# The first #1 single not issued on vinyl **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2007, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001 "2007-03-22T10:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/1 "2007-03-22T10:58:44Z")
- basically, what was the first #1 single that was not pressed on vinyl (or if it was issued as a 45 rpm was only so issued in a strictly limited format) or any of the predecessors of vinyl. I’l accept answers form the US, UK or Australian charts. mm ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/2 "2007-03-22T11:27:55Z")
Thomas Edison’s _Mary Had A Little Lamb_ on waxed cylinder? ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/3 "2007-03-22T11:50:33Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] Thomas Edison’s _Mary Had A Little Lamb_ on waxed cylinder? [/QUOTE] That would be covered by the “predecessor of vinyl” clause ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/4 "2007-03-22T13:07:30Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] That would be covered by the “predecessor of vinyl” clause [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, your OP baffled me with it’s sentence structure and parenthetical statements. Probubly just me. So you’re asking for the first hit to be issued only on a newer format such as CD, 8-Track, Cassette or DAT? Correct? ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/5 "2007-03-23T02:22:00Z")
According to “The Billboard Book of Number One Hits” the first American #1 single not available on vinyl was Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love”, which topped the charts in the middle of 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/6 "2007-03-23T02:32:20Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] I’m sorry, your OP baffled me with it’s sentence structure and parenthetical statements. Probubly just me. [/QUOTE] Hey, give credit where credit’s due. At least he acknowledged there WAS something before vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/7 "2007-03-23T02:32:31Z")
Edison’s recording of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was actually made on tin foil. Wax cylinders were years away. Off on a tangent, anyone want to hear the world’s earliest playable sound recording? It’s from an experimental talking clock made in 1878. Click on the “excerpt” and you’ll hear inventor Frank Lambert saying, "Four o’clock, five o’clock, six o’clock, seven o’clock, eight o’clock . . . " ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/8 "2007-03-23T03:33:02Z")
Your link is blank. I hope you can fix it. I’d like to learn more. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/9 "2007-03-23T03:35:53Z")
[The world’s earliest playable sound recording](http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm), from 1878. One year after Edison invented the phonograph. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/10 "2007-03-23T04:25:33Z")
:eek: That is _eerie._ Why is that so eerie? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-1-single-not-issued-on-vinyl/397001/11 "2007-03-23T06:27:33Z")
It sounds almost… disembodied.