, I will here make a chronological listing of my favorite #1 songs…<\/p>\n

“That’ll Be the Day” Buddy Holly (1957)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“The Battle of New Orleans” Johnny Horton (1959)<\/p>\n

“Mack the Knife” Bobby Darin (1959)<\/p>\n

“Hit the Road Jack” Ray Charles (1961)<\/p>\n

“Oh, Pretty Woman” Roy Orbison (1964)<\/p>\n

“I Feel Fine” The Beatles (1964)<\/p>\n

“Help!” The Beatles (1965)<\/p>\n

“Yesterday” The Beatles (1965)<\/p>\n

“The Sounds of Silence” Simon and Garfunkel (1966)<\/p>\n

“Paint It, Black” The Rolling Stones (1966)<\/p>\n

“Good Vibrations” The Beach Boys (1966)<\/p>\n

It’s a tough call, but I gotta say this is the best song to ever go to #1.<\/p>\n

“All You Need is Love” The Beatles (1967)<\/p>\n

“The Dock of the Bay” Otis Redding (1968)<\/p>\n

“Mrs. Robinson” Simon and Garfunkel (1968)<\/p>\n

“Come Together\/Something” The Beatles (1969)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“Let It Be” The Beatles (1970)<\/p>\n

“My Sweet Lord” George Harrison (1970)<\/p>\n

This is a close contender for best #1 song ever. Like I said, tough call.<\/p>\n

“Me and Bobby McGee” Janis Joplin (1971)<\/p>\n

I like songs by women, too.<\/p>\n

“I Feel the Earth Move” Carol King (1971)<\/p>\n

See? Told ya.<\/p>\n

“How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” The Bee Gees (1971)<\/p>\n

“Uncle Albert \/ Admiral Halsey” Paul and Linda McCartney (1971)<\/p>\n

“American Pie” Don McLean (1972)<\/p>\n

“Heart of Gold” Neil Young (1972)<\/p>\n

“A Horse With No Name” America (1972)<\/p>\n

“Superstition” Stevie Wonder (1973)<\/p>\n

Another contender for best #1 song ever.<\/p>\n

“Bennie and the Jets” Elton John (1974)<\/p>\n

“Sundown” Gordon Lightfoot (1974)<\/p>\n

“Whatever Get You Through the Night” John Lennon (1974)<\/p>\n

“50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (1976) Paul Simon<\/p>\n

Simon’s got 50 songs that are better than this…but this is the only one that went to #1.<\/p>\n

“Sir Duke” Stevie Wonder (1977)<\/p>\n

“What a Fool Believes” The Doobie Brothers (1979)<\/p>\n

“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” Queen (1980)<\/p>\n

Another Brick in the Wall” Pink Floyd (1980)<\/p>\n

“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” Billy Joel (1980)<\/p>\n

“Another One Bites the Dust” Queen (1980)<\/p>\n

…Geez, looks like 1980 was the best year ever <\/em>for #1 songs.<\/p>\n

“Starting Over” John Lennon (1980)<\/p>\n

…See what I mean?<\/p>\n

“Sledgehammer” Peter Gabriel (1986)<\/p>\n

Another strong contender for best #1 ever.<\/p>\n

“Higher Love” Steve Winwood (1986)<\/p>\n

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” U2 (1987)<\/p>\n

Like Paul Simon, U2 has lots of songs that are better than this one, but hardly ever had a #1 hit.<\/p>\n

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” Billy Joel (1989)<\/p>\n

“Praying for Time” George Michael (1990)<\/p>\n

“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” Elton John and George Michael (1992)<\/p>\n

“Smooth” Santana and Rob Thomas (1999)<\/p>\n

“Makes Me Wonder” Maroon 5 (2007)<\/p>\n

“Viva la Vida” Coldplay (2008)<\/p>\n

and, of course…<\/p>\n

“Rolling in the Deep” Adele (2011)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1869,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions\/1869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}