Bing Crosby - White Christmas - (16 Weeks) 03/12/1977 -48-25-12-{5}-5-16-24-x(413)-69-71-x(676)-29-40-36-59-x(465)-61-48-42

 

Its going to be interesting to see how this chart is accepted, and by whom. The OCC were quick enough to accept the inferior Record Retailer chart as the chart of choice for the sixties, a BIG mistake. Both NME and Melody Maker charts had greater credibility and way bigger samples for compilation than the Record Retailer. If this chart is as accurate as the foreword says, it is it is at least as reliable as the fifties and sixties charts compilation method prior to Feb 11th 1969, so should take its place alongside them.

The book is available now.

 

http://www.missingcharts.co.uk/

Bing & Vera Lynn seem to constantly be top 10 in the 1940s!!

NOTE - No-one is, (yet), sure if The OCC will add the Data in the 1940 to 1952 Book to UK Chart History.

 

I know that they endorsed the Book. We will see what happens in the future.

 

In the meantime - for fun - I thought that you'd like to see some of the changes to Singles Chart History,

if The OCC do add the Data to November 1952 to 2013 Chart History.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

CHANGES TO UK CHART HISTORY - IF THE OCC ADD THE DATA IN THE BOOK TO THE SINGLES CHART

 

Last night, I was studying all of the No.1's in the Book.

 

If the Book is joined on to Official Chart History, a W/B 3rd November 1952 Chart will have

to be created. (W/E 8th November 1952). There's a 1 Week gap between the final Chart in the

Book, & the 1st 'NME' Chart - W/E 15th November 1952. (W/B 10th November 1952)

 

Here are some of the changes that the Book brings to UK Singles Chart History:,

 

1) I Believe - Frankie Laine was the No.1 with the most Weeks on Top - 18 Weeks, in 3 'Runs',

during 1953. Now it is beaten by White Christmas, by Bing Crosby. That went to No.1 in 1942,

1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, & 1951 - for a Total of 24 Weeks. (I'm adding in 9 Weeks

of missing Charts. It has 15 No.1 Weeks without them).

 

2) Until now only 2 No.1 Hits have reached No.1 as many as 3 times. They were I Believe - Frankie Laine, (1953),

& Singing The Blues - Guy Mitchell, (1957). Both are now easily beaten by Bing Crosby's White Christmas,

which was No.1 in 8 different Chart Runs - 1942, & 1945 to 1951. (It was a No.2 Hit in 1943 & 1944).

 

3) The 1st No.1 is no longer Al Martino's Here In My Heart. It is Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again.

 

4) Here In My Heart gets 8 Weeks at No.1 in the Book. Added to its 9 in the NME Charts, gives it 17 No.1 Weeks.

 

5) Rihanna's Umbrella, (2007 - 10 Weeks), is no longer the Single with most Weeks at No.1 by a Female Artist.

 

1)=That Old Black Magic - Judy Garland - 14 Weeks (1943)

1)=Cornish Rhapsody - Harriet Cohen - 14 Weeks (1944/1945) @@@

3) Music! Music! Music! - Teresa Brewer - 12 Weeks (1950)

 

@@@ = Includes 2 missing Chart Weeks

 

6) Judy Garland goes from having just 1 Hit, (No.18 in 1955), to having several, with 14 in the Top 10

- 4 at No.1, including Over The Rainbow. (The Book says 'The Trolley Song' was a 1945 No.2 Hit,

in the Judy Garland Section - Page 254. But on Page 110 it is shown as being at No.1, (1 Week), in

the Chart of W/B 4th June 1945. So, she had 4 No.1's - not 3).

 

7) The Ink Spots had just 1 Hit until now - Melody Of Love. (No.10 - 1955). Now they have many Hits.

With 9 of them going to No.1. One of them, (Bless You), went to No.1 twice. For 8 Weeks in 1940/1941,

& for 9 Weeks in 1946. Giving it 17 Weeks at No.1 - 18 if you add in a missing Week at the end of 1940.

That either puts it equal to Here In My Heart, by Al Martino - 17. Or equal to I Believe by Frankie Laine - 18.

(I'm counting Bless You as 1 of their 9 No.1's - not 2)

 

8) The 9 Ink Spots No.1's spent 61 Weeks on Top. (Counting one missing Chart Week). That gives them the 4th

most Weeks at No.1 in the Singles Chart. Bing Crosby is 1st - 192 Weeks. (Or 183 - depending if you include 9

missing Chart Weeks). Elvis Presley is 2nd, (80 Weeks), & The Beatles are 3rd, (69 Weeks).

It also means that only The Beatles have more Singles Weeks at No.1, as regards Groups.

 

9) Elvis Presley, (18 0r 21, depending how you count), no longer has the most UK No.1 Hits. Bing Crosby has 44!

 

10) The Andrews Sisters go from having Zero Hits, to having several. 9 of them at No.1, which puts them equal

with the Spice Girls, as regards Female Groups. (4 of the Andrews Sisters No.1's were with Bing Crosby).

Their 9 No.1's give them 40 No.1 Weeks - the most Singles Chart No.1 Weeks by any Female Act.

(The Spice Girls also spent 40 Weeks at No.1 in the UK, but 22 Weeks were from Singles, & 18 Weeks from

Albums. The Andrews Sisters have never had a UK Hit Album. Or any Hit Singles, until now).

 

11) Al Jolson has had Zero Hit Singles, until now. He now has many, with 7 of them reaching No.1. Including the

longest consecutive 'Run' at No.1 ever, by the same Artist. That was in 1947 when Swanee/April Showers was No.1

for 9 Weeks. He then replaced himself at No.1 with The Anniversary Song, & that was No.1 for 10 Weeks.

 

12) Frank Sinatra gains 10 more No.1 Hits, to raise him from 3 to 13.

 

13) Vera Lynn has 6 more No.1's - giving her 7 rather than 1.

 

14) Doris Day goes from 2 to 5.

 

15) Guy Mitchell from 4 to 8.

 

16) Johnnie Ray from 3 to 6.

 

17) Nat 'King' Cole has his first No.1 Singles - 4. He's never been higher than No.2 before.

Edited November 18, 201311 yr by zeus555

It does indeed remain to be seen what the OCC will do. For the time being, my commentaries will continue to assume that the chart started in 1952 (and not just because I haven't got the book yet). I may make the odd reference to 1940-52 but I won't include those charts when determining new chart records. Other people are, of course, free to disagree.

Now, where as I knew the man responsible for the charts & (indeed) it's more accurate than NME could ever be. But does it include Double A sides as one, or have titles been separated. Something I must check.

 

Now all I must do is find a better way to take in 1953 - 54, then it goes very nicely into BFBS charts & into the BBC lists. NME? What was that made up, error filled, hyped nonsense?

 

Don't forget our Christmas special, will feature the RTL Christmas Top 20s for 1945, 1950 & 1955 on 2NG.

The book is available now.

 

http://www.missingcharts.co.uk/

 

Just ordered it. :)

Can you still get the books with the chart position of every song in the uk chart? Used to love them as a kid!

fascinating stuff, and I agree about the comments about the BBC charts pre 1969 being dubious, but they had to choose some chart to give priority or else miss out the 60's and no-one would have been remotely interested in any chart book that did that. Bearing in mind it started in 1976 and NME & co had their own chart books to push in those days, so it was being practical, I guess. Or avoiding royalty payments? Beatles obviously had extra number ones and instant number ones in the real world....

Can you still get the books with the chart position of every song in the uk chart? Used to love them as a kid!

 

 

There might just be a thread somewhere around here in the new year, if it isn't breaking copyright too much...

Can you still get the books with the chart position of every song in the uk chart? Used to love them as a kid!

 

If you mean 'The Virgin Book of Top 40 Charts', there was a relatively recent edition (4 years ago).

 

Try Amazon.

Edited November 14, 201311 yr by vidcapper

Can you still get the books with the chart position of every song in the uk chart? Used to love them as a kid!

 

 

Chartstats did that before the OCC closed them down.

Thank you all for responses . Sorry to put thread off track. Used to spend hours looking through them books. They had a small write up for some artists and articles in them. We're massive. Will be great if that thread happens Fchd. May try Amazon now for an old copy.

I've double checked Bing Crosby's No.1's in the Book.

 

He's not had 41 No.1 Hits - it is 44. I made the mistake because he

is given 41 No.1 Hits on Pages 250 to 251.

 

But, he also has a No.1 Hit on Page 247, in the Andrews Sisters Section.

 

Plus 2 more No.1 Hits, (with Connie Boswell), on Page 248.

 

I've only counted each No.1 once. Three of his No.1's went to No.1 twice.

One of the 3 was No.1 in both 1940 & 1944.

 

White Christmas was No.1 in 1942, & 1945 to 1951. 8 times at No.1.

 

So, although he had 44 No.1 Hits, he went to No.1 on 54 occasions.

 

His 44 No.1 Singles give him 191 Weeks at No.1. (183 if you remove

8 Missing Chart Weeks for White Christmas. I added them in).

 

His 191 No.1 Weeks are the 2nd most by any Act. It is beaten only by

The Beatles 243 UK No.1 Weeks, which is made from 69 Weeks at No.1

in the Singles Chart, & 174 Weeks at No.1 in the Albums Chart.

 

Elvis Presley has 143 No.1 Weeks - from 80 Weeks in the Singles Chart,

& 63 No.1 Weeks in the Albums Chart.

 

Bing Crosby has never had a UK No.1 Album. Or even a Top 5 Album.

He's had just 2 Top 10 Albums. A No.7 in 1960, & a No.9 in 1977.

Edited November 15, 201311 yr by zeus555

Bing Crosby has never had a UK No.1 Album. Or even a Top 5 Album.

He's had just 2 Top 10 Albums. A No.7 in 1960, & a No.9 in 1977.

There's obviously a limit to the amount of Bing people can take :lol:

I'm told that although The OCC endorsed the 1940 to 1952 Book, they

have no intentions of adding it to UK Chart History.

 

So, Bing will remain as a minor UK Chart Act.

44 #1s :drama: Hard to imagine how that could even fit into 12 years.

 

Bit of a shame the official chart history isn't being stretched back despite the OCC's endorsement.

In a way I'm glad that The OCC will not be adding the Book to UK Chart History. Bing Crosby would totally dominate

the Facts & Feats, as regards the Singles Charts.

 

His 44 No.1 Hits not only spent 192, (or 183), Weeks at No.1 between them, but he replaced himself at No.1 on no

less than 17 occasions. Which is way ahead of The Beatles, (1963), John Lennon, (1981), & Elvis Presley, (2005), who

all did it once. (The Shadows did it 3 times, if you add their Cliff Richard No.1's to their Shadows No.1's - 1960, & twice

in 1963).

 

He was also at No.1 & No.2, (at the same time), far more than any other Act. So it is just as well that those Feats will

remain unrecognised. I know he could sing, but his voice is very bland & monotonous to my ears. As a contrast, the

harmonies of the Andrews Sisters are excellent. I can see why they had 9 UK No.1 Hits.

 

 

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company B - The Andrews Sisters (1941)

 

Link:,

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnJ6mRbgk

Edited November 19, 201311 yr by zeus555

Bing was more of a personality cult, his Road movies with Bob Hope were family faves when I was growing up, but I hated the singing bits, they were already dated by the 60's, though the duets with Frank & co were fun.