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Cash Box Pop Singles Charts 1950-1993
This work documents 44 years of American chart history. It provides the following information for each its entry date into the Cash Box pop chart, its highest position, the number of weeks it remained in the chart, the original record label and the catalogue number.
526 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 12, 2022
For several decades, Cash Box was a leading competitor to Billboard in the entertainment industry magazine. Today, virtually every reference to pop charts in magazine articles, in books, and on the internet is to the Billboard charts while Cash Box is almost forgotten (if not actually unknown to the countless research-challenged "experts" on the internet).
The primary Billboard pop chart—initially the Top 100, then the Hot 100—is a complicated thing: the position of each record on each week's survey was determined by a secret method that combined these three weighted factors:
1. how many copies a record sold,
2. how many times the record was played on jukeboxes, and
3. how many times the record was played on the radio.
The Cash Box survey was titled Top 50 Best Selling Records and was reputedly based entirely on records sales. Each weekly listed fifty songs with each of the most popular recorded versions of that song—that is, some titles had multiple artists' versions listed—so that each Top 50 chart listed one hundred records! When there were multiple records listed for a song, the best selling version was marked with a star.
This led to marked differences in the ranking of many hits by many artists. For example, in 1967, the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow" pooped out at an extremely disappointing #25 on Billboard but made the Top 10 on Cash Box. A year later, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" peaked at #3 on Billboard but topped the Cash Box chart. And several Elvis records ("Hound Dog," "Return to Sender," "In the Ghetto," and "Burning Love") were #1 on Cash Box but not on Billboard. If you are a "chart nut" like me, these are important issues!
The book Cash Box Pop Singles Charts 1950-1993 by Pat Downey, George Albert, and Frank Hoffman, collect this data and list thousands of records by thousands of artists. It is easy to understand and easy to use. I refer to it constantly in the many articles I have published over the past four decades.
Needless to say, I recommend this book to anyone wanting to know which records were the best selling singles from 1950 through 1993.
The primary Billboard pop chart—initially the Top 100, then the Hot 100—is a complicated thing: the position of each record on each week's survey was determined by a secret method that combined these three weighted factors:
1. how many copies a record sold,
2. how many times the record was played on jukeboxes, and
3. how many times the record was played on the radio.
The Cash Box survey was titled Top 50 Best Selling Records and was reputedly based entirely on records sales. Each weekly listed fifty songs with each of the most popular recorded versions of that song—that is, some titles had multiple artists' versions listed—so that each Top 50 chart listed one hundred records! When there were multiple records listed for a song, the best selling version was marked with a star.
This led to marked differences in the ranking of many hits by many artists. For example, in 1967, the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow" pooped out at an extremely disappointing #25 on Billboard but made the Top 10 on Cash Box. A year later, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" peaked at #3 on Billboard but topped the Cash Box chart. And several Elvis records ("Hound Dog," "Return to Sender," "In the Ghetto," and "Burning Love") were #1 on Cash Box but not on Billboard. If you are a "chart nut" like me, these are important issues!
The book Cash Box Pop Singles Charts 1950-1993 by Pat Downey, George Albert, and Frank Hoffman, collect this data and list thousands of records by thousands of artists. It is easy to understand and easy to use. I refer to it constantly in the many articles I have published over the past four decades.
Needless to say, I recommend this book to anyone wanting to know which records were the best selling singles from 1950 through 1993.
February 5, 2013
Pat's an old friend, landlord, flag-football teammate and roommate from the Boulder Days and the Trivia Bowl at CU. When we re-connected after about 20 years he sent me one of his books. I'm not sure which one because I gave it away after I'd had it awhile(I "got rid" of a lot of books over the years and I wish now I hadn't... oh well!). This is the only one with a cover image. Date read is a guess...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews