- #1 songs and albums in UK and US
Site created and maintained by Sharon Rebecca Persky. Lists reach back to 1890, but, at last check, the site hadn’t been updated since 2007.
- George Albert – see Cash Box
- ARC Weekly Top 40
This pop chart has been in existence since 1980 and became associated with Rock On The Net in 1997. The ARC is based on weekly sales, radio airplay, and video play.
- AVrev.com’s Top 10 Rock Bands of All Time. By Charles Andrews, Howard Schilling, Jack Sonni, and Ken Lopez.
Five judges ranked 100 bands in various areas including U.S. sales, songs and songwriting, technical ability, innovation, live performance, and consistency vs. longevity. While the article indicates Top 10, the top 100 are listed. Some of the “bands” included are generally considered more solo artists (Bruce Springsteen, Prince), but are included because of their backing bands.
- Billboard
The definitive weekly US singles & albums charts
- Billboard.biz
This is Billboard’s online archive chart database for ALL Billboard charts. Vast amount of information, but can be tedious to search. Available to members only.
- Billboard magazine. (December 25, 1999/January 1, 2000 double issue). New York, NY.
Double issue that explores 1999’s year in music charts and looks back at the biggest hits of the decade in the various chart formats such as pop, rock, R&B, adult contemporary, country, alternative, gospel, and Latin music.
- “All Time Top 100.” – see “Lists (Songs – All Time)”
Billboard magazine’s 1000 No. 1s
Check out all the songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 from its inception in August 1958 to the 1000th #1 in March 2011.
- Fred Bronson’s The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). New York, NY; Billboard Books. (2003)
Insight into every song to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart from the beginning of the rock era (Bill Haley’s 1955 #1 song “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock”) to 2003’s “This Is the Night” by Clay Aiken. 5th edition appears to be the most current.
- Fred Bronson’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits (4th edition). New York, NY; Billboard Books. (2007)
This book goes a step farther than Bronson’s Number One Hits book. Songs are ranked so that we can see the biggest hits of each year, each decade, and of the entire rock era. Also included are various categories, such as the biggest hits by particular artists, writers, producers, and labels.
- Cashbox magazine
Similar to Billboard magazine, Cash Box has charted the most popular hits in the U.S. While their charts have gone back as far as 1942, this online database starts with 1950 and ends with 1996, when the charts ceased. However, these are just reprints of the original charts and there is no searchable function to find a specific act, song, or peak position. Check out Pat Downey’s book for that.
- Cash Box: Pop Singles Charts 1950-1993. Written by Pat Downey, George Albert, and Frank Hoffman. Libraries Unlimited, Inc.: Englewood, Colorado. (1994)
Like Billboard, Cash Box has charted the U.S. pop hits for decades. However, Cash Box is solely sales-based while Billboard combines airplay and sales. This book doesn’t cover all the Cash Box years, eliminating the charts from 1942-1950 as unreliable and stopping before the charts ceased in 1996. However, this is a worthy companion to Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles, which covers the Billboard pop charts. Like that book, this indicates each charted song’s date of initial release, record label, and peak position. Songs are organized by recording acts. A more updated edition would be nice, but seems unlikely given the cessation of the chart and that this book’s low demand has rendered it out of print.
- Cash Box’s “The 100 Biggest Top 100 Hits” – see “Lists (Songs – Best of All Time)
- ChartStats.com
Excellent database of the British song and album charts. Offers more complete information than EveryHit.com, including week-by-week chart data and covers of albums and singles, but is more awkward for searching.
- Pat Downey – see Cash Box
- EveryHit.com
This online easy-to-search database lets users search by artist, song, or album any songs, albums, or EPs to hit the top 40 of the UK charts from 1952 to 2010. Don’t know if site has been updated beyond that.
- Edward Foote Gardner. Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I – Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House. (2000)
In an attempt to compile multiple surveys from the era, this book offers charts for the first half of the century. The focus is on the songs themselves and not the specific charted versions of a song.
- Guinness World Records British Hit Singles. Edited by David Roberts. London, Great Britain; Guinness World Records Ltd. (2001)
Compiles all songs to hit the British charts from November 14, 1952 to December 30, 2000. Organized alphabetically by the name of recording acts, under which their hit songs, peak positions, and debut weeks are listed.
- Frank Hoffman – see Cash Box
- Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh. 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. (2005)
The British equivalent of Fred Bronson’s analysis of every song to hit #1 from 1952-2005. Appears to be only edition.
- Spencer Leigh – see Jon Kutner
- Mediabase Music
- Music VF (2009)
Database of chart hits in US (based on major Billboard charts) and UK (based on the Official UK Charts Company). Howard Drake has the site’s copyright.
- MusicianNetwork.com
Multiple links to charts and lists.
- The Official UK Charts Company
The definitive weekly UK singles & albums charts
- Onlineweb.com
Lists all UK #1 songs from 7 January 1950 to 5 November 2011. Especially notable for 1950-52, which were based only on sheet music sales and aren’t included in the Official UK Charts list of #1 songs.
- David Roberts – see Guinness
- Record Research
Joel Whitburn books on the Billboard charts.
- Record Research’s A Century of Pop Music. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (1999)
This massive undertaking chronicles the top 40 songs for each year of the 20th century. It also lists the biggest hits and artists of each decade. The lists are determined by ranking songs first by peak position (with #1 songs ranked by most weeks at the top). Tie breakers are decided, depending on the year, by weeks in the top 3, top 5, top 10, and weeks on the chart.
- Record Research’s Hot Country Songs 1944-2008 (7th edition). By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (2009)
This is an alphabetical listing, by artist, of every record to chart on Billboard magazine’s country song charts.
- Record Research’s Music Yearbook. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (annual)
Record Research has put out an annual Music Yearbook for every year since 1983. The books include information from the major Billboard charts of the cited year. The 2005-2006 years were consolidated into one book as were the 2007-2008 years.
- Record Research’s Pop Memories 1890-1954. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (1986)
Listings of every major charted song in the first half of the 20th century. Each song is accompanied by the date of initial release, record label, and peak position. Songs are organized by recording acts, who have short biographies as well.
- Record Research’s Rock Tracks. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (2008)
This book covers every song to chart on Billboard magazine’s “Album Rock Tracks” chart from its debut in 1981 through present and every song that hit the same magazine’s “Modern Rock Tracks” chart from its beginning in 1988 to present.
- Record Research’s Top Adult Songs 1961-2006. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (2006)
This is an alphabetical listing, by artist, of every record to chart on Billboard magazine’s Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary charts and Adult Top 40 charts.
- Record Research’s Top Pop Singles 1955-2008 (12th edition). By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (2009)
This book is a companion to Pop Memories 1890-1954. It is organized in the same fashion as its predecessor and covers the rock era. As with most of the first book, the chart histories are taken from Billboard magazine, the industry leader in music charts.
- Record Research’s Top Pop Albums 1955-2005. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (2005)
Alphabetical listing, by artist, of every album to chart on Billboard magazines pop album charts, starting from January 8, 1955. Also included are listings of all songs to appear on each album.
- Record Research’s Top R&B Singles: 1942-2004. By Joel Whitburn. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. (2004)
Every song to hit the R&B charts in period covered. Organized by artist with each song listed along with information such as its original chart date and peak position.
- Neil Warwick, John Kutner, and Tony Brown. (2004). The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums (3rd edition). London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press
This renders Roberts’ Guinness book unnecessary, as it is an updated version of that book, listing all songs to hit the British charts from 1952 to 2003. This book goes a step farther, however, also listing all albums to hit the British charts. Organized alphabetically by the name of the act, then all charted songs are listed chronologically followed by all albums listed chronologically. Appears to be most recent edition.
- Joel Whitburn – see Record Research
- Your Hit Parade. Murray L. Pfeffer. (1994)
This web site listed every song that made the Hit Parade (a weekly television show) from 1935-1955, lists their peak positions (1-3), total numbers at peak position, and total weeks on the Hit Parade. It was used to document the chart peaks of songs, but sadly, this link is now broken and, even more disgusting, there is an apparent lack of any resource that tracks the peaks on Your Hit Parade. If you find one, please email Dave’s Music Database!
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