When I was young every station that played the "hits" had a year end countdown of the station's top hits of the year. I'd always look forward to listening to the one on my favorite station. The number was usually related to the station's frequency if not 100. I don't even know how many stations even play 100 new songs in a year in these times.
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Year End Countdowns Now And Then
- Thread starter rparky54
- Start date
I remember looking forward to Casey Kasem and his American Top 40 countdown of the top 100 songs of the year which aired the last two Sundays in December on AM 1310, WGH, in Norfolk, Virginia. Great memories!
Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 is doing the Top 40 songs of 2023 this weekend. Of course, a Taylor Swift song was #1!
In the 60s and 70s, the more common approach was a countdown of the top 100 songs of the year, without listener input (apart from whatever role requests played in the original chart action for the record at that station):
Stations made a huge deal out of it, promoting heavily. The countdown usually started at 3:00 p.m. on December 30th and repeated through January 1. Many created fairly elaborate lists that listeners could mail in for or pick up at local record stores:
KFRC THE BIG 610! RADIO 1967 PARADE OF HITS TOP 300 MA16/59 | #455332803
Estate sale find KFRC RADIO TOP 300 BOOKLET Dated 1967 edition. San Francisco, California Please see my other listings
www.worthpoint.com
That number---100---could vary. Some stations substituted their frequency. For example, KHJ in Los Angeles did the Big 93 Countdown:
And KROQ did a Top 106.7 Countdown from 1980 through 2013:
KROQ Top 106.7 Countdowns - Wikipedia
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I assume that the stations that ran these countdowns adjusted the results of the voting to prevent trainwreck segues or consecutive songs by the same artist, by female artists (a no-no at many stations normally), etc. So, if the votes showed three Beatles songs third, fourth and fifth, two of them would be pushed down the list when the countdown aired.
In KHJ's case, this is actually knowable:
KHJ Boss Radio: A Look Back
Welcome to a visual tribute to 93/KHJ Boss Radio in Los Angeles. This site features various KHJ-related images from the Boss Radio era. Click on any image to view it in a larger format.
93khj.blogspot.com
In 1965, KHJ had two Supremes records ("Stop! In The Name of Love" and "I Hear A Symphony") back to back (#17 and #18).
Past that, I don't see any back-to-back by the same artist.
In '68, I see Mama Cass and Gladys Knight back-to-back. But female artists were a fairly small part of any of these countdowns, so the odds were fairly low.
I don't think, without evidence, we can assume the lists got adjusted for any of that.
As for trainwreck segues---in the 60s and 70s, that was Top 40. Nobody really blinked when you went from Johnny Cash to Steppenwolf.
One problem I used to notice with these countdowns was that songs released toward the end of the year didn't score very high regardless of how high they went. No one bothered to predict how well the song would continue to do in the new year.
Now they call that "we play everything".
Y101 Jackson, MS had a top 23 of 2023. It was a prerecorded program and it was played on repeat all weekend.
That's because points were usually given for each week on the chart based on position (30 points for each week at #1, one point for each week at #30 and the rest in between as would follow).
Songs already off the chart had an advantage, where newer songs still on the chart had fewer weeks tallied.
Of course. Because the entire point of the countdown is the top (whatever) of THAT year, not the next.
I'd imagine this hurt "I'm a Believer" in the 1966 and 1967 countdowns, as that hit's reign at or near the top of the charts spanned December 1966 and January 1967.
Right. It applies to any record that had a chart run from November through February.
Billboard tried to adjust for that by making its year-end calendar December 1 of the previous year through November 30 of the year in question. Still, if you had a record that was #1 for the entire month of December of the current year, it wouldn't count until next year's countdown.
Local alternative station 91X punted on coming up with a yearly countdown for 2023 this year, and did a Top 91 of the last 40 years instead this time.
Top 91 of The Last 40 Years (2023) - 91X FM
Top 91 of The Last 40 Years (2023) - 91X FM
40th anniversary of the format on the station. Logical move and it makes a much stronger list than the 91 biggest alternative records of 2023.
This year will be a challenge, barring a sudden renaissance in the format and its music.
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