It’s been almost exactly one year since I started my poll series to rate every US #1 single of all time. I had so much fun running those polls, and a lot of people enjoyed them as well, and I’ve been wanting to do another retrospective series of this nature. There were several years where people complained that the British #1s were much better, so for my new series, I thought I’d take a look at those neighbors of ours across the pond and the top-rated songs in the UK.
The chart of record in the UK is the Official Singles Chart, which was established by the British record industry and the BBC in 1969. Prior to that, several industry and popular magazines compiled their own competing charts. The Official Charts Company considers the chart published by NME, which was the first singles chart, to be the canonical chart from 1952-1960, and the Record Retailer chart to be canonical from 1960 to 1969. As such, the 15 options in this poll, and the ones for the remainder of this decade, are the singles that NME listed as being the top-sellers in British record stores of the time (NME, and all the subsequent British charts, are 100% sales-based, unlike the Billboard chart’s hybrid of sales/airplay/streaming.)
NME started its chart (which, like all British record charts to the present day, is 100% based on sales) at the end of 1952, so the first poll in this series we’ll be putting those two years together. We find ourselves starting quite a few years before rock & roll made it to the British Isles, giving us a mix of big band/swing music, crooners, and showtunes at #1. I’ll admit that I had to go and listen to each one of these songs before I could pick one to vote for, because these just aren’t the kind of songs one hears anymore.
What’s your favorite?
Best US #1 singles: 1955-56 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-time
Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-Time (Tiebreaker)
When you were doing the US number one polls I was trying to keep track of the UK ones as a comparison. Please don’t put me in the position of trying to explain how Mr Blobby got to number one, please…