Record-Breakers and Trivia -  everyHit.com
>>> But what's the longest word in a lyric?
Word featuring in most titles
The word "The" features in more hit titles than any other word (2506). Runner-up, a long way behind is "You" (1489) (as of w/e 11th Oct 2003)
Word starting most titles
The word "I" starts more hit titles than any other word (644). Then it's "Love" (234), "Don't" (219) and "You" (214) (as of w/e 11th Oct 2003)
Least Different Letters Making Up An Artist - Title Combination
U2 - "One" (5 characters). This uses a number so it could be argued that the real record-holders are ABC - "SOS" and Moby - "Go" (both 6 letters). However, "Doop" by Doop has just 3 different letters! Least different letters for a non eponymous single is 4 for Abba - "SOS."
Palindromic Title by a Palindromic Artist
"SOS" by Abba is the only palindromic hit song by a palindromic artist.
The Vowel-Free Titles: The following are the only titles of four letters or more to be vowel free (excluding numeric titles like "1999"):
Crash Test Dummies - "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
Julian Cope - "Try Try Try"
Blackout - "Mr DJ"
Pop Will Eat Itself - "RSVP"
Fall Out Boy - "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs"
Alphabetically First and Last Words In Titles
Alphabetically, the first word to appear in any song title is, somewhat obviously, "A"; it has appeared in several hundred titles. More obscure though,  alphabetically speaking, the last word to appear in any title is "Zululand" (in King Kurt's 1983 hit, "Destination Zululand").
Least Different Words Used For Multi-Worded Titles:
Excluding single-worded titles, Destiny's Child are the only act to have three Top 40 hits and use no more than three different words in them; "No No No" (no. 5, 1998), "Bills, Bills, Bills" (no. 6, 1999),  and "Jumpin' Jumpin'" (no. 5, 2000)
Biggest Name-Droppers:
Two groups have managed to take six girls' names into the Top 40:
The Everly Brothers:  "Wake Up Little Susie" (1957), "Claudette" (1958), "Take A Message To Mary" (1959), "Poor Jenny" (1959), "Cathy's Clown" (1960), and "Lucille" (1960).
The Bachelors: ""Charmaine" (1963), "Diane" (1964), "Ramona" (1964), "Marie" (1965), "Hello Dolly" (1966) and "Marta" (1967). Thanks to chart guru Jon Kutner who points out that the Bachelors have a seventh if we include "Walk With Faith In Your Heart"!
Lyrical Connections Between Successive Number 1s
A favourite question in pop quizzes goes something like this:
"Which is the only record to have been knocked off the no.1 spot by a record whose title can be found in the lyric of the first song?"
The 'classic' answer is "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. It contains the famous "mamma mia, mamma mia, mamma mia let me go" line. In January 1976, it was replaced at the top of the chart by none other than Abba's "Mamma Mia".
But a more striking (and more bizarre) answer arises from 1959 when Emile Ford & The Checkmates' "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For" unseated Adam Faith's "What Do You Want" from number one. It's particularly odd as, during the transition, the tracks tied for the top spot and shared the position for one week!
But there are other examples, albeit less dramatic (ie. one-word titles), of this phenomenon:
In 1958, The Kalin Twins made no. 1 with "When". It replaced The Everly Brothers at the top; both tracks on their double A-Side "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "Claudette" contained the word "When."
Two years later Anthony Newley made no. 1 with "Why". It replaced Michael Holliday's "Starry Eyed" at no. 1; the opening line of that song is "Why am I so starry eyed?"
In 1988, The Pet Shop Boys made no. 1 with "Heart". It replaced Aswad's "Don't Turn Around" at no. 1 (which contains the lines "Don't worry about this heart of mine" and "Coz you're gonna see my heart breaking").
The most recent example was seen in 2000. Madonna made no. 1 with "Music". It replaced Spiller's "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" at no. 1 (which contains the line "While we are moving, the music is soothing").
There are two instances of the reverse of this phenomenon - a track being toppled from no.1 by another which contains its full title in the lyric:
In 1960, Anthony Newley's "Why" was topped from no.1 by Adam Faith's "Poor Me" which contained "Why oh why do voices say to me, sit and cry, that this was meant to be."
In 1975, Telly Savalas "If" was topped from no.1 by The Bay City Rollers "Bye Bye Baby" which opened with the line "If you hate me after what I say."
Here's a interesting sub-category; Lyrical Prophecy Of Topping The Chart
On 15th Nov 1980, Blondie's "The Tide Is High" reached number 1. It included the line, "I'm gonna be your number one." It was knocked off the top spot on 29th Nov by Abba's "Super Trouper" which includes the line "feeling like a number one."
Most Popular Title For A Top 40 Single
Songs entitled "Angel" and "Crazy" have each made the Top 40 in 12 completely different tracks (ie. different tune / lyrics; not different versions of the same song).
Runners-up are: "I Believe" (10) and "Stay" (9).
The full list is here .
First Self-Penned Number 1
Mantovani's "Cara Mia" (July 1954; the 20th no. 1); it was composed by Mantovani and Bunny Lewis (under pen names Tulio Trapani and Lee Lange respectively).
Not until the 43rd Number 1 was an act entirely responsible for writing its own chart-topper; The Dreamweavers' "It's Almost Tomorrow" (March 1956).
Over twenty-eight years later Steveie Wonder became the first artist ever to write, produce and entirely perform a Number 1 ("I Just Called To Say I Love You", Sep 1984).
Eponymous Number Ones
When Mr. Blobby went to number one with "Mr Blobby" in 1993 it was the first time in 41 years of chart history that an eponymously title song achieved this feat. However, less than four months "Doop" hit number one by a band called Doop!
Hits In Most Languages
German pop/dance trio Sash! are the only act to have hits in four different languages. In 1997/8 they made the Top 40 with "Encore Une Fois" (in French), "Ecuador" (in Spanish), "Stay" and others (in English) and "La Primavera" (in Italian). Furthermore, though Sash's 1999 hit "Colour The World" was ostensively sung in English, it contained African lyrics by Nigerian vocalist Dr Alban and Finish singer Inka!
Petula Clark is the only British act to have hits in three languages; "Casanova" in German, "Ya Ya Twist" and "Chariot" in French and a host of others in English.
One group has graced the charts with hits in three languages. Kraftwerk had success with "Autobahn" (in their native German), "Tour De France" (French), five other Top 40 titles in English and one bilingual ("Expo 2000" mixed German and English).
Most Expletives
The Super Furry Animals 1996 hit "The Man Don't Give A..." contained 49 expletives; a record for a Top 40 single. The most for a solo hit is 33 in Eamon's 2004 track "F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)." This single also holds the record for most expletives in a chart-topper. The 'award' for most profanities in a hit by a female artist goes to Frankee whose 2004 number 1 "F.U.R.B. (F U Right Back)" (an answer song to Eamon's) contained 22 swear words.
Biggest Hit By A Non-Human Artist
In terms of chart success, this coverted title goes to The Archies for "Sugar Sugar" which spent 8 weeks at number 1 in 1969 (and stayed in the Top 40 for 22 weeks).
Created for mass consumption by bubblegum-pop genius Don Kirshner (the man who gave us the Monkees), the Archies existed on television as an animated series based on the comic book characters of the same name. The voices behind the singing cartoon characters were vocalists Ron Dante, Toni Wine and Andy Kim.
The biggest-selling single by a non-human group is "Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh" by The Teletubbies (1997, 1.1 million copies).
The biggest-selling single by a non-human soloist(!) is "Can We Fix It?" by Bob The Builder (year 2000, 1.0 million).
The Weirdness Of Blur's "Song 2"
The track "Song 2" was track 2 on the album "Blur". It was single 2 to be released from the album. It reached number 2 in the chart - and was just 2 minutes long!
Position-dodging
The Eurythmics have had 9 top ten hits. No two songs have peaked at the same position. The only position they have failed to achieve is No. 7 (they also have one number 11 hit and one number 12 hit, too!)
Most Graceful Retreat From Number 1
In chart history, four singles haven fallen from the Number 1 spot by one position for four consecutive weeks (ie. No. 1 to No. 2 to 3, 4, 5). They are:
Dickie Valentine - "Finger Of Suspicion"   (1954)   [1-2-3-4-5-5-4-9-17]
Tommy Edwards - "It's All In The Game"   (1958)   [1-2-3-4-5-4-8-11-15-27]
Michael Jackson - "You Are Not Alone"   (1995)   [1-2-3-4-5-7-9-13-25-30-31]
Eminem - "The Real Slim Shady"   (2000)   [1-2-3-4-5-7-8-10-11-15-23-33-38]
The following singles managed to 'double' their fall from the top for four consecutive weeks:
Chicago - "If You Leave Me Now"  (1976)   [1-2-4-8-16-16-28-30-39]
Ian & The Blockheads - "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"  (1978)   [1-2-4-8-16-21]
Abba - "The Winner Takes It All"  (1980)   [1-2-4-8-16-30]
Wet Wet Wet - "Love Is All Around"  (1994)   [1-2-4-8-16-21-35- 39]
The record for languishing at No. 2 on the way out (for 8 weeks!)  goes to:
Johnnie Ray - "Such A Night"  (1954)   [1-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-7-7-9-10-12]
Most 'Impressive' Symmetrical Chart Careers For A Title
Ten records in history have experienced symmetrical chart careers of four weeks (none has a longer symmetrical career). Of these, only four climbed as far as the top 30. They are:
Gloria Estefan - "Get On Your Feet"  (1989)   [34-23-23-34]
The Beloved - "The Sun Rising"  (1989)   [37-26-26-37]
Re-Flex - "The Politics Of Dancing"  (1984)   [34-28-28-34]
Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight (live)"  (1991)   [35-30-30-35]
Artist 'Lapping' Himself
During the time Bryan Adams hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was at number one, his follow up single, "Can't Stop This Thing We Started", not only entered the chart, but climbed to number 12, fell down the chart and disappeared from the chart altogether.
First Chart Has-Been
Jane Wyman was the first chart act to completely disappear from the chart, never to return. 12th Dec 1952 was her second and final week on the chart singing 'Zing A Little Zong' with Bing Crosby.
When Was The Last Time...?
... there were no entries in the Top 10:
In March 2006, a new chart rule enabled download sales to count towards a single's chart position the week prior to the title being available in a 'hard' form (eg. CD). As download sales represented a relatively low proportion of overall sales at the time, this led to the return of a phenomenon which had been in decline for many years; titles entering the charts below their peak position and climbing! In w/e 29th April 2006 there were no new entries inside the Top 10, the first time that this had happened for more than four years. This looks set to become a more regular occurrence as it was repeated on the weeks ending 13th May, 8th July, 19th Aug, 2nd Sep, 30th Sep, 2nd Dec 2006 as well as 27th Jan, 10th Feb, 24th Feb, 3rd Mar, 17th Mar, 7th Apr, 5th May, 2nd June, 30th June, 28th July, 22nd Sep, 13 Oct, 17 Nov, 8th Dec 2007, 12th Jan, 2nd Feb, 1st Mar, 8th Mar, 15th, 29th Mar, 26th April, 10th May, 1st Jun, 29 Nov 2008, 31st Jan, 28th Mar, 11th Apr, 16th May 2009. We're going to discontinue this listing soon if this trend continues as it's getting out of hand!
More impressively, on week ending 29th Nov, the highest new entry was at no. 29 (Christian Falk featuring Robyn - "Dream On", though Snow Patrol's "Run" re-entered one place higher). It is rare for the entire upper half of the Top 40 to be devoid of new entries. The previous instances were 26th Apr 2008 when the highest new entry was at no. 25 (Goldfrapp, "Happiness") and  10th Feb 2007, when Kasabian entered at no. 22 with "Me Plus One". Before that, we have to go back to 1994 to find a Top 20 free of debuting singles (outside of the Festive period of course).
The 19th Aug 2006 chart not only featured no new entries into the Top 10, but also no "download-to-physical" climbers, making it doubly unusual.
Moreover, on the week ending 21st Apr 2007, the entire top 10 was a rearrangement of the previous week's top 10 (i.e. no songs climbing into, entering, or falling out of the top 10). This also happened on w/e 16th May 2009.
Throughout the 80s and 90s the number of "high new entries" grew rapidly as record companies became more focussed in targeting chart sales periods for dramatic debut positions. It was then rare (away from Christmas / New Year) to find a Top 10 with no new entries.
The last occurrence of this prior to the aforementioned download rule was w/e 9th Feb 2002 (highest new entry that week; "Dance For Me" by Mary J Blige at number 13).
More than seven years before that, in June 1994, there was a very rare new-entry-free Top 20, "Move Your Body" by Anticapella being the highest debutant at number 21. (NB: this excludes charts inside the festive season when it is usual for the chart to be somewhat stagnant.)
... a single climbed back up to number one:
Occasionally tracks drop from the number one spot and then do a 'U'- turn.  Latest to do this was Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean with "Hips Don't Lie." It had topped the chart for w/e 8th July 2006, then being displaced for a total of three weeks by Lily Allen's "Smile" (2 weeks) and McFly's "Don't Stop Me Now / Please Please" (1 week). On w/e 5th Aug 2006 Shakira and Wyclef Jean reclaimed the no. 1 position. Prior to this, Eric Prydz had returned to the top with "Call On Me" in Oct 2004.
... a single spent more than X weeks at number one::
The last single to spend 5 or more weeks at number one was:  Duffy - "Mercy" (Feb - Mar 2008) [5 weeks at no. 1] The last single to spend 6 or more weeks at number one was:  Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love" (Nov - Dec 2007) [7 weeks at no. 1]
The last single to spend 8 or more weeks at number one was:  Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - "Umbrella" (May - July 2007) [10 weeks at no. 1]
The last single to spend 11 or more weeks at number one was:  Wet Wet Wet - "Love Is All Around" (June-Sep 1994) [15 weeks at no. 1]
The last single to spend 16 or more weeks at number one was:  Bryan Adams - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" (July-Nov 1991) [16 weeks at no. 1 - most ever consecutively.]
The last single to spend 17 or more weeks at number one was:  Frankie Laine - "I Believe" (Apr-Sep 1953) [18 weeks at no. 1 - though in three separate spells at the top.]
More information .
... the Top 5 were all New Entries:
The most recent occurrence of the entire top 5 consisting of New Entries was w/e 29th Jan 2005. The previous occasion was w/e 13th Nov 2004; the fact attracted considerable attention as all five of the incumbents were American artists (in descending order: Eminem, Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera featuring Missy Elliott, Usher) - a first. The first instance of all Top 5 singles being New Entries was w/e 31st Oct 1998 (Cher, George Michael, U2, Culture Club, Alanis Morissette).
On just two occasions (w/e 15th Apr 2000 and w/e 29th Jan 2005) the entire top 6 were debutantes.
... the Top 5 were all non-movers:
The week with most successive non-movers (excluding Christmas weeks) was in July 1955 when the whole Top 7 remained unchanged.  Since then, only the whole of the Top 6 has ever remained static - on four occasions (9th July 1955, 8th April 1961, 30th May 1981 and 8th March 2008).
Top 7 : 9th July 1955
Top 6 : 8th March 2008
1
H Two O featuring Platnum
What's It Gonna Be
Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White
4
Basshunter ft DJ Mental Theo
Now You're Gone
Where Will The Baby's Dimple Be?
Most New Entries In The Top 40
On w/e 17th May 1997, the Top 40 chart contained a record-breaking twenty new entries (of which only one was a climber from further down the chart). The week ending 5th March 2005 also introduced us to nineteen 'pure' new entries, this time with no climbers.
Most New Entries In The Top 10
There have been seventeen occasions in chart history when seven titles of the Top 10 have been New Entries to the Top 40. The first such occurrence was w/e 19th April 1997. The top 10 looked like this:
Top 10 : 19th April 1997
1