Posted January 3, 20223 yr I am delighted to announce the launch of a new book series – 70 Years Of The UK Singles Charts. This will be a subscription series, where each volume covers a full calendar year with one each from 1952 to 2022. The first issue – 1952 – is launched to subscribers on 1 February 2022, with the final issue arriving in June 2023 (covering the charts for 2022). In December 2018 I began to rebuild my database with precisely this anniversary in mind and now, three years later, the database is ready to launch the series. After 70 years and almost 60,000 charting records (in the full Top 200 where appropriate) this year’s anniversary is a point I was never going to miss. Each issue will include a full chart history for that year, but will also include a wealth of other information derived from the database. Each book includes some brand new information, never before calculated in this level of detail. Chart History As appropriate, chart rule changes are highlighted. It’s not always easy to know what was and was not allowed and sometimes odd records appear and then vanish, so this section will bring together as much information as possible about how the charts were compiled at the time. Milestones These are a listing of the important chart changes, such as frozen weeks, chart size changes, etc. Chart Age A new metric, looking at the average age of each week’s chart. This is found by adding up the weeks on chart column and dividing by how many records are present. This has been calculated to answer the question ‘What is the age of this week’s chart?’ and ‘Is this the youngest/oldest chart?’ Only the Top 130 and Bottom 130 chart weeks are shown as we have about 3650 chart weeks from 1952 to 2022 . Number 1’s Number 1 lists are always shown in books about the UK charts, but this listing is different as it will showcase an image of the record cover for the first time. The Top 500 Artists One of the things I enjoyed twenty years ago was buying the new Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles and looking at where my favourite artists had moved to in the list of Top artists. Each issue will present a list of the artists and their ranking to date, with where the artist was on the previous years’ listing. Equally, from 1960 decade listings will be presented showing where the artists line up per decade. Full Chart History As usual, the full chart history will be presented in alphabetical order by artist showing entry date, weeks on chart, peak position, title, composers, b-side, label, catalogue number and duration. From 1973 the BPI awards will also be shown. Full listings showcase all re-entries, even if the record only dropped off the chart for one week. The Annual This is a listing of the records by peak position within the year, and shows all records that charted during the calendar year. This listing type has been created for the USA, but not for the UK. Weekly Charts The full weekly charts are presented here, so that readers can see in full the accurate and complete charts for each week. The Hit Log This is also something never before published – a listing of all records to chart but in the order in which they first entered the charts, together with a picture of the entry. BPI Awards (from 1973) The BPI began listing awards for records from 1973 and these are now listed alongside the chart entries and weekly charts, showing the highest award granted to that point. A listing is also presented of the awards by award date here, using the best available information to assign full details to the records. Sample A sample of the 1953 volume - with low quality images to reduce file size - is attached here. https://www.thechartbook.co.uk/wp-content/u...lectedPages.pdf Purchasing There are numerous ways to purchase: First, you can become a subscriber and pay £10 a month for 15 months to receive the full set of issues and 8 free gifts at various points (See below). https://www.thechartbook.co.uk/70-years-of-...singles-charts/ Free Gifts! At the end of each decade subscribers to that decade will receive a copy of the decade series book associated with that decade at no extra cost. At the end of the full series, a single volume book will be produced that will cover all the charts from 1952 through to 2022, in the same format as the Decade Series. More Purchasing Options You can also purchase a set of issues (broken down by decade). Each decade costs £25 (1950’s decade costs £20 and the final ‘decade’ of 2020, 2021 and 2022 costs £7.50) and subscribers will get a free gift at the end of their decade subscription (Subscribers to the 2020 Decade set will not get a free gift for those three years). Finally, you can opt to purchase individual years at £4 each. These do not come with any free gifts. Individually By Decade By Subscribing Total Cost £280 £177.50 £150 (And 7 free gifts). (And 8 free gifts) SAVING £102.50! SAVING £130 over buying individually! Subscribers pay roughly £2.14 per issue if they subscribe for the full set, a 46% saving! You can pre-order each volume now, via the website https://www.thechartbook.co.uk/70-years-of-...singles-charts/ Pre-Order by Decade The 1950’s (Covering 1952-1959) (Costs £20 and consists of 8 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 1960’s (Covering 1960-1969) (Costs £25 and consists of 10 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 1970’s (Covering 1970-1979) (Costs £25 and consists of 10 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 1980’s (Covering 1980-1989) (Costs £25 and consists of 10 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 1990’s (Covering 1990-1999) (Costs £25 and consists of 10 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 2000’s (Covering 2000-2009) (Costs £25 and consists of 10 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 2010’s (Covering 2010-2019) (Costs £25 and consists of 10 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below – and free gift of the Decade Series volume for this decade.) The 2020’s (Covering 2020-2022) (Costs £7.50 and consists of 3 issues released weekly – issue dates in the table below) https://www.thechartbook.co.uk/70-years-of-...singles-charts/ Anticipated Release Date Year 01-Feb-22 1952 08-Feb-22 1953 15-Feb-22 1954 22-Feb-22 1955 01-Mar-22 1956 08-Mar-22 1957 15-Mar-22 1958 22-Mar-22 1959 29-Mar-22 1960 05-Apr-22 1961 12-Apr-22 1962 19-Apr-22 1963 26-Apr-22 1964 03-May-22 1965 10-May-22 1966 17-May-22 1967 24-May-22 1968 31-May-22 1969 07-Jun-22 1970 14-Jun-22 1971 21-Jun-22 1972 28-Jun-22 1973 05-Jul-22 1974 12-Jul-22 1975 19-Jul-22 1976 26-Jul-22 1977 02-Aug-22 1978 09-Aug-22 1979 16-Aug-22 1980 23-Aug-22 1981 30-Aug-22 1982 06-Sep-22 1983 13-Sep-22 1984 20-Sep-22 1985 27-Sep-22 1986 04-Oct-22 1987 11-Oct-22 1988 18-Oct-22 1989 25-Oct-22 1990 01-Nov-22 1991 08-Nov-22 1992 15-Nov-22 1993 22-Nov-22 1994 29-Nov-22 1995 06-Dec-22 1996 13-Dec-22 1997 20-Dec-22 1998 27-Dec-22 1999 03-Jan-23 2000 10-Jan-23 2001 17-Jan-23 2002 24-Jan-23 2003 31-Jan-23 2004 07-Feb-23 2005 14-Feb-23 2006 21-Feb-23 2007 28-Feb-23 2008 07-Mar-23 2009 14-Mar-23 2010 21-Mar-23 2011 28-Mar-23 2012 04-Apr-23 2013 11-Apr-23 2014 18-Apr-23 2015 25-Apr-23 2016 02-May-23 2017 09-May-23 2018 16-May-23 2019 23-May-23 2020 30-May-23 2021 06-Jun-23 2022 https://www.thechartbook.co.uk/70-years-of-...singles-charts/ Do please ask any questions! Edited January 3, 20223 yr by kingofskiffle
January 3, 20223 yr Author Do the weekly charts list the full top 200 (for the years where this existed)? That is currently the plan.
January 5, 20223 yr Author Yes these will be PDF files emailed. I am not in a position to offer printed sadly.
January 27, 20223 yr Author Hi all, just a reminder that this series is launched on 1 February, should anybody wish to subscribe. Thank you to those who have begun and I have received loads of emails and correspondence about this. I really can't wait to release it all to you! Edited January 27, 20223 yr by kingofskiffle
February 1, 20223 yr Just been reading through the first edition! Brilliant! Edited February 1, 20223 yr by Shaky Fan
February 2, 20223 yr Yes I must endorse what Shaky has just posted; this really does display a huge amount of time, effort and knowledge and the least anyone can do who is interested in the more detailed delvings into the British singles charts is to subscribe to this series. I've received the 1952 edition and despite it being obviously only a seven-week chart year, Lonnie still manages to spin 49 interesting pages out of it! If that's '52, think about how much you'll get for a year in the '00s when you're in Top 200 territory! The value for money can only increase with each passing decade. The word 'comprehensive' doesn't really do it justice. Just watch out for his occasional typos though... :rolleyes:
February 2, 20223 yr Author Yes, so sorry about the typos…. Do please flag any and I will absolutely fix. I keep reading it loads of times, but my eye reads what I WANT to see not what IS there….
February 2, 20223 yr Yes, so sorry about the typos…. Do please flag any and I will absolutely fix. I keep reading it loads of times, but my eye reads what I WANT to see not what IS there…. That's the difficulty with proof-reading, particularly when it's something you've written yourself. It's not as if I can claim that my chart commentaries have never contained a typo!
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