We’re throwing back to the week of April 18, 1956, and the 50s just got interesting!
While Les Baxter’s instrumental ‘The Poor People of Paris‘ held on to the #1 spot for the sixth straight week, it was about to be unseated by the song at #2.
That was Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ the King’s first of 17 chart-topping hits on the Hot 100 (or the Best Sellers in Stores chart, as it was called before 1958).
Austrian artist Falco owned the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of April 12, 1986, with ‘Rock Me Amadeus,’ one of only nine non-English songs to top the chart.
At #2 was Prince with his iconic hit ‘Kiss,’ which would reach #1 the following week and stay there for two weeks. ‘Kiss’ is the third of five chart-topping hits for Prince, all released between 1984 and 1991.
Throwing back to the week of April 11, 1976, we find Johnnie Taylor holding on to the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Disco Lady.’
At #2, on its way to a single week atop the chart, was The Bellamy Brothers’ ‘Let Your Love Flow.’ This country crossover hit was the duo’s debut single and by far their biggest success on the Hot 100 (their second most popular song reached #39).
The week of April 5, 1966, found The Righteous Brothers enjoying their second (and last) #1 hit, ‘(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.’ Two years earlier, the duo reached the top spot with ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.’
You might have guessed the other #1 was 1965’s ‘Unchained Melody,’ but that classic peaked at #4. The Righteous Brothers’ other two top ten hits were ‘Just Once in My Life’ and ‘Ebb Tide,’ both also released in 1965.
Throwing back to the week of April 5, 1956, we find a couple of repeats atop the singles chart in ‘The Poor People of Paris‘ and ‘Lisbon Antigua.’
At #3 that week was Perry Como with ‘Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom).’ This is Como’s fourth appearance on Throwback Weekends, and if this series stretched back into the 40s and early 50s he’d have a lot more.
Incidentally, I have written more than 300 Throwback Weekend posts now, making that category second only to Random Weekends, which numbered over 1,000.
