Ooooh! Remember the days when you used to tape the Top 40, cleverly stopping and editing your tapes to take out Bruno Brookes’ voice, before wallowing in DJ-free pop heaven? Well, people have been digging the charts in the UK for 55 years! Yep, today is the 55th anniversary of the Official UK Charts. Right back in the beginning, the chart was compiled after a few telephone calls to a few handpicked record shops. Today, the Official Charts Company electronically contacts over 6,000 traditional and online retailers to create the largest, most accurate, weekly market research survey in Europe. Very flash!
The first ever chart (a Top 12, incidentally) appeared on 14th November 1952 in NME, with Al Martino’s ‘Here In My Heart’ sitting proudly at the top. Martino (still touring) said of achieving the first ever UK Number One “I was pretty elated. I had no idea that I would be the first number one record charter in Great Britain. I guess that’s really a feather in my cap, isn’t it?” However, the chart has seen quite a few changes since 1952…

From the very first Top 12 to the current Top 100, the list of 1064 Number One singles (and counting) certainly makes for interesting reading and debate. In the past few weeks, we have witnessed new chart feats with Leona Lewis smashing the 2007 record for the fastest-selling single in a first week of release AND becoming the best-selling single of 2007. Of course, Leona’s toppermost of the poppermost includes downloads, CD sales… and ringtones probably… whereas yesteryear’s number ones relied solely on physical sales of tactile products. Oh! How times have changed.
Since its inception, there have been some wonderful chart toppers… think The Beatles… The Stones… Blur… erm… Gareth Gates. Of course, the crop of dross related to Simon Cowell is enough to make anyone with ears spew… but the single is going strong and, 55 years on, it shows no sign of slowing. But what is next for the humble 45? [via ElectricRoulette]

Possibly related:

1. Woolworths give up on long-forgotten “compact disc” format for singles; record companies seek new licences to print money

2. 21 British women who should have had US No.1 singles before Leona Lewis

3. Pop Heaven Four-Way November Chart Battle: Britney Spears v. Beyonce v. Leona Lewis v. Christina Aguilera

4. Walter Meego’s “Girls” finally gets official video

5. Dispatches From Beardsville: It was 43 years ago today… that Britain got its Dylan (or “It’s a Donovan Anniversary”)

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Posted by mofgimmers on Wednesday November 14th, 2007 at 3:28 pm