Chart History
Willie Can
Beverley Sisters
From 10th March 1960 the chart was compiled by the retail music  magazine Record Retailer (later to become MUSIC WEEK), although N.M.E. continued  to publish its own independent charts as other magazines such as Melody Maker  and Disc& Music Echo had theirs.
From this date the charts them became a Top 50. Although  Music Week (Record Retailer) was an RECORD INDUSTRY magazine sent to record  shops, their charts became available to the public when printed in the magazine  RECORD MIRROR, from March 1962 right up until the day it went out of print in  April 1991.
US records where the sounds of the time until the arrival of  The Beatles, and for the first time in March 1964 UK acts dominated all the Top  10 positions.
This could be perhaps due to the arrival of Pirate Radio in  Britain of which the first was Radio Caroline on Good Friday 1964.  1st January  1964 saw the first ever edition of the TV show TOP OF THE POPS from the BBC, it  was first broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 18.35 hrs. It was intended to only  last for 6 weeks, with an option for another 6, but due to its popularity they  kept it going, though; now in a slightly different format it is still being  broadcast.  After the initial broadcasting it then went out on Thursday evenings  at 19.00 hrs (7pm) for years, but now it goes out at 19.30 hrs (7.30pm) on  Fridays.
It also now has sister programs (still called Top Of The  Pops) in Germany, Holland and indeed in over 80 countries worldwide. Germany's  version started in October 1998.  There, it is recorded in Berlin and can be seen  in the UK by anyone who has analogue Satellite TV through the ASTRA SATELLITE  Transponder No.2 on the German station R.T.L. on Saturday evenings at 16.45 hrs  (4.45pm) UK time. Both in Germany & Holland they are longer shows than that of  the UK (1 hour) and Germany's also has a competition and News of Artists and  Bands.  In the USA they had a licence to broadcast their own Top Of  The Pops in the late 80s but was dropped after about a year.
The original TOTP in the UK was broadcast from an old BBC  building which was a disused church in Dickenson Road, Manchester. This building  has long since been demolished.  There were 4 original presenters:  Pete Murray,  Alan Freeman, David Jacobs and the man who presented the very first was Sir  Jimmy Saville.
It was completely live in those days with no pre-recordings  and the artists performed both instrumentally and vocally LIVE.  Artists who did  not have a backing band were accompanied by the BBC Top Os The Pops Orchestra.
The artists appearing on that very first show, in order  were:-
ROLLING STONES - I Wanna Be Your Man, DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - I Only Want To Be With  You, DAVE CLARK FIVE - Glad All Over, HOLLIES - Stay, SWINGING BLUE JEANS -  Hippy Hippy Shake and THE BEATLES - I Want To Hold Your Hand which was at number  one. The show always ends with the number one single although this had 2  exceptions, 1 was in 1969 when Je'Taime... by Jane Birkin and the other in 1984,  Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood were number ones. At those times those 2  records were banned by the BBC.  As far as the Jane Birkin song was concerned  their was a twist in the tale as an instrumental version called Love At First  Sight by group Sounds Nice was played but this version only peaked at number 18.
Around this time Germany has its own pop shows, one of which,  similar in format to TOTP was BEAT CLUB.  This was a great show and lasted well  into the 70s and featured mainly UK and US acts, also one of the presenters was  British DJ, Dave Lee Travis.  Lots of editions of this show still survive today,  and clips can sometimes be seen on the UK version of satellite TV station VH1.
The previous year ITV started its own pop show on Friday  nights and its catchphrase was The Weekend Starts Here. On this show though,  (which featured the gorgeous Cathy McGowan) most acts mimed to their records.  This show was called READY STEADY GO.  The rights to all the recordings of this  show that are known to still exist are owned by Dave Clark formerly of top 60s  band DAVE CLARK FIVE.
When TOTP was launched on  1st January 1964.  The week's chart was:
POS
Walking Alone
Richard Anthony
Good Friday 1964 saw the first broadcast by a British Pirate  Radio Station RADIO CAROLINE later to become Radio Caroline South and broadcast  from a ship moored just over 3 miles off the Essex coast. As pop music was in  very short supply on radio in the UK except for the evenings when Radio  Luxembourg was broadcasting. Due to this station's broadcast coming from  Luxembourg on Medium Wave Band (AM), the signal used to fade in and out very  badly.
Radio Caroline was started by Irish businessman Ronan  O'Reilly. This prompted the start of many pirate radio stations all just outside  British territorial waters on both ships and wartime forts. There were over 20  at one period. They played non-stop pop music 24 hours a day. One of the best  known DJs to come from Radio Caroline and later Radio London was Tony Blackburn.
When the Marine Offences Act of 1967 came into force all but  one of them closed down and the British Government stated that anyone sending  supplies to them or advertising on them would be prosecuted.  Also anyone working  on them would be prosecuted if they came inside territorial waters after the  14th August 1967 deadline.
The only station to carry on broadcasting was Radio Caroline  South (the station that started it all) and at 00.01 hrs on 15th August 1967 the  first record played was We Shall Overcome by Joan Baez.
26th January 1967 saw the chart entry for the first week, of  the record with the longest number of continuous weeks in the UK chart. This  record was Release Me by Englebert Humperdinck which spent a massive 56  continuous weeks in the UK charts, then still a Top 50.
30th September 1967 saw the first broadcast of Radio One from  the BBC and at 7.00 on this day the very first record was introduced by DJ Tony  Blackburn.  The record being FLOWERS IN THE RAIN by MOVE.
On 21st January 1965, a unique chart occasion happened but  unknown at this time but the first of 2 chart entries (the other first charted  on 1st November 1967), of the title EVERYBODY KNOWS by DAVE CLARK FIVE. Both had  the same title, both by the same artist but were quite different songs.  The only  other time to come close to this was the chart entry of 13th October 1984 and 15th  December 1990 there were 2 different songs both called Freedom.  The 1984 entry  was by WHAM and the 1990 entry was by GEORGE MICHAEL who was also on the single  by Wham.
Still on the subject of unique chart occasions the next one  was on the charts of 4th October 1969 and the following week on the 11th. This was  unique in that they contained a record at 2 different chart positions which were  the same song the same artists and the same recorded version.  The only thing  different is that they were both on different record labels.  The song in  question was JE T'AIME...MOI NON PLUS by JANE BIRKIN & SERGE GAINSBOURG.  It was  originally released on the Fontana label but was banned by Radio One at that  time due to its erotic sound, so due to its controversy Fontana withdrew the  record and was then released on the Major Minor label.
Because there were Fontana singles still in the shops along  with the Major Minor release, on 4 October 1969 the Major Minor release was at  number 3 and the Fontana single at number 16.  Also at that time it was the  biggest ever selling single for a completely foreign language record.
This seemed to be the period of the banned record for on it's  way down this chart after peaking at number 10 was reggae record WET DREAM by  MAX ROMEO.  Also banned at this time were WRECK A BUDDY by SOUL SISTERS and  EROTICA by RITA.
The  following chart is for 4th October 1969:
POS
The Hunt
Barry Ryan
There were 2 instances when at 2 different positions with the  same record by the same artists (Leader Of The Pack by Shangri-las) in 1976 and  (Shout by Lulu) in 1986, but they were the original version and either a  re-recorded or re-mixed version.
On 5th May 1978 the charts were further extended to a Top 75.  At  this time they were compiled by the British Market Research Bureau. Later the  charts were compiled by Gallup.  Radio One stayed just with the Top 40 as it  still does today.  If they played the complete Top 75, their Chart Show  rundown on Sunday evenings would last 4 hours!
The  first ever Top 75 Chart:
POS
Syptom Of The Universe
Ozzy Osbourne
19th March 1983 was the entry date of the best selling  12inch single of all time which peaked at number 8 and was in and out of the Top  100 for nearly 5 years.  The record: BLUE MONDAY by NEW ORDER.
From May 1991 the charts were still a Top 100 however only  the Top 75 was actually published due to a drop in singles sales.
6th July 1991 saw the first week at number one for the record  that spent the longest number of continuous weeks at number one, this was Everything I Do by Bryan Adams which spent 16 weeks at number one and totalled 24  weeks in the UK Top 75.  Just under a year later was the second highest number of  continuous weeks at number one, this was Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet which  spent 15 weeks and a total UK Top 75 run of 37 weeks.
The Charts are now compiled by CIN.
21st February 1998 saw the second single to make the Top 75 on  import sales alone before an official UK release. The record: IT'S LIKE THAT by  RUN DMC vs JASON NEVINS.  Following on 21st March 1998 was the next one which was  IT'S TRICKY also by RUN DMC vs JASON NEVINS.
1999 exaggerated the situation in the UK charts in that from  1st August to 30th November there were 10 singles that entered the UK top 75 that had not  had an official UK release and therefore made the charts on import sales alone.  There have never been so many singles on sales of imports only hit the charts in  such a short time before.   All but 2 of them (*) were big European produced hits.
DATE
Madison Avenue
30
Now we are in the new Millennium the only artist to have a Top  10 hit in 6 decades from the 50s through to 2000 is Cliff Richard.  Though he is  not liked by everyone this is still a great milestone.  His first single MOVE IT  first entered the UK charts on 12 September 1958 and reached number 2.  He has  had 65 Top 10 hits and sold more than 86 million singles worldwide.
Right at the beginning of the new millennium another unique  occasion has happened on the UK charts.  On the 10th January 2000, the record  MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES by MANIC STREET PREACHERS was released.  24 hours  later the record was deleted but it still made number 1 on the 16th January.  This  is something that has never happened before in chart history.
The UK's single releases are behind  again!  The charts for 19th & 26th February 2000 see 3 more singles hit the  charts on import sales only.
The  following is a list of all singles to chart in the new millennium, with no UK  Release and have charted on sales of imports only:
DATE
Blow Ya Mind
Lock N Load
Chart History continues to be made.   The latest is a record which entered the UK charts on 15th April 2000.  It has  become the longest Top 75 survivor than any other that failed to make the Top  20 -  a full 21 weeks!  The record  is AMAZING by LONESTAR  (appropriately titled)!
2000 has seen a new record in the  history of the charts as MY LOVE becomes Irish boy band WESTLIFE'S 8th  consecutive number one out of their first 8 releases although the follow-up WHAT  MAKES A MAN breaks the sequence in December as CAN WE FIX IT by animation  character BOB THE BUILDER keeps it at number 2 over the Christmas period.
The charts for week ending 24th  February 2001  has seen the first single to top the charts in for more than 3 weeks in this  millennium.  This is quite a rare thing these days. The single in question is  WHOLE AGAIN by ATOMIC KITTEN.
On 19th March 2000 the brand new UK  number one makes another historic record. The single in question is PURE & SIMPLE by HEAR'SAY.  This has become the fastest selling single ever for a debut  disc.  A phenomenal 600,000 in just 6 days.  This band was got together on the UK  TV show Popstars which showed them auditioning right through to making the big  time.  There have also been versions of this show in USA (Eden's Crush), Germany  (No Angels) Australia (Bardot), Ireland (Six), France (L5), New Zealand and  Sweden (Exellence).  The New Zealand group sank without trace but the Australian  group also hit big time and have so far had 4 singles in the Aussie Top 10.
On 6th May 2001 another chart record has  been set.  This time the honours go to GERI HALLIWELL who's song IT'S RAINING MEN  (a cover of the Weather Girls 1980s hit) became her 4th UK consecutive number  one single.  This makes her the first female UK solo singer ever to have 4 solo  consecutive number one hits in the UK.
August 2001 sees another piece of chart  history made in that OVER THE RAINBOW by EVA CASSIDY becomes the first single  ever to chart for more than 25 weeks without ever reaching the Top 40.
The chart for week ending 26th January  2002 sees the next landmark:  It is the first time that posthumous number ones have followed each other.  In  this case it is those of the late GEORGE HARRISON & AALIYAH.
When TOTP finished on 30th July 2006.  The week's chart was:
1