Back in March, in a Throwback Weekends post about Johnnie Taylor’s ‘Disco Lady,’ I noted that it was the first #1 hit with the word “disco” in its title. I went on to write that only one other such song reached #1 in the future… and here we are.
‘Disco Duck,’ a novelty track by Memphis disc jockey Rick Dees, spent a single week atop the Billboard Hot 100 exactly 60 years ago.
Two repeats topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week of October 4, 1966: ‘Cherish‘ by The Association, and ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There‘ by The Four Tops.
In the third spot, on its way to a single week at #1 later in the month, was ’96 Tears’ by ? and the Mysterians (pronounced “Question Mark and the Mysterians,” with lead singer Rudy Martinez beating Prince by a few decades to the “my name is a symbol” thing).
Throwing back to the week of Oct. 3, 1956, Elvis Presley claimed #1 on the Billboard singles chart with ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ the song’s fifth of seven straight weeks in the top spot.
Just behind it was the jazz instrumental ‘Honky Tonk’ by organist Bill Doggett. And if (like me) you think you don’t know it, press play below and you’ll realize you know it quite well. In addition to spending three weeks at #2 on the Top 100, ‘Honky Tonk’ topped the R&B chart for 13 weeks.
Huey Lewis and the News held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 27, 1986, with ‘Stuck with You,’ the first single from the band’s fourth album, Fore!
The band scored their first #1 hit a year earlier with previous single ‘The Power of Love,’ featured on the Back to the Future soundtrack. Their third, and final, chart-topper was ‘Jacob’s Ladder,’ the third single from Fore!
Throwing back to the week of September 26, 1976, we find two splendid only-in-the-70s tracks atop the Billboard Hot 100: Wild Cherry’s ‘Play That Funky Music‘ and England Dan and John Ford Coley’s ‘I’d Really Love to See You Tonight.’
As both have been featured already, that brings us to #3, Walter Murphy’s disco take on one of the world’s best-known classical pieces: ‘A Fifth of Beethoven.’
