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Post by jimjterrell4210 on Mar 18, 2018 22:41:38 GMT -5
There has to be a few Top 40 singles whose run on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart did not exceed ten weeks.
One example of this is "Imagine" by John Lennon an the Plastic Ono Band. "Imagine" peaked at #3, and spent only nine weeks on the U.S. Pop chart, entirely within the Top 40, from October 23 to December 18 of 1971. Its chart run: 20 - 6 - 4 - 3 - 3 - 6 - 10- 13 - 23
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Post by Hervard on Mar 18, 2018 22:51:14 GMT -5
We almost heard what could be the ultimate of those on this past weekend's AT40: The 70s (during the AT40 era, that is) that was not a Christmas song. It was "Bite Your Lip" by Elton John. The song fell out of the Top 40 after spending only three weeks on, peaking at #28 (or 26, as it were before they were told about last minute revisions), and was spending its sixth and final week on the Hot 100.
The ultimate in that type of song period would most likely be "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIV. That song raced up the Hot 100, wasting no time hitting #3, but then, I think what happened was that more and more radio stations banned that song due to its being deemed politically incorrect, and the song fell even faster than it climbed, spending six weeks on the Hot 100.
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Post by mga707 on Mar 18, 2018 23:31:15 GMT -5
We almost heard what could be the ultimate of those on this past weekend's AT40: The 70s (during the AT40 era, that is) that was not a Christmas song. It was "Bite Your Lip" by Elton John. The song fell out of the Top 40 after spending only three weeks on, peaking at #28 (or 26, as it were before they were told about last minute revisions), and was spending its sixth and final week on the Hot 100. The ultimate in that type of song period would most likely be "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIV. That song raced up the Hot 100, wasting no time hitting #3, but then, I think what happened was that more and more radio stations banned that song due to its being deemed politically incorrect, and the song fell even faster than it climbed, spending six weeks on the Hot 100. The ultimate record in this category, at least during the AT40 Casey era, was "Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley" by C Company featuring Terry Nelson. Four weeks in the 'Hot 100' in April and May of 1971. Chart run was 41-37-37-40. Almost all of that due to sales, as the record received virtually zero airplay due to it's controversial subject matter (Lt. Calley was tried and convicted of war crimes for a 1968 village massacre in Vietnam). Despite that, it was played during it's three weeks on 'AT40'. I'm sure that Watermark gave affiliates a 'heads up' so they could delete it if they wished.
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Post by johnnywest on Mar 19, 2018 4:59:56 GMT -5
"Daybreak" by Barry Manilow peaked at #23 yet only spent 10 weeks on the Hot 100.
Also, "Rescue Me" by Madonna peaked at #9 yet only spent 8 weeks on the Hot 100.
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Post by 1finemrg on Mar 19, 2018 5:46:32 GMT -5
There are many examples that fall into this category. Looking at this week's upcoming broadcast from March 27, 1971, the Hot 100 has several.
What Is Life - George Harrison, 9 weeks, #10 peak Oye Como Va - Santana, 10 weeks, #13 peak Have You Ever Seen The Rain - CCR, 10 weeks, #8 peak Mama's Pearl - Jackson 5, 10 weeks, #2 peak Cried Like A Baby - Bobby Sherman, 9 weeks, #16 peak You're All I Need To Get By - Aretha Franklin, 10 weeks, #19 peak Free - Chicago, 9 weeks, #20 peak Love's Lines Angles And Rhymes - Fifth Dimension, 10 weeks, #19 peak Soul Power - James Brown, 9 weeks, #29 peak Where Did They Go Lord - Elvis Presley, 7 weeks, #33 peak Friends - Elton John, 9 weeks, #34 peak Sit Yourself Down - Stephen Stills, 6 weeks, #37 peak Dream Baby - Glen Campbell, 8 weeks, #31 peak Country Road - James Taylor, 8 weeks, #37 peak Theme From Love Story - Frances Lai, 9 weeks, #31 peak
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Post by Hervard on Mar 19, 2018 9:05:33 GMT -5
There are many examples that fall into this category. Looking at this week's upcoming broadcast from March 27, 1971, the Hot 100 has several. What Is Life - George Harrison, 9 weeks, #10 peak Oye Como Va - Santana, 10 weeks, #13 peak Have You Ever Seen The Rain - CCR, 10 weeks, #8 peak Mama's Pearl - Jackson 5, 10 weeks, #2 peak Cried Like A Baby - Bobby Sherman, 9 weeks, #16 peak You're All I Need To Get By - Aretha Franklin, 10 weeks, #19 peak Free - Chicago, 9 weeks, #20 peak Love's Lines Angles And Rhymes - Fifth Dimension, 10 weeks, #19 peak Soul Power - James Brown, 9 weeks, #29 peak Where Did They Go Lord - Elvis Presley, 7 weeks, #33 peak Friends - Elton John, 9 weeks, #34 peak Sit Yourself Down - Stephen Stills, 6 weeks, #37 peak Dream Baby - Glen Campbell, 8 weeks, #31 peak Country Road - James Taylor, 8 weeks, #37 peak Theme From Love Story - Frances Lai, 9 weeks, #31 peak Songs from the early 1970s tended to do that - in fact, it was relatively rare for a song to spend anymore time on the Hot 100 once it fell out of the Top 40. If a song's airplay began to wane before it reached ten weeks, then it was almost assured to drop off having spent no more than ten weeks on the chart. (Yes, it was like that in the sixties as well, but that predated AT40). When Billboard began figuring radio airplay into the Hot 100, songs began sticking around for awhile longer. Thus, it became a little more rare (though not unheard of by any means) for a song that made the Top 40 to spend ten or less weeks on the Hot 100.
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Post by Hervard on Mar 19, 2018 9:24:02 GMT -5
I just thought of another pre-AT40 hit, but it was mentioned on the show at least once, in a question letter about the very subject presented in this thread. The QL was inspired by a song mentioned earlier in this topic, "Rescue Me" by Madonna. It had spent an unusually short time on the Hot 100 for a song that made the Top Ten and the writer asked if that was a record. Shadoe said that the shorest time a Top Ten song spent on the Hot 100 was "An Open Letter To My Teenage Son", which actually tied "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa" by Napoleon XIV, with six weeks apiece. Unless the question was about weeks in the Top 40, in which "Open Letter" would have the record - four weeks in the Top 40. But, since that song spent less than ten weeks on the Hot 100, it would count for this thread (well, unless we're just talking songs of the AT40 era).
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Post by matt on Mar 19, 2018 12:04:24 GMT -5
Songs from the early 1970s tended to do that - in fact, it was relatively rare for a song to spend anymore time on the Hot 100 once it fell out of the Top 40. If a song's airplay began to wane before it reached ten weeks, then it was almost assured to drop off having spent no more than ten weeks on the chart. (Yes, it was like that in the sixties as well, but that predated AT40). When Billboard began figuring radio airplay into the Hot 100, songs began sticking around for awhile longer. Thus, it became a little more rare (though not unheard of by any means) for a song that made the Top 40 to spend ten or less weeks on the Hot 100. Right--was going to mention this. Until the early-mid 70's, it was fairly common for songs to fall all the way out of the Hot 100 from within the top 40, which made for shorter chart runs, even for some of the bigger/top 10 hits. This makes Madonna's "Rescue Me" maybe the most notable example mentioned in this thread--by the early 90's, it was not very common for songs to reach very high into the top 40 without spending at least 10 weeks (and often 20+ weeks for most top 10 hits) on the Hot 100...
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jebsib
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by jebsib on Mar 20, 2018 11:01:23 GMT -5
Keep in mind that the Hot 100 didn't have any airplay points in the top 50 during the early 70s, so sales - which tend to be even more erratic than programmers' playlists - could make weakened songs plummet fast.
Having said that, there MUST have been some form of "Recurrent / weeks on" rule that banished songs after they fell out of the top 40. The regularity of songs vanishing from the top 40 was constant.
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Post by Hervard on Mar 20, 2018 11:52:27 GMT -5
Keep in mind that the Hot 100 didn't have any airplay points in the top 50 during the early 70s, so sales - which tend to be even more erratic than programmers' playlists - could make weakened songs plummet fast. Having said that, there MUST have been some form of "Recurrent / weeks on" rule that banished songs after they fell out of the top 40. The regularity of songs vanishing from the top 40 was constant. Since the Hot 100 was sales-based, it's possible that once a song was starting to wane, record stores removed them from their shelves (possibly placing them in the office for anyone who might want them) in order to put the newer releases on. Or perhaps they didn't bother reporting the sales of songs that were on their way down, though I kind of doubt that.
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Post by djjoe1960 on Mar 20, 2018 12:48:55 GMT -5
Keep in mind that the Hot 100 didn't have any airplay points in the top 50 during the early 70s, so sales - which tend to be even more erratic than programmers' playlists - could make weakened songs plummet fast. Having said that, there MUST have been some form of "Recurrent / weeks on" rule that banished songs after they fell out of the top 40. The regularity of songs vanishing from the top 40 was constant. Since the Hot 100 was sales-based, it's possible that once a song was starting to wane, record stores removed them from their shelves (possibly placing them in the office for anyone who might want them) in order to put the newer releases on. Or perhaps they didn't bother reporting the sales of songs that were on their way down, though I kind of doubt that. If you look at the charts from the 1960's (Billboard, Cash Box or Record World) you will notice that nearly every Top 10 hit, once the song exited the Top 40, disappeared from the charts altogether. It is doubtful that the song quit selling but it is possible that the sales were no longer reported to the trades--OR--perhaps the record labels didn't want the sales reported any longer since in most cases they were already onto promoting the next single. Look at Motown's release schedule during the '60's, as an example, and you will notice that singles were issued every 10-12 weeks--unless the single bombed and didn't stay on the chart even that long. I realize that Motown was based in Detroit but they turned out 45's like they were cars coming off the assembly line. When I worked in radio in the late '70's and '80's we had a term for songs that lasted on the charts for about 12 weeks--we called them 90 day wonders--wondering if anyone would want to hear the song again after the 90 days were up.
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jebsib
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by jebsib on Mar 20, 2018 12:58:25 GMT -5
Given how the singles probably kept selling, but weren't reported, can you imagine if Soundscan had existed in the 1960s?
The charts would have been insanely different, affecting business models, schedules and cultural trends. Amazing to consider.
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Post by johnnywest on Mar 20, 2018 21:00:56 GMT -5
"My Name Is Not Susan" - Whitney Houston #20, 10 weeks on the Hot 100 in 1991.
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Post by Hervard on Mar 21, 2018 10:06:10 GMT -5
"My Name Is Not Susan" - Whitney Houston #20, 10 weeks on the Hot 100 in 1991. Yeah, that one kind of came and went. Her third wave of popularity was over, but she came back in a major way a little over a year later with the Bodyguard soundtrack!
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Post by doofus67 on Mar 21, 2018 12:39:17 GMT -5
This is a special case, I know, but "Do They Know It's Christmas?" peaked at #13 and spent only 9 weeks on the Hot 100.
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