#1 Songs on Hot 100 that should not be number one.

[firepoint525]

Three number ones I can't stand:
You Light Up My Life-Debbie Boone
Ring My Bell-Anita Ward
Feelings-Morris Albert

I don't think "Feelings" was a #1. Might have been an AC #1. It did, however, spend a long time on the charts, especially for the pre-Soundscan days.

I always thought that Morris Albert's vocals resembled Barry Manilow's, at times. I think "Feelings" is on at least one of my old K-Tel albums! :-[

 

[kruxman]

Don't know about the Billboard chart, in the 70's, most Top-40 stations used the R&R charts. I can't find any listing of how Feelings did on that chart, but I know it was #1 on many station charts, and seemed to hang around forever. Rick Dees did a great bit on one of his comedy albums, where he pretends to be a talent agent and has a girl who's a terrible nightclub singer, sing Feelings to him, over the phone. He then proceeds to ask her how she would feel about performing the song, in the nude. Pretty funny bit.

 

[bpatrick]

all I am saying for a song to get to #1 is the ultimate achievment, ones opinon of the song doesn't diminish it's legacy...to say it didn't fit, when that was the norm in those days is does not make it a fluke, that was the nature of radio and the charts then, until the time when the charts went from about 6 charts then, to the 600 today, it most definitely belongs on Oldies Radio, why, because it's an OLDIE.... follow-up hits, she was a nun, not Cher. Comeback ? she was a troubled soul who committed suicide and hopefully because of her deep faith her comeback was with her maker.

Not long ago on Facebook, I did one of those "what was #1 when you were born" quizzes, and I posted the British #1, "She Loves You" by the Beatles, on my Facebook page, because the American #1 at the time was "I'm Leaving It Up to You" by Dale and Grace. Nothing against Dale and Grace, but the Beatles fit me better.

There were only two #1s between the JFK assassination and the Beatles landing, and those were "Dominique," followed by "There I've Said It Again" by Bobby Vinton. "Dominique" definitely makes my case for me about being an anomaly, because it was sung by a nun, and hit #1 right after the assassination of our only Catholic president. (Of course, it was already on the charts by then, but that is another matter.)

I made the case on another thread that whatever happens to be #1 in December usually stays there for a while. Definitely the case with the Singing Nun, but it became more common in the '70s and '80s. I remember several years in the '80s when the biggest hit of the year on Casey Kasem's year-end countdown was something that had been #1 in December of the previous year! This always annoyed me, because I knew that Billboard "froze" the charts for the last week in December, and that what was #1 at the time usually got less airplay because of Christmas music on the air, and that sales of singles might have even slowed down due to winter weather in some parts of the country.

Draw your own conclusions:

"I'm Leaving It Up To You" hit number one on the Billboard charts Nov. 23, 1963, the day after JFK was assassinated, and stayed at number one for two weeks. "Dominique" was number one for the entire month of December; "There I've Said It Again" for the entire month of January 1964; "I Want To Hold Your Hand" didn't hit number one until Feb. 1, a week before the Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show".

As for "freezing" the lists at the end of December, let's compare the top ten for Dec. 21 and Dec. 28, 1963:

Dec. 21 1. Dominique--the Singing Nun
2. Louie Louie--the Kingsmen
3. You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry--the Caravelles
4. There I've Said It Again--Bobby Vinton
5. Since I Fell For You--Lenny Welch
6. Be True To Your School--the Beach Boys
7. Drip Drop--Dion DiMucci
8. I'm Leaving It Up To You--Dale & Grace
9. Everybody--Tommy Roe
10. Popsicles and Icicles--the Murmaids

Dec. 28 1. Dominique
2. There I've Said It Again
3. Louie Louie
4. Since I Fell For You
5. You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry
6. Drip Drop
7. Forget Him--Bobby Rydell
8. Popsicles And Icicles
9. Talk Back Trembling Lips--Johnny Tillotson
10. Be True To Your School

Two new entries; two drop out. "Dominique" stays number one;
two songs move up. I wouldn't exactly call that "freezing" the charts.

 

[oldies76]

I wouldn't exactly call that "freezing" the charts.

I don't know if in the early 60's Hot 100 charts were "frozen", meaning the same results stood for the last week in December, as the week before. This practice was done in the early 90's at some time, possibly at other times as well.

 

[oldies76]

I don't think "Feelings" was a #1. Might have been an AC #1.

According to Wikipedia, "Feelings" peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the A/C charts in 1975.
Possibly #1 on local radio station charts or other minor charts.

 

[semoochie]

I believe Billboard charts indicate the week ending on a particular date. You might try comparing the first week ending in January 1964.

 

[hornet61]

I believe Billboard charts indicate the week ending on a particular date. You might try comparing the first week ending in January 1964.

no...his posting of the charts are correct..

w/e jan 4,1964 was as follows:The Top 4 are the same but flip-flopped a bit and Forget Him joined the Top 5.

1. There I've Said It Again
2. Louie, Louie
3. Dominique
4. Since I Fell For You
5. Forget Him
etc
If my memory serves me , Billboard kind-a-froze the charts when It started publishing of the year-end Chart issue, a Double issue, it skipped a printing of the last or second to last issue..I have all the year-end charts up to about 1990 in storage , I'll have to look. This happened in the late 70's I believe.

 

[firepoint525]

"I'm Leaving It Up To You" hit number one on the Billboard charts Nov. 23, 1963, the day after JFK was assassinated, and stayed at number one for two weeks.

That date is both the chart date, and the week ending date. I know that these charts were published up to a week ahead of time, because my local newspaper used to post charts (kind of a "space-filler" type deal), and these were almost always a full week ahead of what I would hear Casey Kasem count down. In other words, if the paper printed the charts on Friday, I would usually hear them counted down that same way on Sunday, over a week later!

Two new entries; two drop out. "Dominique" stays number one;
two songs move up. I wouldn't exactly call that "freezing" the charts.

As others pointed out, "freezing" the charts didn't come until later. But it was a moot point for 1963-64 if "Dominique" stayed at #1 anyway.

 

[firepoint525]

Dec. 21 1. Dominique--the Singing Nun
2. Louie Louie--the Kingsmen
3. You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry--the Caravelles
4. There I've Said It Again--Bobby Vinton
5. Since I Fell For You--Lenny Welch
6. Be True To Your School--the Beach Boys
7. Drip Drop--Dion DiMucci
8. I'm Leaving It Up To You--Dale & Grace
9. Everybody--Tommy Roe
10. Popsicles and Icicles--the Murmaids

Dec. 28 1. Dominique
2. There I've Said It Again
3. Louie Louie
4. Since I Fell For You
5. You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry
6. Drip Drop
7. Forget Him--Bobby Rydell
8. Popsicles And Icicles
9. Talk Back Trembling Lips--Johnny Tillotson
10. Be True To Your School

w/e jan 4,1964 was as follows:The Top 4 are the same but flip-flopped a bit and Forget Him joined the Top 5.
1. There I've Said It Again
2. Louie, Louie
3. Dominique
4. Since I Fell For You
5. Forget Him
etc

This is interesting. We have "Louie Louie" dropping from #2 to #3, then reclaiming #2! I was aware that "Louie Louie" was #2 for six weeks, but I was not aware that it was for six non-consecutive weeks! Same thing happened with "Shattered Dreams" by Johnny Hates Jazz in 1988.