AT40 Chart Date 09/10/77

[Matt Cameron]

Hello, everyone!
Just received my copy of AT40 from 09/10/77 in the mail yesterday. Won it on e-Bay, and let me tell you, the person that owned this before me knows what they're doing as far as record collecting goes! It looks like it's been kept in a vault for nearly 28 years! They also burned me a CD copy!!
Some notes on the show itself:
-Three artists that appeared on AT40's first show also appear on this one: B.J. Thomas, Elvis Presley and Crosby, Stills and Nash (this time without Neil Young).
-The only song that appears on both shows is "Signed, Sealed, Delivered"-in 1970 by Stevie Wonder, of course, and in '77 by Peter Frampton.
-Rock has a presence on the chart, with songs by Ted Nugent, Heart, Ram Jam, and Foreigner.
-Disco continued to surge in popularity, with some of the biggest chart moves made by "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer, "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco, and "Keep it Comin' Love" by KC & the Sunshine Band.
-the last chart gasps by veterans Dorothy Moore, Bay City Rollers, B.J. Thomas and Johnny Rivers.
-the only chart gasp for One-Hit Wonders like the Floaters, Ted Nugent (solo, at least), the Sanford/Townsend Band and Ram Jam.
-Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" slips to #3. Casey notes the song has spent 11 weeks in the top 10, including three weeks at #1 and four more at #2. It would return to #1 the next week, on it's way to being the #1 single of the year 1977.
-"Shuckatoom!!!"
-"Float On" by the Floaters at #5!! Has there ever been a cornier, or more irresistable song that hit #2?! I love it!! "Cancer...and my name is Larry!"
-no "Droppers" were mentioned.
-only one "AT40 Extra" was played, Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle".
-several songs had one verse removed, signalling the impending switch to the 4-hour format in the next year. Singles were getting longer!
-One of Casey's hit-related stories was of Elvis Presley being criticized after his passing by some critics that complained of his weight gain and lackluster performances in his later years. Elvis was ultimately defended by Phil Spector, who Casey said, "shot down Elvis' critics".
-speaking of Elvis, how did "Way Down" fail to hit #1? It sold out everywhere after Elvis died, so even with average airplay, it should've had enough juice to get in the upper reaches of the Top 10, at least. Did Billboard drop the ball on this one?
Overall, a terrific show, one that I've already listened to 4 times!! AT40 Forever!!!
Matt
postscript-almost forgot one of my favorite bits from the show-one of the coming-out-of-commercial jingles ("American Top For-teeee!") was done to sound like an outtake from "Afternoon Delight", complete with steel guitar! I think that jingle lasted longer than the Starland Vocal Band did!!

[Hervard]

liberaljag said:

-Andy Gibb's "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" slips to #3. Casey notes the song has spent 11 weeks in the top 10, including three weeks at #1 and four more at #2. It would return to #1 the next week, on it's way to being the #1 single of the year 1977.

On the October 8, 1977 show, subhost Mark Elliott made a prediction fo the song becoming the top song of the year. Was pretty obvious at that point, since the cutoff point for the year end survey was a few weeks away.

[Matt Cameron]

An amazing chart run for a first hit single! Of course with chart methodologies being the way they are now, and radio stations holding onto songs for over a year at a time, it's fairly commonplace now. But if you put it into context, still an amazing feat for 1977. By the way, Andy could soar into that falsetto just as well as his older brother Barry could!

[Scott Lakefield]

Absolutely an impressive start for Andy. But I tell ya...what really got me in your post was your pointing out that songs these days stay around on the chart...and at #1...longer and longer because radio stations hold on to them for longer and longer. I've been working on dubbing my CT40 shows from 1996 which I have on tape to CD, and was thinking about just this was I was listening to "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis work through its 12-week run at the top in the fall of 1996. That was basically unheard of in that era, and now it's pretty commonplace.

[Matt Cameron]

I think the switch to airplay-only based charts by (eventually) all of the countdown shows, plus the niche-oriented state of radio from the mid-90's on contributed to this phenomenon. When was the last time you heard even the majority of the Top 40 on one station? The Hot 100 is a mess and has been since the methodology change in late '98. I have hopes for the new Pop 100, but the chart really needs the backing of a national countdown show to make it more relevant. Billboard should loosen its purse strings, as many posters on this board have suggested, and give (I hate typing this) Rick Dees the countdown to use as the basis for his show. I only suggest this because AT40 is undoubtedly out of the equation due to them being in bed with Mediabase.

[Hervard]

Scott said:

Absolutely an impressive start for Andy. But I tell ya...what really got me in your post was your pointing out that songs these days stay around on the chart...and at #1...longer and longer because radio stations hold on to them for longer and longer. I've been working on dubbing my CT40 shows from 1996 which I have on tape to CD, and was thinking about just this was I was listening to "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis work through its 12-week run at the top in the fall of 1996. That was basically unheard of in that era, and now it's pretty commonplace.

Actually, it's still unheard of. Unfortunately, no song has spent longer than that at #1 (on the R&R CHR chart, anyway), but back then was sort of a weak period, when not much new music was being released, which enabled the Donna Lewis song to stay at the top for so long.
The average stay at the top for a song nowadays is about seven weeks. Before the 1990s, only three songs had spent that long on top ("Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee in 1976, "Open Arms" by Journey in 1982, and "Every Breath You Take" by the Police in 1983, which actually spent eight weeks at number one. Throughout the late 1980s, songs were lucky to spend more than two weeks at number one.
In the early 1990s, songs began spending longer at the top, with Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" becoming the first song since 1983 to spend six weeks on top. That was repeated the following year by "End Of The Road" by Boyz II Men. "Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey broke what was then the all-time record in 1993 by spending nine weeks at number one. After that, that happened several times, with songs like "The Sign" by Ace Of Base and "I Know" by Dionne Farris.

[Deleted]

Scott said:

Absolutely an impressive start for Andy. But I tell ya...what really got me in your post was your pointing out that songs these days stay around on the chart...and at #1...longer and longer because radio stations hold on to them for longer and longer. I've been working on dubbing my CT40 shows from 1996 which I have on tape to CD, and was thinking about just this was I was listening to "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis work through its 12-week run at the top in the fall of 1996. That was basically unheard of in that era, and now it's pretty commonplace.

I knew in 1994 when "Mr. Jones" was around forever, the charts were in trouble.

[Deleted]

ulij20 said:

Actually, it's still unheard of. Unfortunately, no song has spent longer than that at #1 (on the R&R CHR chart, anyway), but back then was sort of a weak period, when not much new music was being released, which enabled the Donna Lewis song to stay at the top for so long.
The average stay at the top for a song nowadays is about seven weeks. Before the 1990s, only three songs had spent that long on top ("Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee in 1976, "Open Arms" by Journey in 1982, and "Every Breath You Take" by the Police in 1983,

You forgot "Physical" and "Billie Jean"

[Matt Cameron]

I think he's referencing R&R's charts, because "Open Arms" never got higher than #2 in Billboard (and AT40 of course).
The number of songs that had 40+ week runs on the charts during the first 35 years of the Rock Era, you could probably count on the fingers of one hand and maybe a couple fingers of the other hand. Since 1990, we must be up in the dozens. Radio is stagnant!!

[Hervard]

liberaljag said:

I think he's referencing R&R's charts, because "Open Arms" never got higher than #2 in Billboard (and AT40 of course).

That's right. Conversely, "Physical" never got higher than number two on R&R, due to lack of airplay on stations that found the lyrical content of the song a little risque. Instead, "Waiting For A Girl Like You" by Foreigner, which was stuck at #2 for ten weeks on BB, was number one on R&R.
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson spent only two weeks on top of the R&R chart. Songs like "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey and "Jeopardy" by the Greg Kihn band filled out the "five-week void" (BJ was #1 for seven weeks on BB).
Back when "Every Breath You Take" was spending its sixth week on top of R&R, the host of the show I was listening to, "Countdown America with John Leader" said that there had been plenty of six-week number one songs, but only two seven weekers, which were the ones I mentioned above.

The number of songs that had 40+ week runs on the charts during the first 35 years of the Rock Era, you could probably count on the fingers of one hand and maybe a couple fingers of the other hand. Since 1990, we must be up in the dozens. Radio is stagnant!!

Actually, you barely needed the fingers on one hand, since the only songs that I know of that spent forty weeks at #1 up to 1990 were "I Go Crazy" by Paul Davis in 1977-78 (40 weeks) and "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell (43 weeks). While it's true that "What About Me" by Moving Pictures also spent 43 weeks on the chart, that doesn't really count because of the fact that it had two separate chart runs. The same goes for "The Twist" by Chubby Checker.
Not sure how many 40+ week songs there are on Billboard (as you said, it's definitely in the double digits), but there might not be as many on R&R as you might think. Since they implemented a recurrent rule in 1996, songs fell off faster than they did before the rule was put in place. A few songs still surpassed 40 weeks, but not since they amended the rule to 20/20 in 1999 (before, the cutoff point was #25 and 26 weeks was the limit).
By the way, in case you're wondering what the record is for the longest charting song on R&R before 1990, it was "Love Will Keep Us Together" by the Captain & Tennille in 1975. The song, which was one of the songs that had spent six weeks on top, spent a total of 22 weeks on the chart. Unsurprisingly, the song was by far the number one song of 1975.

[Matt Cameron]

You're right about "I Go Crazy" and "Tainted Love". About 5 more songs had 40+ week runs, but needed two trips up the chart to do it.
I usually reference Billboard chart info, even though all the chart shows use other charts to tally their countdowns. I really miss the days when you had serious turnover on the charts. A song would drop 23 spots or rise 15, you'd get a bunch of debuts and droppers every week. Just made for a more exiting show. That, and Casey's voice, of course...

[Scott Lakefield]

liberaljag said:

A song would drop 23 spots or rise 15, you'd get a bunch of debuts and droppers every week. Just made for a more exiting show. That, and Casey's voice, of course...

You still get the big jumpers on AT40 these days...but I haven't heard a song "tumble" down the chart more than about 15 notches in a long time.

[Deleted]

Yeah but even the big movers today seem contrived, they are from a well known artist who is going to have a jump based on name only, or it happens like the first chart of the new year when they havent tabulated them in two weeks. It doesnt have the same excitement and blow away ability that say "I Will Always Love You" had.