The Billboard Book of Number One Hits

by Fred Bronson

Before MTV and VH1 . . . before books with “Stories Behind the Songs” of popular recording artists, there were Fred Bronson’s stories behind the top chart hits. Now in its 5th edition, The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits once again provides the inside scoop behind every song since 1955 known to reach the pinnacle of the legendary and most respected record chart in the world—Billboard’s Hot 100.

Entries include vivid anecdotes from the hit-making artists, songwriters, and producers; a brief history of the song; the chart entry date and position; the number of weeks on the chart; the date the song reached number one; and much more. Fascinating and engrossing, this reference is the ultimate music source for every rock fan!

Genres: Music, Reference, Nonfiction

980 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes from 1955 to 1985 and provides a solid account of each and every number one, whether awful mind-polluting hideousness (Disco Duck, My Ding-a-Ling, Convoy) or life-enhancing portal to new sensory pleasures (Paint it Black, Crimson and Clover, Rock your Baby).

May be worth mentioning that a guy called Tom Breihan on Stereogum is kind of updating this whole book bit by bit - it's a great column he is writing called The Number Ones

https://www.stereogum.com/category/fr...

Pop fans will find it essential reading. He uses this book extensively.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fat book, and so I read it a decade at a time, putting it aside for a while as I finished each decade. Taken that way, I think it's an even more interesting chronicle of the state of popular music in the United States. I think one has to keep in mind that this is a chronicle of the charts, and not necessarily what is best or most interesting in music. Bronson does a really nice job of summarizing the career of each artist as they appear on the charts, and taken in all of its scope, that in itself is a great and entertaining education for the reader. What he doesn't do is give any analysis of what kinds of pressures are driving what is charting and what isn't in different eras. For that, the reader has to read between the lines, but it's not hard to notice how different genres of music rise and fall, how the power of radio stations weakens over time, how the uber-popularity of certain acts makes number one or even the top ten less relevant in certain stretches, how important movie soundtracks become for a time, and so on.

I also want to bemoan here the fact that books like this are not getting published much anymore. The factoids of the internet have supposedly replaced the need for them (except for serious music fans, they most definitely have not). That's a loss for all of us. Digital music and corporate control of what is publicized has also made the charts largely irrelevant. It takes real work to uncover the authentic voices in music these days, and most of the resources that claim to help us only throw up a smokescreen. One can see that beginning to develop in the last decade this book covers and it's only gotten worse since the publication of the last few big popular music reference books like this a decade (or more) ago. This history of American popular song is so rich. One wonders how we're going to explain the current era in comparison.

[Don Heiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Billboard Book of Number One Hits —revised and updated 4th edition” was written by Fred Bronson and published by Billboard Books in 1997. This older edition presents a single page storyline and pictures of those who performed the music for every single song recording that was the top seller for any day from July 9, 1955 to October 11, 1997. During this period, 860 compositions made Billboard’s number 1 hit chart. The storyline for these compositions includes a profile of the performers, how the writers of the music created the musical composition, and inside information about the recording producers sales strategies. The pictures of the lead performers and statistics about sales as well as distribution techniques are very well done. I listened to many of the recordings from my personal music library while reading Bronson’s storylines. This was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed his book very much. The 4th edition has 883 pages of storyline text and chart index references. (P)

[Gavin Lakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best resource. Period.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous reference, reading it brings back so many memories to someone who grew up in the 1970s listening to all this great music. Very much recommended.

[Javier Espinoza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crecí leyendo a Fred Bronson, por lo cual tener este universo extendido más allá de sus artículos y columnas lo hacen muy valioso para mi.

[P]

I'm not so sure this is exactly the same book I read right now.
But from all of the list, this is the most nearly matched one.
yay! Fred Bronson made me ride on the time machine back to 1955-1992 :)

[Francie Shoemaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the 1985 edition in 1985. Wonderful

[Greg Fanoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential for pop music fans. Even in the Wikipedia era where the reference materials are easy enough to look up on your own, the stories are a lot of fun to read.

[alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are tons of artists and songs I don't care about in here, but it is a really well-written book with a wealth of info and anecdotes that make many of the entries worth reading regardless.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another outstanding resource book that I reference constantly for the Music Trivia that I run.