| UK Singles Chart number ones |
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| UK Singles Chart |
| Other charts |
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Melody Maker was a British weekly popular music newspaper, published between 1926 and 2000. It was the third publication, after the New Musical Express (in 1952) and the Record Mirror (in 1955), to start its own singles chart, effective 7 April 1956. Like NME, Melody Maker drew a sample of random record stores by phone. [1] [2] Its first chart drew from figures for 19 shops; during the 1950s, sample sizes ranged from around 14–33 shops, and on 30 July 1960 the phoning of record shops was supplemented with postal returns; the first chart to use this method sampled 38 stores from 110 returns. In its 9 February 1963 edition, Melody Maker disclosed that it received chart returns from 245 retailers and that its chart was audited by auditors supplied by Middlesex County Council. [3] When Disc & Music Echo (which at that point was published by the same company) began publishing Melody Maker's charts after 26 August 1967 upon discontinuing its own chart the week before, the latter expanded their sample pool to 282. [4] After Record Retailer and the BBC contracted with the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile their singles and album charts in 1969, Melody Maker (and NME) gradually reduced their respective sample pools to the point where, by the next decade, each drew from 100 stores. The chart itself was originally a Top 20, extended to a Top 30 effective 14 April 1962, and Top 50 on 15 September 1962. After 1 April 1967, Melody Maker reverted to a Top 30 chart. [5]
Record charts in the United Kingdom began on 14 November 1952 when NME imitated an idea started in American Billboard magazine compiled their own hit parade. Until 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) chart was established, many periodicals compiled their own charts. [2] During this time the BBC used aggregated results of the prominent NME, Melody Maker , Disc , Record Mirror and, later, Record Retailer charts to compile their Pick of the Pops chart. Prior to 1969 there was no universally accepted source or "official" singles chart; [1] [6] [7] however, the Official Chart Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums regard the canonical sources for this period as NME before 10 March 1960 and Record Retailer from then until the BMRB took over in 1969. [8] Although Record Retailer is now the most predominantly used source for charting music in the 1960s, NME had the biggest circulation of charts in the decade and was more widely followed. [1] [6] After the BMRB was formed, the NME continued compiling its own chart up until 14 May 1988. [2]
Elvis Presley had the first "non-canonical" number-one in the history of the Melody Maker chart when his 1957 single "Party" reached the top, but couldn't get past number two on the NME chart which, prior to 10 March 1960, was the "canonical" chart source as determined by the Official Charts Company. [9] Between then and 1969, Melody Maker had a total of twenty number ones that did not reach number one on the NME chart before 1960, Record Retailer from then to 15 February 1969, and the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) after that date. Of that total, seven also failed to top the Record Mirror (pre-1962), NME (post-1960) or Disc charts. Two were by The Beatles, whose 1967 hit "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" and EP of Magical Mystery Tour only reached number one in Melody Maker; conversely, their "Lady Madonna" made the top of all charts but Melody Maker, where it got no higher than number two. [1] [6]
| † | The song did not reach number on the NME (1952–1960) or Record Retailer (1960–1969) charts which are considered by the Official Charts Company as the canonical sources until 15 February 1969. |
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| ‡ | The song did not reach number one on the BMRB chart which is considered as the official chart after 15 February 1969. |
| [nb #] | The song spent a week at number one, where it shared the top spot with another song. |
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British Hit Singles & Albums was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of the Guinness breweries, Guinness Superlatives. Later editions were published by HiT Entertainment. It listed all the singles and albums featured in the Top 75 pop charts in the UK. In 2004 the book became an amalgamation of two earlier Guinness publications, originally known as British Hit Singles and British Hit Albums. The publication of this amalgamation ceased in 2006, with Guinness World Records being sold to The Jim Pattison Group, owner of Ripley's Believe It or Not!. At this point, the Official UK Charts Company teamed up with Random House/Ebury Publishing to release a new version of the book under the Virgin Books brand. Entitled The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles, it was first published in November 2008 with a separate albums book and second edition being published over the next couple of years.
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, a single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio track not longer than 15 minutes with a minimum sale price of 40 pence. The rules have changed many times as technology has developed, the most notable being the inclusion of digital downloads in 2005 and streaming in July 2014.
Expresso Bongo is an EP by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, released in January 1960. It contains all the songs by the group sung in the film of the same name in which Richard also stars.
Footnotes
Until 15th February 1969, there was no officially compiled chart.