Nancy Sinatra owned the #1 spot the week of February 22, 1966, with her anthemic ode to getting the hell out of there, ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.’
The song was written by Lee Hazelwood, who intended to record it himself, but Nancy convinced him it would sound better coming from a woman. The song’s title was inspired by a line spoken by Nancy’s father, Frank, in the 1963 film 4 for Texas.
Throwing back to the week of February 21, 1956, we find a quartet of repeats atop the Billboard hits chart: ‘Rock and Roll Waltz’ (Kay Starr), ‘Lisbon Antigua’ (Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra), ‘The Great Pretender’ (The Platters), and ‘Memories Are Made of This’ (Dean Martin).
That brings us to #5, where The Four Lads show up for the second time on Throwback Weekends. Back in October, their ‘Moments to Remember‘ was featured, coincidentally also on a week it occupied the fifth spot in the chart.
Throwing back to the week of February 15, 1986, we find Whitney Houston atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘How Will I Know,’ in the first of its two weeks at #1.
In the second spot was Billy Ocean with (deep breath) ‘When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.’ Like yesterday’s featured artist, Hot Chocolate, Ocean is a British artist I didn’t realize was British (at least not until I wrote about ‘Caribbean Queen’ in late 2024).
America was in a horny mood the week of February 14, 1976. The #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 that week was Paul Simon’s ‘50 Ways to Leave Your Lover‘ (his only solo chart-topper) while Donna Summer’s ‘Love to Love You Baby‘ sat at #2.
And in the #3 spot, its peak position, was British soul band Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Sexy Thing.’
Petula Clark held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of February 8, 1966, with ‘My Love,’ enjoying its second of two weeks in the pole position.
Clark wasn’t a fan of the song after recording it and asked the studio not to release it as a single. They ignored her wishes and ‘My Love’ ended up as her second #1 hit in the States, following 1964’s ‘Downtown.’
Meet Me In Montauk 