Chart data compiled from Billboard ‘s Pop Singles Charts 1955-2 011 CONTENTS Author’s Note ...................................................................................................................................................5 Researching The Billboard Charts ...................................................................................................................7 User’s Guide ..................................................................................................................................................10 YEAR-BY-YEAR SECTION.................................................................................. ................................11 A yearly ranking, by highest position, of every title to peak on The Billboard Hot 100 and the Bubbling Under The Hot 100 charts from their debut in 1958 through 2011, and Billboard’s pop charts from 1955-1958 SONG TITLE SECTION.......................................................................................................................573 An alphabetical listing, by song title, of the yearly rankings MISCELLANY • Honor Roll Of Songwriters................................................................................................................. 714 • Tag-Along B-Sides ............................................................................................................................ 716 • Grammy Award Winners: Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year ........................................... 718 • Academy Award Winners: Best Song............................................................................................... 719 • Year-By-Year Synopsis ..................................................................................................................... 720 3 AUTHOR’S NOTE Welcome to my eighth edition of Pop Annual! The title of this book’s seventh edition, The Billboard Hot 100 Annual, conveyed the depth of the chart – beyond pop music. But, it caused a bit of confusion for our readers who knew its previous six editions as the Pop Annual. So, its tried-and-true title is back. This edition surpasses in depth previous editions that covered the songs that appeared on Billboard magazine’s pop singles charts from 1955-58, and on the “Hot 100” chart, thereafter. This is the first Pop Annual to also include every song that appeared on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under the Hot 100” charts! ‘Bubbling’ hits are listed right after the Hot 100 hits beginning in 1959, the year that chart debuted. The ‘Bubbling’ chart is separate from the “Hot 100” chart and introduces up-and-coming hits. Its numerical ranking starts at #1 rather than as a continuation of the last Hot 100 hit. The addition of the ‘Bubbling’ research to the Pop Annual makes this year-by-year musical chronology a fantastic parallel to the 13th edition of our artist-by-artist pop history, Top Pop Singles! Several other new features make this eighth edition outstanding. Most apparent is the larger page size which allows for more data to be presented in a crisp, clean way; and, now there’s room to display picture sleeve photos for each year’s top five hits. Songwriters and times appear for all titles, including the newly added ‘Bubbling’ hits. Finally, previous editions showed a line break after the #1, top 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 & 100 titles, while this edition also shows a break following the top 5, 30, 50, 70 & 90 titles. To me, the most exciting feature of Pop Annual’s format, more so than any of our other books, is its ability to elicit memories. My idea for the first edition of this book, back in 1978, came from the way I had then organized my 45rpm record collection, by year and peak position. I loved to pull out a tray from a favorite year, put the needle on a record and travel back in time. For many years now, I’ve organized my collections by artist, so although I no longer peruse my 45s by year, I have Pop Annual to guide me down memory lane. I’m sure you’ll find this book to be a testament to how fast time flies. A decade ago, Destiny’s Child, a group that last charted in 2005 and has since split, was the nation’s #1 recording artist. Has it really been two decades since Bryan Adams, Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul had the top three hits in the nation? (Adams was last seen in the Top 10 in 1996, Jackson in 2001 and Abdul never again.) And though, it seems like it was just yesterday when I was buying their new releases, it’s been 50 years since Elvis Presley, Brenda Lee and Chubby Checker were the top three artists. Time marches on but our musical memories are recorded for posterity in Pop Annual. Enjoy! Joel Whitburn 5 WEEKS PEAK R G T PEAK W P A O I DATE CH 40 10 K O N L Song Title Songwriter Artist M Label S S K D E 1955'55 4/30 26 26 20 10 1 1 ¤ Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White ..................Luis Guglielmi [I] Perez Prado 2:59 RCA Victor 2/12 21 21 18 10 2 ¤ Sincerely................................................................Alan Freed/Harvey Fuqua The McGuire Sisters 2:57 Coral 7/9 24 24 19 8 3 ¤ Rock Around The Clock ..............................Jimmy DeKnight/Max Freedman Bill Haley & His Comets 2:08 Decca 11/26 22 19 16 8 4 ¤ Sixteen Tons ........................................................................Merle Travis "Tennessee" Ernie Ford 2:34 Capitol 10/8 21 21 17 6 5 ¤ Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing.........Sammy Fain/Paul Francis Webster Four Aces 2:56 Decca 9/3 19 19 16 6 6 ¤ The Yellow Rose Of Texas.................................................Don George Mitch Miller 3:00 Columbia 3/26 20 20 16 5 7 ¤ The Ballad Of Davy Crockett.........................Tom Blackburn/George Bruns Bill Hayes 2:20 Cadence 10/29 26 26 18 4 8 ¤ Autumn Leaves..........................................Joseph Kosma/Johnny Mercer [I] Roger Williams 2:52 Kapp 1/1 16 16 12 4 9 ¤ Let Me Go Lover ....................................................Jenny Lou Carson/Al Hill Joan Weber 2:20 Columbia 5/14 20 20 16 3 10 ¤ Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower) ..........Hank Ballard/Etta James/Johnny Otis Georgia Gibbs 2:15 Mercury 2/5 20 20 14 3 11 ¤ Hearts Of Stone .....................................................Rudy Jackson/Eddy Ray The Fontane Sisters 2:03 Dot 5/14 21 21 18 2 12 ¤ Unchained Melody......................................................Alex North/Hy Zaret Les Baxter 2:30 Capitol 7/9 21 21 18 2 13 ¤ Learnin' The Blues.....................................................Dolores Vicki Silvers Frank Sinatra 2:59 Capitol 9/17 20 20 15 2 14 ¤ Ain't That A Shame ......................................Dave Bartholomew/Fats Domino Pat Boone 2:22 Dot 3/12 20 20 16 7 2 15 ¤ The Crazy Otto...............Luigi Creatore/Hugo Peretti/Edward White/Mack Wolfson [I] Johnny Maddox 2:58 Dot 10/29 25 25 19 616¤ Moments To Remember...........................................Robert Allen/Al Stillman The Four Lads 3:14 Columbia 12/10 18 17 14 317¤ I Hear You Knocking .........................................Dave Bartholomew/Pearl King Gale Storm 2:20 Dot 3/5 14 14 9 3 18 Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) .........................Eunice Levy/Jake Porter/Forrest Wilson Perry Como 2:37 RCA Victor 1/1 20 20 16 1 19 Teach Me Tonight ................................................Sammy Cahn/Gene DePaul The De Castro Sisters 2:50 Abbott 3/5 27 27 15 120¤ Melody Of Love ............................................Hans Engelmann/Tom Glazer [I] Billy Vaughn 2:55 Dot 7/9 20 20 14 121¤ A Blossom Fell...............................Howard Barnes/Harold Cornelius/Dominic John Nat "King" Cole 2:30 Capitol 4/2 19 19 12 122¤ Tweedle Dee .........................................................................Winfield Scott Georgia Gibbs 2:35 Mercury 4/9 16 16 10 123¤ How Important Can It Be?.......................Bennie Benjamin/George David Weiss Joni James 2:30 MGM 11/26 16 16 10 2 3 24 The Shifting, Whispering Sands ............................V.C. Gilbert/Mary Hadler Rusty Draper 2:39 Mercury 6/4 19 19 15 125¤ Unchained Melody ........................................................Alex North/Hy Zaret Al Hibbler 2:53 Decca 3/12 21 21 14 1 26 Melody Of Love..................................................Hans Engelmann/Tom Glazer Four Aces 2:45 Decca 9/17 16 16 11 1 27 The Yellow Rose Of Texas....................................................Don George Johnny Desmond 2:25 Coral 10/8 15 15 11 1 28 Seventeen.............................................Boyd Bennett/Chuck Gorman/John Young The Fontane Sisters 2:02 Dot 2/26 21 21 10 1 29 That's All I Want From You ....................................................Fritz Rotter Jaye P. Morgan 2:36 RCA Victor 3/12 13 13 8 1 30 Earth Angel ..........................................................Jesse Belvin/Curtis Williams The Crew-Cuts 2:49 Mercury 8/13 19 19 12 1 4 31 Hard To Get .............................................................................Jack Segal Gisele MacKenzie 2:58 "X" 12/31 22 22 11 132He........................................................................Richard Mullan/Jack Richards Al Hibbler 3:02 Decca 5/14 17 17 9 4 5 33 Ballad Of Davy Crockett....................................Tom Blackburn/George Bruns "Tennessee" Ernie Ford 2:50 Capitol 10/22 15 15 8 4 34 The Shifting Whispering Sands (Parts 1 & 2)....V.C. Gilbert/Mary Hadler [S] Billy Vaughn (Ken Nordine) 5:52 Dot 11/5 22 20 12 335¤ Only You (And You Alone) ............................................Buck Ram/Ande Rand The Platters 2:33 Mercury 11/26 17 15 12 3 36 Love And Marriage .......................................Sammy Cahn/James Van Heusen Frank