Here are 25 Interesting Facts About Album and Singles Charts.
1-5 Facts About Album and Singles Charts
1. The original version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers did not chart on the UK Singles Chart until 2009, 38 years after its release. – Source
2. The Dark Side of the Moon was #1 for only one week on the Billboard album chart, although it remained on the chart for 741 weeks. – Source
3. Frozen pizza is so popular in Norway that when a popular brand released a new jingle, it reached #1 on the Norwegian charts. – Source
4. The Gnarls Barkley song ‘Crazy’ topped the UK charts for so long it was eventually pulled so people would “remember the song fondly and not get sick of it.” – Source
5. Weird Al’s recent “Mandatory Fun” album was the first comedy album to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard charts and it was the first comedy album to top the charts in over 50 years. – Source
6-10 Facts About Album and Singles Charts
6. In Australia, Weird Al’s “Eat It” reached number one on the music charts, while the original, “Beat It”, only peaked at number three. – Source
7. The Go-Go’s were the first, and to date only, all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts. – Source
8. “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis was the first song since 1994 to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart without the support of a major record label. – Source
9. The song “Chocolate Salty Balls” from South Park reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Charts. – Source
10. The song “Shaving Cream”, despite having been written and released in 1946, peaked at #30 on the Billboard charts in 1975 thanks to the Dr. Demento Show. – Source
11-15 Facts About Album and Singles Charts
11. It was Freddie Mercury’s dying wish for “Bohemian Rhapsody” to be reissued in order to raise money for AIDS charities. When the song was rereleased in late 1991, it topped the charts, staying at #1 for five weeks for the first time since its debut in 1975. – Source
12. Britain got “Ding Dong the witch is dead” to number two in the charts after Margaret Thatcher Died. – Source
13. In 2003 Dave Grohl was on the top of the Billboard Modern Rock chart for 17 of 18 successive weeks, as a member of three different groups. – Source
14. In 2014, Taylor Swift accidentally released an 8 second track of white noise onto iTunes. It reached the top of the Canadian charts almost instantly. – Source
15. The Sesame Street song “Rubber Duckie” sung by Ernie charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. The modest hit peaked at #16. – Source
16-20 Facts About Album and Singles Charts
16. With the success of his single Jingle Hell, Christopher Lee became the oldest musician to ever enter the billboard hot 100. – Source
17. Paul McCartney used the pseudonym “Bernard Webb” on the song, “Woman” to prove that his music would be successful no matter who took credit for it. Sure enough, “Woman” went to #14 on the U.S. pop charts and #28 in the UK. – Source
18. When Billy Idol’s cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ song “Mony Mony” reached #1 on the charts in 1987, it dethroned Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now”, which was also a cover of a Tommy James and the Shondells song. – Source
19. Not a single black artist had a Billboard #1 single in 2013, for the first time this has happened in 55 years. – Source
20. In 2002, George Harrison knocked Aaliyah off the top spot in the UK singles chart, the first time that one deceased artist had replaced another at #1. – Source
21-25 Facts About Album and Singles Charts
21. The Sex Pistol’s “God Save the Queen”, released during her silver jubilee, was considered controversial by the BBC and its spot on the top hits charts was left as an empty space. – Source
22. The first rap song to top #1 on the Billboard charts was Blondie’s “Rapture”, sung by Debbie Harry, a white female. It was also the first rap music video to appear on MTV. – Source
23. Cher is the only artist to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each of the past six decades. – Source
24. “Ready ‘n’ Steady” is a song by the artist D.A. that appeared on Billboard magazine’s Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart for three weeks in June 1979. The record, along with information about it or the artist, has been notoriously hard to find, leading many collectors to consider it a “phantom record.” – Source
25. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles simultaneously. This feat hasn’t been accomplished by any other artist to date, the closest being 50-Cent, who placed three titles simultaneously. – Source
