A record chart, also known as a music chart, is a method of ranking music judging by the popularity during a given period of time. Although primarily a marketing or supermarketing tool like any other sales statistic, they have become a form of popular media culture in their own right.
Record charts are compiled using a variety of criteria. These commonly include sales of records, cassettes and compact discs; amount of radio airplay; requests to radio disk jockeys; voting for songs by the radio listeners and, more recently, number of downloads and streams.
Some charts are specific to a particular musical genre and most to a particular geographical location. The most common period of time covered by a chart is one week, with the chart being printed or broadcast at the end of this time. Summary charts for years and decades are then calculated from their component weekly charts. Component charts have become an increasingly important way to measure the commercial success of individual songs.
Reviewers often describe records using round number milestones within a chart. For example, a record that peaks at number 7 may be called a "Top 10" hit, even when there is no chart limited to only the top 10 records in that particular location.
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The following books list recording artists in alphabetical order unless otherwise stated.
Note: The four books above have been superseded by the Betts/OCC set of books, thus:
Jørgen Ingmann was a Danish jazz and pop guitarist from Copenhagen. He was popular in Europe and had a wider international hit in 1961 with his version of "Apache". He and his wife Grethe Ingmann won the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Dansevise".
"Mama" is a song by the English rock band Genesis, released as the first single in 1983 from their self-titled album. It is recognisable for its harsh drum machine introduction composed by Mike Rutherford, which leads into minimalist synthesizer lines in a minor tonality and finally Phil Collins' reverb-laden voice. It remains the band's most successful single in the UK, peaking at No. 4 on the UK singles chart. It also made the top 10 in Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Ireland and the Netherlands. It was less popular in the US, only reaching No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. A 1992 re-release of the single managed to reach the Top 40 in Germany.
Uriah Heep Live is a double live album by British rock group Uriah Heep, released in April 1973 in the US by Mercury Records, and in May 1973 in the UK by Bronze Records. It was the band's first live album. The album was recorded by the Pye Mobile Unit, with Alan Perkins as engineer.
"Rock Your Baby" is the debut single by American singer George McCrae. Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, "Rock Your Baby" became an early landmark recording of disco. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1974, and three weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart that same month. The song also topped the Billboard R&B chart. The single has sold over 11 million copies, making it one of fewer than forty singles to have sold 10 million physical copies worldwide.
"It Never Rains in Southern California" is a 1972 song jointly written and composed by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood and sung by Hammond, a British-born singer-songwriter.
Lucky Lips is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Ruth Brown in 1956 and was successfully covered by Cliff Richard in 1963.
"Jeans On" is a song by British musician David Dundas from his 1977 self-titled debut album. Released as a single the previous year, it was first featured as a television advertising jingle for Brutus Jeans. The popularity of the commercial eventually led to the recording of "Jeans On" as a full-length song, with some lyrical changes.