Post by atruefan on Apr 11, 2012 20:23:22 GMT -5
We often compare AT40 data from Billboard with that of Cashbox. So, I decided to extract 1970s data from both charts to do a comparison of song peaks.
I took the chart information starting with the July 11, 1970 charts of both magazines through the December 29, 1979 chart for Cashbox (and the December 22, 1979 chart for Billboard). For the most part, I ignored charted flip sides of singles from Billboard where they just put the peak as “F”. To me, this always seemed like a lazy way to track popularity, and it appears Billboard was alone in doing this. Other than a very few songs that Cashbox showed with a peak of “F”, they always tracked airplay for B sides.
I never really paid a lot of attention to the Cashbox charts before, but it’s clear that during this period (except for perhaps the last couple of years of the 70s) that the chart was based way more (if not solely) on airplay than Billboard. Certainly the Hot 100 was “faster” in the early 70s than at the end, but Cashbox had chart falls for songs after they peaked that would make your head spin.
The major difference between the two was the number of different #1 songs. If AT40 had used Cashbox, 18 songs that hit #1 in Billboard would not have been #1, however, 91 songs that didn’t hit #1 in Billboard would have been AT40 #1s!!
The number of songs specific to one chart over the other was interestingly about the same. Again, taking out “F” peaking songs, the numbers were 184 specific to Billboard, and 187 specific to Cashbox.
As far as I could tell, both "You Light Up My Life" and "Night Fever" both spent 8 weeks at #1 for the longest run at #1.
The biggest hit on the Cashbox chart that wasn’t a hit at all on the Hot 100 was "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon. It peaked at 36 on Cashbox but never hit the Hot 100. Of course that was (I believe) because Billboard would modify their policy on Christmas records on a seemingly yearly basis, and that particular year, holiday songs could only chart on the special Christmas chart. Taking Christmas songs out of the equation, the biggest hit on the Cashbox chart that didn’t hit Billboard’s top 40 was (coincidentally) another John Lennon song, “Mother.” It peaked at 19 on Cashbox and 43 on Billboard.
As for the highest peaking song on Billboard that didn’t hit the top 40 on Cashbox, there are two answers. From a strictly numbers perspective, “Sally G” by Paul McCartney and Wings holds the record. It peaked at 17 on the Hot 100 and 49 on the Cashbox chart. However, Billboard fudged this a little bit by turning the song from an “B” side to an “A” side in the middle of its chart run. So, the other highest peaking song is “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me” by Peter Brown. Despite peaking at 18 on the Hot 100, it only got to 41 on Cashbox. The song “La Grange” from ZZ Top hit 24 on Cashbox, but only got to 41 on Billboard. Although a case could be made that “La Grange” actually peaked at 33 according to AT40 (due to the infamous wrong chart info show), I suspect AT40 pretended that show never happened.
The biggest difference between peaks on each chart again includes an “F” song. “Calypso” by John Denver peaked at 2 (at least according to Whitburn.) Again, Billboard changed the song’s distinction from a “B” side to an “A” side in the middle of the run. On Cashbox, the song peaked at 26. Ignoring the flip side situation, the biggest delta from Billboard to Cashbox was “Tangerine” by the Salsoul Orchestra. It peaked at 18 on Billboard and 40 on Cashbox. The biggest delta between Cashbox and Billboard happened with “Could It Be Forever” by David Cassidy. It peaked at 15 on Cashbox and 37 on Billboard.
The lowest peaking Billboard songs that made the Cashbox top 40 chart were “Boo, Boo, Don’t ‘Cha Be Blue” by Tommy James, and “First Cut Is The Deepest” by Keith Hampshire. Both peaked on the Hot 100 at 70 but peaked at 40 on the Cashbox chart. The lowest peaking Cashbox song that made the Billboard top 40 chart was “Spring Rain” by Silvetti which peaked at 97 on the Cashbox chart but peaked at 37 on the Billboard chart.
The biggest gap between the peak on Billboard and the peak on Cashbox was my beloved Andrea True Connection’s “N.Y., You Got Me Dancing.” On the Hot 100 the song peaked at 27. On the Cashbox chart it only peaked at 86 – a delta of 59 spots. Conversely, “I’d Rather Be A Cowboy” by John Denver peaked at 27 on the Cashbox chart, while it peaked on the Hot 100 at 62, a delta of 35 positions.
Comparing the July 11, 1970 – December 26, 1970 charts between the two magazines, shows how high the turnover was in Cashbox vs. Billboard. There were a grand total of 2 songs that made the top 40 on Billboard that didn’t on Cashbox. If you reverse the equation, there were 24 songs that made the top 40 on Cashbox that didn’t on Billboard. That means that each and every week there was a song that made the Cashbox top 40 that didn’t make the Billboard top 40. By the time 1979 rolled around, the roles were reversed. There were 6 songs that made the Cashbox top 40 that didn’t make the Billboard top 40, but 26 songs that made the Billboard top 40 but missed the Cashbox top 40.
Those who dislike disco would probably have preferred that AT40 used Cashbox instead of Billboard. I found at least 40 instances of disco songs that hit Billboard’s top 40 that never made the top 40 in Cashbox’s chart. In fact, that 8 biggest deltas between chart peaks on Billboard and Cashbox were all disco songs.
As I mentioned, Cashbox actually tracked airplay of B sides. I was surprised at the number of flip sides that actually got quite a bit of airplay. This was especially true of Elvis Presley's singles. One thing I found interesting was one flip side, that according to Cashbox, got very little airplay. That was "Free Wheelin'" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This was surprising because I always thought it was "Free Wheelin'" which caused "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" to soar back into the top 10 after falling to 34.
I took the chart information starting with the July 11, 1970 charts of both magazines through the December 29, 1979 chart for Cashbox (and the December 22, 1979 chart for Billboard). For the most part, I ignored charted flip sides of singles from Billboard where they just put the peak as “F”. To me, this always seemed like a lazy way to track popularity, and it appears Billboard was alone in doing this. Other than a very few songs that Cashbox showed with a peak of “F”, they always tracked airplay for B sides.
I never really paid a lot of attention to the Cashbox charts before, but it’s clear that during this period (except for perhaps the last couple of years of the 70s) that the chart was based way more (if not solely) on airplay than Billboard. Certainly the Hot 100 was “faster” in the early 70s than at the end, but Cashbox had chart falls for songs after they peaked that would make your head spin.
The major difference between the two was the number of different #1 songs. If AT40 had used Cashbox, 18 songs that hit #1 in Billboard would not have been #1, however, 91 songs that didn’t hit #1 in Billboard would have been AT40 #1s!!
The number of songs specific to one chart over the other was interestingly about the same. Again, taking out “F” peaking songs, the numbers were 184 specific to Billboard, and 187 specific to Cashbox.
As far as I could tell, both "You Light Up My Life" and "Night Fever" both spent 8 weeks at #1 for the longest run at #1.
The biggest hit on the Cashbox chart that wasn’t a hit at all on the Hot 100 was "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon. It peaked at 36 on Cashbox but never hit the Hot 100. Of course that was (I believe) because Billboard would modify their policy on Christmas records on a seemingly yearly basis, and that particular year, holiday songs could only chart on the special Christmas chart. Taking Christmas songs out of the equation, the biggest hit on the Cashbox chart that didn’t hit Billboard’s top 40 was (coincidentally) another John Lennon song, “Mother.” It peaked at 19 on Cashbox and 43 on Billboard.
As for the highest peaking song on Billboard that didn’t hit the top 40 on Cashbox, there are two answers. From a strictly numbers perspective, “Sally G” by Paul McCartney and Wings holds the record. It peaked at 17 on the Hot 100 and 49 on the Cashbox chart. However, Billboard fudged this a little bit by turning the song from an “B” side to an “A” side in the middle of its chart run. So, the other highest peaking song is “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me” by Peter Brown. Despite peaking at 18 on the Hot 100, it only got to 41 on Cashbox. The song “La Grange” from ZZ Top hit 24 on Cashbox, but only got to 41 on Billboard. Although a case could be made that “La Grange” actually peaked at 33 according to AT40 (due to the infamous wrong chart info show), I suspect AT40 pretended that show never happened.
The biggest difference between peaks on each chart again includes an “F” song. “Calypso” by John Denver peaked at 2 (at least according to Whitburn.) Again, Billboard changed the song’s distinction from a “B” side to an “A” side in the middle of the run. On Cashbox, the song peaked at 26. Ignoring the flip side situation, the biggest delta from Billboard to Cashbox was “Tangerine” by the Salsoul Orchestra. It peaked at 18 on Billboard and 40 on Cashbox. The biggest delta between Cashbox and Billboard happened with “Could It Be Forever” by David Cassidy. It peaked at 15 on Cashbox and 37 on Billboard.
The lowest peaking Billboard songs that made the Cashbox top 40 chart were “Boo, Boo, Don’t ‘Cha Be Blue” by Tommy James, and “First Cut Is The Deepest” by Keith Hampshire. Both peaked on the Hot 100 at 70 but peaked at 40 on the Cashbox chart. The lowest peaking Cashbox song that made the Billboard top 40 chart was “Spring Rain” by Silvetti which peaked at 97 on the Cashbox chart but peaked at 37 on the Billboard chart.
The biggest gap between the peak on Billboard and the peak on Cashbox was my beloved Andrea True Connection’s “N.Y., You Got Me Dancing.” On the Hot 100 the song peaked at 27. On the Cashbox chart it only peaked at 86 – a delta of 59 spots. Conversely, “I’d Rather Be A Cowboy” by John Denver peaked at 27 on the Cashbox chart, while it peaked on the Hot 100 at 62, a delta of 35 positions.
Comparing the July 11, 1970 – December 26, 1970 charts between the two magazines, shows how high the turnover was in Cashbox vs. Billboard. There were a grand total of 2 songs that made the top 40 on Billboard that didn’t on Cashbox. If you reverse the equation, there were 24 songs that made the top 40 on Cashbox that didn’t on Billboard. That means that each and every week there was a song that made the Cashbox top 40 that didn’t make the Billboard top 40. By the time 1979 rolled around, the roles were reversed. There were 6 songs that made the Cashbox top 40 that didn’t make the Billboard top 40, but 26 songs that made the Billboard top 40 but missed the Cashbox top 40.
Those who dislike disco would probably have preferred that AT40 used Cashbox instead of Billboard. I found at least 40 instances of disco songs that hit Billboard’s top 40 that never made the top 40 in Cashbox’s chart. In fact, that 8 biggest deltas between chart peaks on Billboard and Cashbox were all disco songs.
As I mentioned, Cashbox actually tracked airplay of B sides. I was surprised at the number of flip sides that actually got quite a bit of airplay. This was especially true of Elvis Presley's singles. One thing I found interesting was one flip side, that according to Cashbox, got very little airplay. That was "Free Wheelin'" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This was surprising because I always thought it was "Free Wheelin'" which caused "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" to soar back into the top 10 after falling to 34.
