Whitburn, at that time, correctly credited Elvis with having 14 #1 records in his in Top Pop Records books based on chart placement in the “Top 100” and the “Hot 100.” Beginning with his initial volume in 1969, Whitburn listed only records that had appeared on the “Top 100” and the “Hot 100,” ignoring Billboard’s “Sellers,” “Jockeys,” and “Jukebox” charts. Unfortunately, however, Joel Whitburn is the source of confusion that surrounds the chart history of Elvis Presley and other recording artists whose careers started before Billboard debuted the “Hot 100” in 1958. In the genre of pop music records, authors and researchers routinely consult Top Pop Singles, Whitburn’s periodically updated version of his original 1969 version. In the 40 years since, Whitburn has authored dozens of books based on Billboard’s many record charts and is rightly considered the authority in that field. ![]() He went back to 1955, when Billboard first started its weekly “Top 100” chart, and gathered and organized information on every record that made that chart and its successor, the “Hot 100.” After five years of research, Whitburn published his first book, Record Research 1955-1969, to sell to radio stations and disc jockeys. A major record collector, Whitburn turned researcher in 1964. For pop music historians, then, the quandary became how to rank recordings released before August 1958 with those released afterwards.Įnter Joel Whitburn. Therefore, none of Elvis’ major hits of 19 ever appeared on the “Hot 100,” as they were released long before that list came into being in the summer of 1958. That left the “Hot 100” as Billboard’s one and only major pop music chart. Then on August 4, 1958, the “Top 100” was replaced with the more detailed “Hot 100.” That list quickly became the industry standard, and the “Best Sellers in Stores” list was dropped two months later on October 13, 1958. On June 17, 1957, the “Most Played in Jukeboxes” list was discontinued, followed by the “Most Played by Jockeys” chart on July 28, 1958. As Presley and other rock ’n’ roll singers started to dominate record sales, Billboard began to reorganize its charts. So, when Elvis first hit the charts with “Heartbreak Hotel” in March 1956, Billboard was still using the four pop lists mentioned above to rank the popularity of recorded songs. On November 12, 1955, Billboard debuted a fourth major list called the “Top 100.” Chart historians of today, however, normally give greater weight to the “Best Sellers in Stores” list when ranking songs before the Hot 100 appeared. In the ’40s and ’50s, Billboard compiled three significant weekly song charts-“Best Sellers in Stores,” “Most Played by Jockeys,” and “Most Played in Jukeboxes”-which the magazine presented as being of equal value. Doll didn't know the history of Billboard’s charts, so let’s give her a little lesson. Unfortunately, Susan Doll had fallen for it too.ĭoll makes the following statement in her book’s introduction: “When chronicling the success of Elvis’ records, I refer to their chart status, which refers to Billboard magazine’s music charts … The two most important charts are the Hot 100, or Top 100, which ranks the top 100 songs … When I mention that an Elvis song became number one, or that he enjoyed many number-one records, I’m referring to the first position on the Hot 100.” It has been floated on Elvis fan sites for years and has been picked up and presented as genuine by writers in more respected media. Without even looking at the song titles, I knew I’d seen this bogus list before. Doll started out her Elvis “Cheat Sheet” with a list of “Elvis’s Number-One Singles.” She claimed that, “In Elvis’ lifetime, 18 singles reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.” Immediately, I rolled my eyes. It was labeled a “Cheat Sheet,” which I suppose is a standard feature in all “For Dummies” volumes. However, had I looked at the book’s very first page in the store, I probably would have put the book back on the shelf.
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