Top 10 hits that didn't have large climbs within the Top 40

[doofus67]

More from the 1976-78 period, when Bill Wardlow was hog-tied by his own ridiculous star rules. Thanks to the Records and Charts Database for keeping me from having to scroll through 150 or so Hot 100 reprints. I cheated a bit and threw in a few songs with six-notch moves:

"I Like Dreamin'," Kenny Nolan...39-35-30-(30)-26-21-16-14-12-9-5-5-4-3
"Come Sail Away," Styx...35-32-26-25-23-21-18-16-14-(14)-11-9-9-8
"Slip Slidin' Away," Paul Simon...35-30-26-22-17-15-13-10-(10)-7-6-6-5
"Dance, Dance, Dance," Chic...37-35-30-(30)-26-23-18-15-11-9-7-6-6
"Telephone Line," ELO...39-33-29-26-22-20-16-13-10-9-8-7-7
"Margaritaville," Jimmy Buffett...37-33-29-24-21-19-17-12-10-9-9-8-8
"You Are the Woman," Firefall...37-33-27-23-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-9-9
"We Are the Champions," Queen...35-31-26-22-18-(18)-13-10-8-6-4-4-4
"Right Time of the Night," Jennifer Warnes...39-35-29-25-21-19-15-11-10-8-6-6
"You Never Done It Like That," Captain & Tennille...36-32-28-24-20-18-15-14-12-11-10-10
"Magic Man," Heart...35-31-26-24-20-16-14-13-10-9
"Stand Tall," Burton Cummings...35-31-25-20-18-16-15-11-(11)-10-10
"Swayin' to the Music," Johnny Rivers (had an eight-notch move but check out the rest)...36-28-26-24-22-20-17-16-14-13-12-11-10

[chrislc]

I think the impression these songs tend to give is that they were good but not great - but slowly grew on people. The reality though is probably that some stations played the heck out of them and other stations hardly played them at all with a few stations giving in and adding them each week. One foot in the bucket of hot water and the other foot in the bucket of cold water but the stats make it look like both feet are in average water.

Statistics! You gotta love em'.

I also remember well that we all were just sheep following the herd. Which sounds terrible but it probably was the best affordable option.

I look at those titles and can picture the 45s spinning around. Such a long time ago.