In 1968, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the easy listening market. The chart, which in 1968 was entitled Easy Listening, has undergone various name changes and since 1996 has been published under the title Adult Contemporary. [1] In 1968, 13 songs topped the chart based on playlists submitted by easy listening radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. [1]
In the issue of Billboard dated January 6, the number one spot was held by Harpers Bizarre with their version of Glenn Miller's 1941 song "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which climbed from number 3 the previous week. [2] [3] It would prove to be the only time that the sunshine pop band topped the Easy Listening chart, and after 1968 they would achieve no further entries on the listing at all. [4] [5] Other acts to top the Easy Listening chart for the first time in 1968 included the Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Mendes, who achieved the feat with a version of "The Fool on the Hill", originally recorded by the Beatles. [6] [7] After a lengthy period without further major success, Mendes would achieve a second number one 15 years after the first when he made a comeback in 1983 and took his version of "Never Gonna Let You Go" to the top spot. [6] [7]
The longest-running number one of 1968 was the French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat's instrumental version of a song which had originally been Luxembourg's entry to the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest, [8] "Love is Blue". Mauriat's recording spent 11 consecutive weeks in the top spot, setting a new record for the longest run at number one on the chart which would stand for 25 years until Billy Joel spent 12 weeks in the peak position with "The River of Dreams" in 1993. [9] "Love is Blue" also topped Billboard's pop chart, the Hot 100, although it would prove to be Mauriat's only number one on either listing. [10] [11] "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro and "This Guy's In Love With You" by Herb Alpert also topped both charts in 1968. [12] The final Easy Listening number one of the year was "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell, the first time he topped the listing; after achieving his first three Easy Listening number ones within a 12-month period he would not return to the top of the chart until "Rhinestone Cowboy" reached number one in 1975. [13]
Issue date | Title | Artist(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
January 6 | "Chattanooga Choo Choo" | Harpers Bizarre | [2] |
January 13 | [14] | ||
January 20 | "In the Misty Moonlight" | Dean Martin | [15] |
January 27 | [16] | ||
February 3 | "Am I That Easy to Forget" | Engelbert Humperdinck | [17] |
February 10 | " The Lesson " | Vikki Carr | [18] |
February 17 | "Love Is Blue" | Paul Mauriat | [19] |
February 24 | [20] | ||
March 2 | [21] | ||
March 9 | [22] | ||
March 16 | [23] | ||
March 23 | [24] | ||
March 30 | [25] | ||
April 6 | [26] | ||
April 13 | [27] | ||
April 20 | [28] | ||
April 27 | [29] | ||
May 4 | "Honey" | Bobby Goldsboro | [30] |
May 11 | [31] | ||
May 18 | " The Good, the Bad and the Ugly " | Hugo Montenegro | [32] |
May 25 | [33] | ||
June 1 | [34] | ||
June 8 | "This Guy's in Love with You" | Herb Alpert | [35] |
June 15 | [36] | ||
June 22 | [37] | ||
June 29 | [38] | ||
July 6 | [39] | ||
July 13 | [40] | ||
July 20 | [41] | ||
July 27 | [42] | ||
August 3 | [43] | ||
August 10 | [44] | ||
August 17 | "Classical Gas" | Mason Williams | [45] |
August 24 | [46] | ||
August 31 | [47] | ||
September 7 | " The Fool on the Hill " | Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 | [48] |
September 14 | [49] | ||
September 21 | [50] | ||
September 28 | [51] | ||
October 5 | [52] | ||
October 12 | [53] | ||
October 19 | "My Special Angel" | The Vogues | [54] |
October 26 | [55] | ||
November 2 | "Those Were the Days" | Mary Hopkin | [56] |
November 9 | [57] | ||
November 16 | [58] | ||
November 23 | [59] | ||
November 30 | [60] | ||
December 7 | [61] | ||
December 14 | "Wichita Lineman" | Glen Campbell | [62] |
December 21 | [63] | ||
December 28 | [64] | ||
The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by Billboard magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to Billboard by stations that are members of the Adult Contemporary radio panel. The chart debuted in Billboard magazine on July 17, 1961. Over the years, the chart has undergone a series of name changes, being called Easy Listening(1961–1962; 1965–1979), Middle-Road Singles(1962–1964), Pop-Standard Singles(1964–1965), Hot Adult Contemporary(1984–1996) and Adult Contemporary(1979–1984, 1996–present). The current number-one song on the chart is "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus.
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two significantly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature song. Between 1970 and 1975, it was a top-40 hit three separate times for three separate artists: Lenny Welch, The Partridge Family and Sedaka's second version. The song was also adapted into multiple languages, most notably in Italian and French.
"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" is a 1964 hit song written and recorded by Gale Garnett which reached No. 2 in Canada, and No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending 17 October 1964. It also enjoyed success on easy listening and country music radio stations, spending seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart and No. 42 on the country chart. The Cash Box Top 100 ranked "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" at No. 1 for the week of 31 October 1964, and it also reached No. 1 in Garnett's native New Zealand that November. In Australia, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" afforded Garnett a Top Ten hit with a No. 10 peak in October 1964. Garnett's sole Top 40 hit, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" won the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1965.
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Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is the twenty-fifth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams and was released in the spring of 1970 by Columbia Records. Williams was less focused on covering recent hits on this project and instead selected several songs from the singer-songwriter genre. The concept for the album came from Mason Williams, who contacted producer Dick Glasser about co-producing an album that would give Williams's fans a medley of songs that did more than just highlight the most familiar parts of popular songs but rather focus on a unifying theme or storyline of songs that were not necessarily hit records. Billboard magazine opined that the album "may well be titled 'A Journey Through Life.' Through carefully selected songs it conveys a message of dreams, hopes, reality, frustrations and ultimate truth."
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