Throwing back to the week of November 29, 1955, we find a quintet of repeat offenders atop the Billboard chart. But none of those songs is as enduring a classic as the song at #6 that week, ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ by The Platters.
Amazingly, this doo-wop gem never made it higher than #5, but I’m confident it’s recognizable today to people from all generations thanks to its use in movies, TV shows, and commercials.
It’s hard to believe that 17 years and 6,348 songs into my daily blogging enterprise I had yet to feature the recording often called the worst song of all time.
Well, that oversight is remedied today, as Starship’s ‘We Built This City’ was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of December 23, 1985. Yes, today we’re throwing back to a time when ‘We Built This City’ was an unironic hit.
Throwing back to the week of November 22, 1975, we find KC & the Sunshine Band atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘That’s the Way (I Like It),’ the second single from their self-titled sophomore album.
The first single, ‘Get Down Tonight,’ also reached #1 on the chart. These were the first of five eventual #1 hits for the band. ‘That’s the Way (I Like It)’ has the distinction of hitting #1 twice within the same month, as it was briefly replaced by Silver Convention’s ‘Fly Robin Fly’ after topping the charts the first time.
The week of November 16, 1965, found The Supremes atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I Hear a Symphony,’ one of 12 #1 hits for the legendary girl group.
At #2 that week was Len Barry’s ‘1-2-3,’ a song that ended up embroiled in a copyright claim by those very same Supremes. Motown sued Barry and his co-writers, claiming that ‘1-2-3’ bore a strong resemblance to The Supremes’ ‘Ask Any Girl.‘ After two years in the courts, Motown’s Holland–Dozier–Holland writing team was awarded 15% of the royalties from this song.
Throwing back to the week of November 15, 1955, we find a couple of usual suspects atop the Billboard singles chart followed by Tennessee Ernie Jones at #3 with ‘Sixteen Tons.’ The song would ascend to #1 the following week and spend two months there.
This song was written and recorded by country singer Merle Travis a decade earlier. It is sung from the perspective of an Appalachian coal miner.
