Throwing back to the week of August 9, 1955, we find Bill Haley & The Comets hanging on to the top spot with ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ This was the sixth of eight consecutive weeks that song held on to the top spot.
In #2 that week was Pat Boone’s recording of the Fats Domino track ‘Ain’t That a Shame.’ Boone recorded and released the song in the same month Domino’s hit radio and ended up climbing the charts faster. Ain’t that a shame, indeed…
Tears for Fears held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of August 3, 1985, with ‘Shout,’ one of three hit singles from the smash album Songs from the Big Chair. ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ also reached #1, while ‘Head Over Heels’ made it to #3.
At #2 that week, a week after claiming the top spot, was Paul Young’s ‘Everytime You Go Away,’ a cover of a little-known track by Daryl Hall & John Oates.
Throwing back to the week of August 2, 1975, we find the Eagles atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘One of These Nights,’ title track of the band’s breakthrough fourth album.
At #2, where it stayed for three weeks, was ‘I’n Not in Love,’ the ethereal ballad by English art-pop band 10cc. This was one of two top five U.S. singles for 10cc, the other being the very different ‘The Things We Do For Love,’ released the following year.
The week of July 27, 1965, saw a couple of repeats atop the Billboard Hot 100: The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction‘ and Herman’s Hermits’ ‘I’m Henry VIII, I Am.’
In third place that week was the titular theme song from the film What’s New Pussycat?, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and performed by Tom Jones. Jones was reluctant to sing this crazy tune but was convinced by Bacharach that it could work only with a boisterous voice like his.
Throwing back to the week of July 26, 1955, we find Bill Haley and the Comets holding on to the top spot with ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ And really, that’s how it should be… imagine when a song that iconic and genre-defining was just a new release.
Nat King Cole held the #2 spot, with both sides of his ‘A Blossom Fell‘ single designated as the runner-up that week. This was during a time when Billboard would combine the performance of a double-sided hit and assign the results to both songs.
Meet Me In Montauk 