Your Own Personal AT40 Chart

[reachinforthestars]

Not sure if I am the only one who did this, but every week for about 12 years I created my own personal AT40 chart of my top 40 favorite songs of the week. Of course, I was inspired to do this after listening to the AT40 programs. It's interesting to look back and see how many songs made my top 40 and not Billboard's Top 40, or vice versa, or how we compared when they appeared on both of our charts.

I would be curious to know if others did this also and if so, for how long and during what years. Also, it would be great to post them here to correspond with the week we are listening to Classic AT40 70's and 80's programs each week.

It's easy to critique songs today, but it is more interesting to see how we felt about them at the time they were hits. That's what makes our original charts much more entertaining.

[shadster]

I too have done this, although at first it was every week starting in the mid 1980s but by the mid 1990s I had slacked off a bit an reduced it down to 1 every couple weeks or once a month. Sometimes only 1 for several months, up to present day. I did a Top 30 though.

There is a section of the pulsemusic message board dedicated exclusively to "personal charts".

[reachinforthestars]

Interesting that 3 of my top 4 tunes this week, and 4 out of the top 10, never even made AT40. Although I believe all of them hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Note that only songs that were released as singles were eligible.

TW = This Week
LW = Last Week
TTLW = Total Weeks On Chart
* = gold record award

September 8. 1983

TW.....LW......TTLW....
..1.......2..........9.......Words..(F.R..David)
..2.......1..........7.......Do.You.Compute.(Donnie.Iris)
..3.......3..........6.......Kiss.The.Bride.(Elton.John)
..4.......4..........7.......Ewok.Celebration.(Meco)
..5.......8..........5.......Tell.Her.No.(Juice.Newton)
..6.......6..........8.......Human.Touch.(Rick.Springfield)
..7......19..........3.......Can’t.Shake.Loose.(Agnetha.Faltskog)
..8......10..........5.......Holiday.Road.(Lindsay.Buckingham)
..9......18..........4.......Big.Log.(Robert.Plant)
10......11..........8.......Promises.Promises.(Naked.Eyes)
11......15..........5.......Total.Eclipse.Of.The.Heart.(Bonnie.Tyler)
12......17..........4.......Telefone.(Sheena.Easton)
13.......7..........8.......When.I’m.With.You.–.Sherriff
14.......9.........14.......All.This.Love.(DeBarge)..*
15......16..........6.......Sounds.Like.Love.(Johnny.Lee)
16......23..........3.......Over.You.(Lane.Brody)
17.......5.........12.......The.Safety.Dance.(Men.Without.Hats)
18......26..........3.......(It’s.Not.Me).Talking..(A.Flock.Of.Seagulls)
19......29..........2.......Sitting.At.The.Wheel..(Moody.Blues)
20......30..........2.......Someone.Belonging.To.Someone.(Bee.Gees)
21......22..........4.......Tell.Her.About.It.(Billy.Joel)
22......31..........2.......True..(Spandau.Ballet)
23......33..........2.......One.Thing.Leads.To.Another.(Fixx)
24......24.........12.......Saved.By.Zero.(Fixx)
25......28..........3.......How.Can.I.Refuse.(Heart)
26......32..........2.......Dead.Giveaway.(Shalamar)
27......20.........13.......Is.There.Something.I.Should.Know.(Duran.Duran).*
28.....---..........1.......Four.Little.Diamonds..(ELO)
29......14..........6.......Far.From.Over.(Frank.Stallone)
30.....---..........1.......Unconditional.Love.(Donna.Summer)
31......35..........2.......Don’t.Cry.(Asia)
32.....---..........1.......Islands.In.The.Stream.(Kenny.Rogers.&.Dolly.Parton)
33.....---..........1.......What.Am.I.Gonna.Do.(Rod.Stewart)
34......34.........16.......She.Works.Hard.For.The.Money.(Donna.Summer)
35.....---..........1.......Don’t.Forget.To.Dance.(Kinks)
36.....---..........1.......It.Must.Be.Love.(Madness)
37......36.........11.......I’ll.Tumble.For.Ya.(Culture.Club)
38......13..........7.......All.Time.High..(Rita.Coolidge)
39......12..........7.......Making.Love.Out.Of.Nothing.At.All.(Air.Supply)
40......39.........18.......Wishing.(If.I.Had.A.Photograph.Of.You).(A.Flock.Of.Seagulls).*

The number one song was an international hit and what a disappointment that the United States generally missed out on it. If it would have made AT40 it would have been interesting to hear Casey mention how many countries it had gone to #1 in. Somewhat surprised I had the Meco song so high, but it had a great dance track on it. You can see my obsession with everything Abba as Agetha Faltskog had the biggest mover and was on her way to #1. The Sherriff song was in my Top 10 years before it finally appeared on AT40. Highest debut was ELO with a song that few DJs played. What a shame. A Flock Of Seagulls would finally miss going to #1 with "It's Not Me Talking" after their first three singles all reached #1 on my chart.

[reachinforthestars]

Sept 6, 2009 17:12:24 GMT -5 shadster said:

I too have done this, although at first it was every week starting in the mid 1980s but by the mid 1990s I had slacked off a bit an reduced it down to 1 every couple weeks or once a month. Sometimes only 1 for several months, up to present day. I did a Top 30 though.

There is a section of the pulsemusic message board dedicated exclusively to "personal charts".

The 1990s were also when I could no longer keep producing the weekly chart, so I just gave up in late 1991. Combination of being too busy to study and listen to all of the new releases. plus, I was having an increasingly harder time finding enough good songs to qualify! LOL

I'll definitely check out that other site. Thanks!

[freakyflybry]

I started doing my chart in January 1999, and it started as a top 40 before it became a top 100 in August 2002, which it's been since.

[80sfan]

Back in high school, I was listening to the radio for hours each day, and I made my own chart of songs with the most air play among several local radio stations for about 10 weeks. My list was the Top 30 instead of Top 40 because it didn't seem like that there were that many songs in the rotation.

The Captain & Tennille's Do That To Me One More Time and Michael Jackson's Rock With You were pretty dead even at the time, but since I didn't like Michael Jackson, I gave Captain & Tennille more weeks at #1 than Michael Jackson.

[pizzzzza]

So I guess I wasn't alone in doing my own charts as well growing up - I can remember arranging my 45s (YES I'm that old) in order of #1 to #20 - I bought EVERY 45 that came out back then, and would have my weekly countdown in my bedroom

I can remember having a top 20/40 chart back in the early 70s, up until the mid to late 70s.

Unfortunately, I threw ALL of my charts out years ago - always have regretted doing that, along with selling ALL my 45s and albums.

I suppose back then, we were all future DJs (in my own minds, anyway) - although I did major in Radio/TV/Film in college, and was a real radio DJ for a few years after graduation.

Then reality set in, and I had to get a real job that paid decent money ;D

This particular message sure did bring up some rusty memories that needed some dusting off.....thanks for the great trip!

[UnknownEric]

I did my own Weekly Top 25 Hits Countdown (why 25, I don't remember) from early 1987 until early 1995. Unfortunately, when I moved about 5 years ago, I threw them all out. I remember they started out fairly similar to the mainstream charts, then added a lot more rap and metal, then by the mid-90s were almost entirely dominated by indie rock. That's actually where my screen name comes from... it was the "DJ name" I had given myself when I started compiling those.

[mstgator]

I compiled a personal chart from early 1989 through early 2005... finally gave up when I realized that I wasn't listening to that much current music anymore, and I had songs lasting over a year on my chart.

[shadster]

I started in '84, pretty much from the inception of my interest in radio/music an countdowns (I was gifted w/ a stereo X-mas '83). Prior to that, I had little interest in music. Started w/ a top10 in '84, then a top20 in '85 but I never kept track of the week of each chart. Towards the end of '85 I got fed up w/ not knowing the chart weeks so I kept meticulous records after that. To this day I dont have any of the charts from '84 an just smattering of charts (where I guessed at the weeks) from '85. But from then on, I kept good records, however I missing about half of the year '88. Perhaps I spilled Coke on them an had to toss em, I just dont know, cant find em. Not sure when I changed to a top30 but it was likely somewhere in '86 or '87.

Twice thru the years I stopped for unknown reasons. The first was midway thru 1994. Early in 1997 I started again and also went backwards creating the missing charts from the previous 3 years partly from memory an partly using my shad.is.dreaming.org/charts.html <--charts archive from my website which I had started in '96. The last stoppage was around 2002 or 3. I've spent the last couple years trying to get my personal charts 'caught up' to current an finally acheived this about 5 months ago So I'm back to doing a top 30 again but yea, I do have a few songs that have lingered on the chart for over a year, an one song for 2 years; and I generally only create a new chart every couple months.

I too also would record my countdown onto cassette. Initially w/ me as the dj but in the 90s went w/ a dj free show. A practice I still do today, so if anyone wants to listen to it let me know. My current show I recorded to a .wav file so I could listen while I was on vacation.

[coldcardinal]

This is great! I wasn't alone in my irredeemable geekiness. In fact, compared to the posts above, my efforts were fairly feeble.

I kept a weekly top 10 countdown starting in early 1985 (6th grade), continuing into 1986. At some point I stopped writing it down every week -- but from early 1986 through at least 1989, I kept a constantly updated chart on my bedroom wall of my 10 favorite songs at any given moment. Each song was on a piece of paper about 6" high and 12" wide, so the chart went almost floor-to-ceiling. I also did year-end top 10s from 1985 to at least 1998.

For most of 1985, I recorded the countdowns -- AT10 style, with brief clips and my 11-year-old profound pontifications -- onto a cassette. I still have the tapes somewhere.

[coldcardinal]

Also, during my first semester of having my own radio show in college, I did a countdown of the "Top 10 songs of 1991, according to me." Looking back on it, it was extremely narcissistic, and I'm surprised anyone cared. But it was actually selected by the manager as one of the shows to be played on continuous loop throughout the 7-week winter break. So everyone was really familiar with my love of Seal's Crazy by the end of January ;D

(I'm not a radio professional -- so this was pretty much the highlight for me)

[Adam]

Started officially doing one in September 1999 as a top 40, but as I posted in another forum, I'm trying to go back and do 80's versions on my personal charts on my new blog, which you can find here: adamcharts.wordpress.com/.

[donwa001]

I didn't have a weekly chart but I did create a chart every year. Each September as a new school year started, I would come up with my top 25 favorites 45 rpm singles that I owned. As the years went by, my collection grew from twenty 45's to over 300 45's. I would listen to each single through a set of headphones & I found that good stereo records ending up rating higher on my list. I did this list for about 6 years. Once I reached college, I was buying fewer 45's and more albums and I didn't rate songs off the LPs.

[reachinforthestars]

Based on everyone who has posted so far, it appears personal charts completed before the mid-80's are tough to find. Hopefully Premiere will play a late 80's program and we may be able to enjoy someone else's Top 40. In the meantime, below is the chart I made back in 1982 to correspond with the week Premiere will be celebrating this weekend.

Once again, my #1 song was never played on AT40, although it spent nearly two months in Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at #71. A one-hit wonder for me. Plus, a couple of songs that never even made the Hot 100, but both are by well respected singers. See if you can pick them out.

TW = This Week
LW = Last Week
TTLW = Total Weeks On Chart
* = gold record award

September 17, 1982:

TW..LW..TTLW
..1…..1…..7…..How Can I Live Without Her (Christopher Atkins)
..2…..2…..8…..Never Been In Love (Randy Meisner)
..3…..7….10…..I Ran (A Flock Of Seagulls)
..4…..4…..8…..Oh Julie (Barry Manilow)
..5…..8…..6…..You Can Do Magic (America)
..6….12….5…..Voyeur (Kim Carnes)
..7…..3…..9…..And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going (Jennifer Holliday)
..8….11….6…..Hold On (Santana)
..9….15….5…..What’s Forever For (Michael Murphy)
10…..6….12….Blue Eyes (Elton John) *
11….14….8…..Gloria (Laura Branigan)
12….13….9…..Jack & Diane (John Cougar)
13…..5…..8…..Do You Wanna Touch Me (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)
14….24….3…..Break It To Me Gently (Juice Newton)
15….10….8…..Let Me Tickle Your Fancy (Jermaine Jackson)
16…..9…..7…..Still In The Game (Steve Winwood)
17….25….3…..The One You Love (Glenn Frey)
18….18….4…..Sweet Time (REO Speedwagon)
19….20….4…..Back To The Islands (Janis Siegel)
20….28….2…..Heart Attack (Olivia Newton-John)
21….21….4…..Make Believe (Toto)
22….19…15….Hard To Say I’m Sorry (Chicago) *
23….30….2…..Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac)
24….31….2…..I Get Excited (Rick Springfield)
25….26….5…..Somebody’s Baby (Jackson Browne)
26….16…10….Wasted On The Way (Crosby, Stills & Nash)
27….38….2…..Don’t Fight It (Kenny Loggins with Steve Perry)
28….34….2…..You Dropped The Bomb On Me (Gapp Band)
29….29….3…..You Keep Runnin Away (38 Special)
30….33….2…..Johnny Can’t Read (Don Henley)
31….---…1…..Southern Cross (Crosby, Stills & Nash)
32...35….2…..For You (Dionne Warwick)
33….37….2…..Holdin On (Tane Cain)
34….---…1…..Valley Girl (Frank & Moon Zappa)
35….---…1…..Workin For A Livin (Huey Lewis & The News)
36….---…1…..Let It Be Me (Willie Nelson)
37….17…11….Love Is In Control (Donna Summer) *
38….32…12….Do I Do (Stevie Wonder) *
39….21….5….I’m The One (Roberta Flack)
40….40…13….Who Can It Be Now (Men At Work)