The One Week Wonders - Episode 113

 

First Up is Tiny Tim, with his cover version of Great Balls Of Fire, which was at #45 on w/e 5th February 1969. Despite the audience laughter in the linked video this apparently wasn't supposed to be comedic or a parody. I happened to listen to the audio from the actual single first and just thought it was a decent cover of the original, and then I saw this TV performance and became aware that a lot of people apparently viewed it as comedy. Even the comments under the video are split between the two camps of thought. What do you guys reckon?

 

Next is Vince Hill with Doesn't Anbody Know My Name, which was at #50 in w/e 12th February 1969, the first week of the new BMRB-compiled official chart.

 

And we end with the Small Faces and Afterglow Of Your Love, which was at #36 on w/e 19th March 1969, and thus it's the first one week wonder inside of the Top 40 since The Brook Brothers had one at #37 in January 1962. One other record in 1967, by Ray Charles, nearly managed to also get a one week wonder inside the Top 40, at #38, but after then dropping out for a week it returned to the charts for two more weeks and therefore avoided being on this thread. But as I've moved through the sixties chart data I've noticed a growing trend towards this particular chart behaviour, of debuting in the chart in the lower reaches (typically in the 35-50 portion) in what I'm gonna term their week one, then dropping out of the chart entirely in week two, only to return in week three. I've come to think of it as a blip-start for the single in question. Some records only ever chart in weeks 1 and 3, some continue into week 4 and beyond, and some even end up being long running in the charts, but this blip-start seems to happen quite a lot across various singles, and appears to increase with the advent of the BMRB charts in 1969, to the point that by the seventies it gets rather rare for any single to genuinely only have one solitary week on the chart, since so many of the singles that drop out in their respective week 2 dutifully return in week 3. I suppose it could be caused by different reasons for different releases, but there are enough instances of it that there could be one general cause for most or all of them, though I'm blowed if I know what it is/was. Anyway I digress.. here's the Small Faces.

The One Week Wonders - Episode 114

 

We start with The Monkees and Teardrop City, which was at #45 on w/e 26th March 1969 (though some books claim #44 or #46).

 

Next we have Birmingham group Second City Sound, with their second and last charting single, just over three years after their first one, Tchaikovsky One, had reached #22. This one is Dream Of Olwen, which was at #43 on w/e 2nd April 1969.

 

Finally it's gentle rocker Val Doonican, with Ring Of Bright Water, from the otter-based film of the same name, which was at #48 on w/e 23rd April 1969.

The One Week Wonders - Episode 115

 

We start this episode with Pentangle and Once I Had A Sweetheart, which was at #46 on w/e 28th May 1969.

 

Next up are The Monkees, for the second consecutive episode, with their final charting single of their original run, Someday Man, which was at #47 on w/e 25th June 1969. They wouldn't reach the singles chart again until an EP of some their old singles charted in 1980 (and another similar EP also did so in 1989). There was also one more genuinely new single which charted in 1986.

 

And finally you know the seventies can't be very far away now when the last song in this episode is by Tyrannosaurus Rex, who would shorten their name to T.Rex after this single and then have their next 11 singles all reach the top 7 (or next 10 all reach the top 4 if you don't count the double-A reissue of their first two singles, which was on a different label to any of their new releases in this period, and also different from the label that the original releases of those first two singles were on). This is King Of The Rumbling Spires, which was at #44 on w/e 6th August 1969, which happens to be the last chart whose week-ending date was a Wednesday, as far as I can work out. Chart dates had gradually snuck backwards, from Friday to Thursday to Wednesday of the week after the sales week, during the first 17 years of charts (one of those changes admittedly being at the switch from NME to RR). In Summer 1969 BMRB were able to start releasing the new chart on Tuesday, instead of Wednesday, and at this point they started dating the chart as week-ending the Saturday after the sales week, pushing it back down the week rather than using Tuesday dates and letting it continue to sneek up the week. Thus the w/e 6th August 1969 is followed by the w/e 16th August 1969, according to my chart advisor for the sixties, KingOfSkiffle. However the OCC website has an entirely different transition from one system to the other, including a four day chart 'week' from July 30th to August 2nd. Anyway here's some Tyrannosaurus Rex...

Tiny Tim apparently always thought of himself as a straightforward musician but his whole stage personna was geared towards attracting attention to himself in order to achieve fame. It has been said that it tended to bring out an unintentional comedic side to his performance. Personally I think he knew what he was doing. Prior to adopting the stage name Tiny Tim he was known as "Larry Love The Singing Canary"!

Incidentally, regarding the chart dates in 1969. I did think that the changing chart dates were less to do with the date that the chart was compiled / published by BMRB and more to do with the publication date of Record Retailer. In August 1969 it moved from a Wednesday date to a Saturday date. Using the dates in the OCC archive as a guide it suggests there would have been a RR issue dated 30/07/69 (a Wednesday) and then the next issue would have been published on 06/08/69 but dated 09/08/69 (a Saturday). Hence in the OCC archive the first chart shows as 30/06/69 to 02/08/69 while the following chart shows as 03/08/89 to 09/08/69 and all charts from that date onwards until the chart moved to a Friday follow the Sunday to Saturday dating system.

Incidentally, regarding the chart dates in 1969. I did think that the changing chart dates were less to do with the date that the chart was compiled / published by BMRB and more to do with the publication date of Record Retailer. In August 1969 it moved from a Wednesday date to a Saturday date. Using the dates in the OCC archive as a guide it suggests there would have been a RR issue dated 30/07/69 (a Wednesday) and then the next issue would have been published on 06/08/69 but dated 09/08/69 (a Saturday). Hence in the OCC archive the first chart shows as 30/06/69 to 02/08/69 while the following chart shows as 03/08/89 to 09/08/69 and all charts from that date onwards until the chart moved to a Friday follow the Sunday to Saturday dating system.

 

My chart advisor for the Sixties, KingOfSkiffle has Wednesday chart dates up until 6th August, then a Saturday date from 16th August. My theory is the OCC dates 60's charts as beginning on the date that I'm referring to as a week-ending date. So the last Wednesday date, that I would call w/e 6th August, would ordinarily be shown on the OCC site as 6th-12th August, except for the fact that when the chart date does move to w/e Saturdays with w/e 16th August, that week has to be considered to start on the Sunday before, so runs 10th-16th, meaning that either the three days from 10th to 12th would be covered by two consecutive charts, creating an overlap, or else the last Wednesday chart has to be truncated to only cover up to Saturday 9th, hence a 4 day period of currency for that chart on the OCC site. So I think the last Wednesday chart was published and dated 6th August. I'm fairly sure that regardless of the publication date the sales period had been Mon-Sat (Sunday trading being years away), if not throughout the Record Retailer era, then for at least the later part of it.

 

Actually, now I come to re-read your reply, I think we're basically saying the same thing as each other, just explained differently. I think?

The One Week Wonders - Episode 116

 

We begin with Vince Hill and Little Bluebird, which was at #42 on w/e 25th October 1969, and was the 11th of his 12 UK charting singles. His last, Look Around, was a #12 hit in 1971.

 

Next we have a bonus mention of a two week wonder, caused by a repeated chart. Moira Anderson entered the chart at #43 on w/e 27th December 1969, and the chart books give it two weeks at that position as the chart is repeated to cover the fact that w/e 3rd January 1970 was not compiled. Tony Jasper's Top Twenty Book actually repeats the w/e 20th December 1969 chart and then states that the chart that Moira appeared in was only w/e 3rd January 1970 (albeit it obviously doesn't show Moira in the book, being as it only covers Top 20 hits). I think Tony was mistaken in this instance though. The w/e 20th December 1969 chart would have been announced on Radio 1 at lunchtime on Tuesday 16th December, and then published in Record Retailer and Record Mirror that week, with Saturday chart date. The next chart week would have been announced on Radio 1 on Tuesday 23rd December, and either published in the magazines later that week, or if the publication had a week off for Xmas, it would have been published the following week (when there was no new chart compiled, so no need to publish two charts in one edition). I guess that most books, which 'take' from Record Retailer, found the chart in an edition of the magazine dated the same week (whether that was rush published on 23rd/24th, or published after Xmas but dated in Xmas week), whereas Tony, who 'takes' from Record Mirror for his books, saw the chart published, after a week's delay, in an edition of that magazine dated 3rd January 1970 and dated it that way instead. This confusion with a chart compiled and announced prior to Xmas, but sometimes published on a week's delay due to the Xmas holiday, seems to affect some years of the 70s too. I found, for example, that genome and other listings, show there to have been a new chart announcement on Radio 1 on Tuesday 24th December 1974, so a chart dated w/e 28th December logically ought to exist, but the chart books shows repetition of the w/e 21st December 1974 chart, then a new chart dated w/e 4th January 1975 (which would probably mean a chart announcement on Radio 1 on 31st Dec or 1st Jan, but genome does not show one then). Anyway my conclusion is that Moira is a bonus, not a true one week wonder, as the first of her two weeks was the genuine one, and we can't be sure if she would have dropped out, or stayed on chart, had the chart for her second week been compiled.

 

And now the Seventies are finally upon us...

 

The second true one week wonder of this episode is the Jamaican group The Melodians, who had their only week of UK chart action with Sweet Sensation, which was at #41 on w/e 10th January 1970.

 

And we end this episode with another Jamaican, Derrick Morgan, who had is only week on the UK chart at #49 on w/e 17th January 1970, with Moon Hop.

The One Week Wonders - Episode 117

 

This episode starts with Barry Ryan, who we saw back in 1966, when he was part of a duo with his brother Paul. Now he's a soloist, and this is the 4th of his 6 UK charting singles whilst solo. Magical Spiel was at #49 on w/e 21st February 1970, and here is a Top Of The Pops performance of it.

 

Then we have the Bee Gees, who were at #49 on w/e 28th March 1970 with I.O.I.O.

 

And we end with the second and last UK charting single for Marsha Hunt. She was at #41 on w/e 2nd May 1970 with Keep The Customer Satisfied.

If I'd stuck rigidly to one episode a day since I began then we would have been on Episode 118 today, which means that yet again I have finally caught up with myself...

 

The One Week Wonders - Episode 118

 

You can tell that in the 1970s that Cup Final day was a very important day of the year for a lot of people, given the impressive viewing figures for the F.A. Cup final most years (albeit split between the BBC and ITV, so usually mentioned in a footnote below that week's Network Top 20 from TAM rather than officially making the Top 20 from either side's broadcast). You can also tell due to the fact that one or both teams involved often recorded some sort of single, either leading up to the day, or immediately after the day if they were celebrating winning it. Said single could feature the 'vocals' of the actual players, or of the team's fans, and could also sure the recording up with the musical talent of an act or artist who happened to support the club. In 1970 the cup final was between Chelsea and Leeds United, and was held on Saturday 11th April, but ended 2-2, having been watched by about 15 million people via the BBC, and a further 8 million or so on ITV, although neither side's coverage was enough by itself to put it in the Top 20 as far as TAM was concerned, thought the figure they quoted for the BBC audience ought to have put that within the week's Top 10. The replay was played on the evening of Wednesday 29th April, with about 12.76 million watching ITV and 15.73 million watching on the BBC. The BBC coverage alone was the third most watched programme of the week (beaten only by the two episodes of Coronation Street that week), with the ITV coverage also at #14. Combined the audience figure was roughly 28.5 million people, so one of the biggest events of the entire decade. Chelsea won the replay 2-1. I don't know if fan group Stamford Bridge had already put their single, imaginatively entitled Chelsea, into shops prior to the replay, or even prior to the original final earlier in the month, or whether it was recorded or released as a reaction to Chelsea winning the replay, but between 4th and 9th May 1970 there were enough sales of it for it to enter the chart of w/e 16th May 1970 at #47. In the same week's chart the England World Cup Squad reached number one with Back Home, as they prepared for the Mexico 1970 World Cup. This upload of the Stamford Bridge also includes the b-side, as both are rather short recordings.

 

Next up are Thunderclap Newman, who a year after their chartopper Something In The Air had one other UK charting single. Accidents was at #46 on w/e 27th June 1970.

 

Finally for today we have the fourth and final charting single for Canned Heat, who had just had the #2 hit Let's Work Together. Sugar Bee was at #49 on w/e 11th July 1970.

I had some idea Thunderclap Newman wasn't a complete one hit wonder - depends whether #46 counts as a "hit" I guess

My chart advisor for the Sixties, KingOfSkiffle has Wednesday chart dates up until 6th August, then a Saturday date from 16th August. My theory is the OCC dates 60's charts as beginning on the date that I'm referring to as a week-ending date. So the last Wednesday date, that I would call w/e 6th August, would ordinarily be shown on the OCC site as 6th-12th August, except for the fact that when the chart date does move to w/e Saturdays with w/e 16th August, that week has to be considered to start on the Sunday before, so runs 10th-16th, meaning that either the three days from 10th to 12th would be covered by two consecutive charts, creating an overlap, or else the last Wednesday chart has to be truncated to only cover up to Saturday 9th, hence a 4 day period of currency for that chart on the OCC site. So I think the last Wednesday chart was published and dated 6th August. I'm fairly sure that regardless of the publication date the sales period had been Mon-Sat (Sunday trading being years away), if not throughout the Record Retailer era, then for at least the later part of it.

 

Actually, now I come to re-read your reply, I think we're basically saying the same thing as each other, just explained differently. I think?

I think what's happened is the OCC have curtailed (to just 4 days) the wrong chart in their archive. They have used the RR chart dated 30/07/69 to produce a chart dated 30/07/69 to 02/08/69 when it should have been the RR chart dated 06/08/69 used to by the OCC (06/08/69 to 09/08/69) with the first Saturday chart being 10/08/69 to 16/08/69 and not 03/08/69 to 09/08/69 as it is in the OCC database. If that makes sense...

Edited February 22, 20205 yr by Robbie

But as I've moved through the sixties chart data I've noticed a growing trend towards this particular chart behaviour, of debuting in the chart in the lower reaches (typically in the 35-50 portion) in what I'm gonna term their week one, then dropping out of the chart entirely in week two, only to return in week three. I've come to think of it as a blip-start for the single in question. Some records only ever chart in weeks 1 and 3, some continue into week 4 and beyond, and some even end up being long running in the charts, but this blip-start seems to happen quite a lot across various singles, and appears to increase with the advent of the BMRB charts in 1969, to the point that by the seventies it gets rather rare for any single to genuinely only have one solitary week on the chart, since so many of the singles that drop out in their respective week 2 dutifully return in week 3. I suppose it could be caused by different reasons for different releases, but there are enough instances of it that there could be one general cause for most or all of them, though I'm blowed if I know what it is/was.

 

This is kind of curious - could it be that the songs appearing lowly in the chart generated more demand for them but because of a delay between the data being collected and the chart being published that increased demand didn't actually translate into sales until 2 weeks later? Unless I am misunderstanding how the publishing dates etc. worked back then xx

The way chart dates worked was as follows.

 

Sales data collected Monday to Saturday (no Sunday opening at that point) with post delivered on Sundays. That meant that shops could post the diaries (hand written) back in Sunday for arrival on the Monday morning.

The chart was added up on Monday and delivered to the BBC on Tuesday for a lunchtime delivery. Music Week went to print Tuesday or Wednesday and was out on the Friday with a street date of the Saturday.

 

At this point that means that sales data finishing ‘5pm’ Saturday would be printed in Music Week with a date of the following Saturday.

 

The new chart was an influence from Tuesday lunchtime as the Top 20 was widely known (via the BBC) meaning that the higher places could influence who bought what. Lower placing a where more prone to being ignored unless you heard the full Radio 1 countdown which was on the Sunday. That meant, yes, it could be two weeks before the chart could influence the next one - it all depends on where the record entered.

 

This is why ‘hyping’ became such a big thing. Get your record in the lower part of the chart and people would hear about it from free media and you wouldn’t have to advertise as much. Get your record in the Top 20 and you where on Top of the Pops. Or could be.

 

The above is different for the Official chart during the 1960’s as the Record Retailer chart was not on its own widely known. But that’s for elsewhere!

I think what's happened is the OCC have curtailed (to just 4 days) the wrong chart in their archive. They have used the RR chart dated 30/07/69 to produce a chart dated 30/07/69 to 02/08/69 when it should have been the RR chart dated 06/08/69 used to by the OCC (06/08/69 to 09/08/69) with the first Saturday chart being 10/08/69 to 16/08/69 and not 03/08/69 to 09/08/69 as it is in the OCC database. If that makes sense...

 

The OCC website does a few odd things but which are perfectly fine in and of themselves.

 

The OCC database has been designed around the principle of entering a single date in history and finding the chart for that date. As such all the chart dates are listed as between Date 1 and Date 2. Usually this has no problem as currently Date 1 is the date the chart is published and Date 2 is the end of the following week (at the time of writing the OCC website has charts for 21 Feb to 27 Feb 2020 on their homepage). 21 Feb is the Friday they where announced. 27 Feb is the Thursday that would previously be the Week Ending date for the chart.

 

That’s important for how the dates for when the chart changes week.

 

The chart dated 30 July to 2 August 1969 is actually printed on 30 July.

 

The chart dated 3 August to 9 August 1969 is actually printed on 6 August.

 

The chart dated 10 August to 16 August is printed on 16 August.

 

This is the point when the chart dates sort of change to the more accepted week ending in the OCC system. The way that date them starts incorrectly on 14 Nov 1952. What the first week should be is dated 8 to 14 Nov and instead they date it 14 to 20 Nov. It’s 1969 when this is ‘fixed’ but it means two charts with shorter dates. Nothing is actually missing.

The way chart dates worked was as follows.

 

Sales data collected Monday to Saturday (no Sunday opening at that point) with post delivered on Sundays. That meant that shops could post the diaries (hand written) back in Sunday for arrival on the Monday morning.

The chart was added up on Monday and delivered to the BBC on Tuesday for a lunchtime delivery. Music Week went to print Tuesday or Wednesday and was out on the Friday with a street date of the Saturday.

 

At this point that means that sales data finishing ‘5pm’ Saturday would be printed in Music Week with a date of the following Saturday.

 

The new chart was an influence from Tuesday lunchtime as the Top 20 was widely known (via the BBC) meaning that the higher places could influence who bought what. Lower placing a where more prone to being ignored unless you heard the full Radio 1 countdown which was on the Sunday. That meant, yes, it could be two weeks before the chart could influence the next one - it all depends on where the record entered.

 

This is why ‘hyping’ became such a big thing. Get your record in the lower part of the chart and people would hear about it from free media and you wouldn’t have to advertise as much. Get your record in the Top 20 and you where on Top of the Pops. Or could be.

 

The above is different for the Official chart during the 1960’s as the Record Retailer chart was not on its own widely known. But that’s for elsewhere!

 

So did the Tuesday lunchtime reveal (or Wednesday if there was a Bank Holiday Monday) and the Thursday evening Top Of The Pops only ever deal with the Top 20 in the BMRB era? I think the Sunday chart show would only mention up to position 40 in that era (though not necessarily play them all), and therefore 41-50 was a Music Week/Record Mirror only thing? Since the magazines came out towards the end of the week they could still just about influence that same sales week, but the majority of music buyers, I guess, didn't buy Music Week or Record Mirror in the first place, and the Sunday chart show being after the sales week ended means a play on that show could only influence the next chart but one if many listeners were then moved to go out and buy a new entry they had just heard below #20.

 

I think part of the increase in 'blip-starts' (a single dropping out in its second week then returning in week 3) from 1969 would presumably just be down to the new BMRB chart being the one that was now used for Radio 1 and TOTP, so now anything that poked into the bottom end would potentially get noticed, whereas in the pre-BMRB Record Retailer days it may not have done if it wasn't also popping into other magazines charts, since Record Retailer's chart wasn't widely referred to by music buyers, or typically displayed in record shops.

 

Sorry I'm probably just repeating what you said, but in different words...

 

Anyway I have tallied up some statistics today, covering 1952 to 1972 singles that dropped out immediately after their first week on chart.

 

tot = total number of singles that dropped out immediately after being a new entry

ow = number of one week wonders (i.e. singles that never returned)

w3 = number of singles that returned in week 3 (the blip-starters)

w4 = number of singles that returned in week 4

and so on...

w11+ = number of singles that returned later than week 10 [all cases so far actually returned over a 100 weeks later, and sometimes more than 1000 weeks later]

 

year tot ow w3w4 w5w6 w7w8 w9w10w11+

1952 07 03 02 02 00 00 01 00 00 00 00

1953 29 15 08 02 02 02 00 00 00 00 00

1954 21 10 08 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 01

1955 35 27 03 02 01 01 00 00 00 01 00

1956 45 27 05 07 03 00 00 02 00 00 01

1957 27 19 03 03 00 01 00 00 01 00 00

1958 29 19 08 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00

1959 38 24 07 04 01 00 01 00 00 00 01

1960 89 65 18 01 01 01 00 02 00 00 01

1961 41 28 12 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00

1962 18 15 02 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

1963 16 11 03 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00

1964 15 12 01 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

1965 22 14 04 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 02

1966 34 22 09 01 00 00 01 00 00 00 01

1967 17 03 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 01

1968 15 13 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

1969 23 11 09 01 00 00 01 00 00 00 00

1970 21 09 10 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 01

1971 23 09 13 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

1972 15 06 06 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00

 

Obviously 1952's data isn't terribly significant given there were only 7 chart weeks (and the last of those yields no data here due to it being repeated in the week when no chart was compiled).

 

There are a relatively huge number of records in the data for 1960. I think that's partly because of the extension of the chart from 30 to 50 places, and partly is down to the early teething problems the new Record Retailer chart had due to its low sample size.

 

So blip-starts had been happening here and there prior to 1969, especially 1953-4, 1958-61 and 1966, but by 1969 they (so far) either equal or exceed the number of one week wonders, rather than the latter significantly outweighing the former.

 

I haven't searched for all the blip-starts from 1973 onwards yet, but I have already identified all the one week wonders up to early 1983, so do know that there are relatively few one week wonders between 1973 and the Top 75 beginning in 1978, so it would be difficult for the blip-starts to not exceed the one week wonders in those years too.

Edited February 23, 20205 yr by DanChartFan

The One Week Wonders - Episode 119

 

We start today with a bonus. Al Martino's Spanish Eyes initially entered the charts at #49 in w/e 22/08/1970. It then removed itself from the One Week Wonder list by returning to the chart for 21 weeks in 1973, peaking at #5. Here he his singing the song on German television back in 1967.

 

The first genuine one week wonder today is The Seagull's Name Was Nelson, which was at #45 on w/e 7th November 1970, and was the only week of chart action for Peter E Bennett and The Co-operation Choir.

 

Next up is Shirley Bassey with The Fool On The Hill, which was at #48 on w/e 2nd January 1971.

 

Finally for today we have Melanie, who had previously debuted in the singles chart on w/e 26th September 1970 with Ruby Tuesday, which reached #9, and remained on chart until w/e 26th December 1970, before re-entering at #43 on w/e 43 on w/e 9th January 1971. Then something strange happens. The same disc, Buddah 2011 038, is listed at #39 in the chart for the w/e 16th January 1971, but this time it's the other side of the disc, What Have They Done To My Song Ma, which was listed, and was thus reckoned to be a new entry, it then dropped out the charts the week after never to return, so becomes a one week wonder. I'm not entirely sure if the public genuinely started asking for the other side in that last week on chart, or if they had been asking for it the week before when it re-entered and the chart hadn't picked up on that, or if in fact it was a compilation mistake on that final week that led to the wrong side being listed, but the chart as it stands makes this a one week wonder. I do know that the New Seekers version of the same song entered for a week at #48 on w/e 17/10/70, and re-entered at 44 for a further week on 31/10/70. Early versions of Guinness show both the Melanie version and the New Seekers version (on a 2nd re-entry) as being at #39 in w/e 16th January 1971, but later editions show only two weeks for the New Seekers version, rather than 3, and only shows Melanie getting as high as #39. Another point of confusion I noticed when looking for the youtube video is that the title varies, even across multiple official uploads, between What Have They Done To My Song Ma and Look What They've Done To My Song Ma.

So did the Tuesday lunchtime reveal (or Wednesday if there was a Bank Holiday Monday) and the Thursday evening Top Of The Pops only ever deal with the Top 20 in the BMRB era? I think the Sunday chart show would only mention up to position 40 in that era (though not necessarily play them all), and therefore 41-50 was a Music Week/Record Mirror only thing? Since the magazines came out towards the end of the week they could still just about influence that same sales week, but the majority of music buyers, I guess, didn't buy Music Week or Record Mirror in the first place, and the Sunday chart show being after the sales week ended means a play on that show could only influence the next chart but one if many listeners were then moved to go out and buy a new entry they had just heard below #20.

 

I think part of the increase in 'blip-starts' (a single dropping out in its second week then returning in week 3) from 1969 would presumably just be down to the new BMRB chart being the one that was now used for Radio 1 and TOTP, so now anything that poked into the bottom end would potentially get noticed, whereas in the pre-BMRB Record Retailer days it may not have done if it wasn't also popping into other magazines charts, since Record Retailer's chart wasn't widely referred to by music buyers, or typically displayed in record shops.

 

Sorry I'm probably just repeating what you said, but in different words...

Yes, but adding to it. Top of the Pops was a Top 20 or Top 30 show. Radio 1 counted down a Top 20 on Sunday afternoon (Top 40 from1978).

 

There are a relatively huge number of records in the data for 1960. I think that's partly because of the extension of the chart from 30 to 50 places, and partly is down to the early teething problems the new Record Retailer chart had due to its low sample size.

 

They rotated through shops each week that they would use and you can almost see that I the early EP charts. For example Nat King Cole EP has an odd chart run. Starting 28 May it moves 14-OUT-2-4-4 etc and their are others. Albums does the same with Songs for Swinging Sellers going 7 May - 7-7-15-5-13-3-8-OUT-18-10

The One Week Wonders - Episode 120

 

Today's first single is the second final time in the UK charts for Edison Lighthouse, one year after their charttopper Love Grows. It's Up To You Petula was at #49 on w/e 30th January 1971.

 

In February and March 1971 there was a postal strike, at a time when chart data was collected in little sales diaries posted on Sunday to the BMRB. Obviously this was a major headache for the continuation of the charts. They found alternatives ways of getting the singles data, and were able to collect enough for a top 40 rather than the usual top 50, though they ceased the album chart until the stike was over. Weeks ending 6th February 1971 to 20th March 1971 are thus only Top 40s. In the first of those weeks Grand Funk Railroad gained its only week of Uk chart action at #40 with Inside Looking Out, who know's if they would have another week or more if the 41-50 portion of the chart had existed in those weeks. This must also be one of the longest singles ever, at not far off 10 minutes.

 

In 1970 Edwin Starr had a number three hit with the protest song War, which was also a US charttopper. The follow-up Stop The War Now was at #33 on w/e 20th March 1971

The One Week Wonders - Episode 121

 

We are only too aware now of what damage pollution has done to our planet, but our first song today was an anti-pollution song from 1971, so we've known for at least 50 years that we ought to change our ways. The single is Why by Roger Whittaker, which was at #47 on w/e 3rd April 1971. It's one of at least ten distinct songs called Why that have entered the singles chart, the most successful being the one that was a charttopper for Anthony Newley and later a big hit for Donny Osmond. Interestingly the b-side of this Roger Whittaker single features his cover of the Ralph McTell song Streets Of London, which at the time was purely a track on Ralph's 1969 album Spiral Staircase, but would later be a hit single in 1974 when he himself re-recorded it.

NB the above video uses what I assume is the recorded single, with a more orchestral sound. The below link is from a live performance on European television (Swedish I think?) which is more gentle sounding than the above one, which I think suits the song more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyjbjmQZ2w

 

The next entry on our One Week Wonder list was the first 7" release on the BBC's own label, with the catalogue number BBC RESL 1, which was at #49 in the same week as Roger Whittaker's single above. The artist is variously referred to as Early Music Consort, Early Music Consort Of London, and David Munrow (the conductor behind them) and the release is either 'Theme from The Six Wives Of Henry VIII' if you believe some books, 'The Six Wives Of Henry VIII' if you believe the record sleeve, or 'Henry VIII Suite (EP)' if you believe at least one other book. From what I can gather it contains various musical pieces that were used to at least some extent on the acclaimed Spring 1970 BBC2 series Six Wives Of Henry VIII, though whether or not one of the six tracks on the EP was the actual theme (as in what was heard over the opening credits) I don't know. The series had been granted a repeat run on BBC1 in Jan/Feb 1971, and so this release would appear to be off the back of that. The series didn't enter the Network Top 20 television charts in either the original BBC2 run or the BBC 1 run, so I can't tell if it would have gained more viewers the second time around, having been promoted to the main channel, and if this was the impetus for releasing the music on vinyl. Sadly I can't find any trace of the music on video streaming or audio streaming services of any kind, and I also cannot find any uploads of any of the original episodes on any video steaming site either, so cannot provide a link to anything other than the discogs entry I'm afraid. Please do let me, and everyone who reads this, know if you are aware of anywhere online that we can hear this music, or see part or all of an episode.

https://www.discogs.com/The-Early-Music-Con.../master/1036509

 

Finally we end with Anglo Trinidadian duo Mac and Katie Kissoon, and their version of the Middle Of The Road charttopper Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. It was at #41 on w/e 19th June 1971. The duo had to wait for 3.5 years to have another hit, Sugar Candy Kisses, which hit #3 in 1975, and would go on to have a further three hits in the 18 months after Sugar Candy Kisses.

The One Week Wonders - Episode 122

 

First up is Mary Hopkin, who was at #46 on w/e 30th July 1971 with Let My Name Be Sorrow. It'd be almost five years before she had one final single in the charts, If You Love Me (I Won't Care) which charted in March 1976 and reached #32.

 

We skip over The Carpenters' Merry Christmas Darling, which originally had a week at #45 on w/e 1st January 1972, as it returned to the charts when it was reissued in 1990, and instead look at #47 the same week, which was comedian Charlie Drake with Puckwudgie. This was Charlie's 5th and final single to reach the single's chart, coming just over 11 years after his fourth, My Boomerang Won't Come Back.

 

Finally we have a bit of a two for one with our last single of this episode. The musical Jesus Christ Superstar debuted in 1970 as a concept album, and Murray Head, as Judas, sang Superstar, a track that was initially released as a single in late 1969, ahead of the album, but didn't chart here. By 1972 a 4 track 'maxi-single' was released of tracks from the album, and the chart chose to list two of them together, by different artists. So alongside Murray Head's Superstar was Yvonne Elliman, as Mary Magdalene, singing I Don't Know How To Love Him. The maxi-single was at #47 on w/e 29th January 1972.