What is the origin of this phrase? I know that it means “Number one, exclamation point!”, but why “with a bullet”?
It’s from Billboard Magazine, a magazine which ranks album and single sales. A bullet means a song or album is moving rapidly up the chart. Number one with a bullet means it’s on the top and still gaining in sales. Click here for another explanation.
That was fast!
Thanks.
Thanks for the link, tremorviolet. The timing is important. Back when the phrase “number one with a bullet” first came into use, it was a sarcastic phrase used to mock industry hype.
Remember that the bullet was given to indicate “upward changes of position.” Although a song in its first week at #1 can have a bullet, it loses it the second week at #1 because it hasn’t moved upward. But hype still must be served. Hence the joke.
George Carlin used a similar parody in a dj routine on his first album AM and FM, “number one and climbing higher all the time!”
I had always understood the “bullet” against the charts to signify a new entry, hence “number one with a bullet” was a song that went straight in at number one. Consider me enlightened.
I concur that the “bullet” signifies a rise in rank on the chart, not an increase in sales. A song that holds its position loses its bullet.
Offtopic: Be warned that “Number Two with a bullet” can mean something very different.
Yeah, you guys are right, I got it slightly wrong. Although, for an album to rise up the charts it would usually have to be gaining in sales.
I think Casey Kasem first made the phrase popular on his weekly top 40 show (back when everyone used to listen to it). At least, that’s where I first heard it. Didn’t really know what it meant 'til I started working at a record store and reading Billboard.
Slightly off topic: Anyone remember when country humorist Roy Stevens (best know for “The Streak”) actually named an album “Number One with a Bullet”? Didn’t work. 
This may be a faulty recollection so forgive me if i’m wrong. I seem to remember that on the old billboard charts (and maybe still) a new song that is rapidly rising in the charts had a darkened circle next to the entry. It could be seen as a bullet or bullet hole. The circle meant that the position of the song was changing rapidly and sales may be much higher than when the list was printed.
Great, now I’ve got “Back in Black” stuck in my head.
To confirm what Loach said, in typography a large black dot is called a “bullet” because it resembles a bullet hole. The fast rising songs on the hit lists were given a “bullet” next to the title.
Sigh. Did you guys bother to read tremorviolet’s link?