Longest Span of Chart Hits

In the last few weeks (this week in 1975), and Casey twice answered an interesting chart question that has changed answers over the years....who has had the longest span of top 40 hits?  His answer both times was Frank Sinatra, who first hit the charts in 1940 (on the very first Billboard chart) as a supporting artist and then in 1943 as a soloist, with his last hit (by then) in 1969 with "My Way."  

Since American Top 40 debuted in 1970, Casey Kasem had yet to play any Sinatra records.  That changed a few years later as the theme from "New York, New York," made an unlikely run up the charts into the top 40, extending Sinatra's record to 40 years (or 37 as a solo artist.)

The next to enter that range was Michael Jackson, whose first solo hit "Got to Be There" was in 1972 and his first song with the Jackson 5 debuted in late 1969.  His last (to date) posthumous hit "Hold My Hand" charted in 2011, giving him the record of 42 years overall and 40 as a soloist.

The next artist to break that with a newly record song was Sir Elton John whose 2022 hit "Hold Me Closer" (w/ Britney Spears) bookending his first hit "Your Song" in 1970...52 years with top 40's... in this case top 10's!

If you include re-released songs, Burl Ives topped Elton's longevity in the top 10 later in 2022 with "Holly Jolly Christmas" reaching #5 into early 2023, extending his span from early 1962's "A Little Bitty Tear"...61 years! (which will likely extend year over year for the foreseeable future).   

As for top 40 longevity including re-releases...Chuck Berry's even one step longer from 1955 "Maybellene" until recent re-chartings of 1958's "Run, Rudolph, Run" (#32 this January) -- 64 years...and counting!

 

Slowest Climbs To and Falls from #1

As for slowest falls from #1, Casey noted that the record at as of 1972 was 24 weeks by Pat Boone's "Love Letters in the Sand" by Pat Boone from 1958, which I would believe would hold until at least 1991 when the charts changed to Soundscan.  

Without doing a full accounting for every song, "Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd would clearly be a contender.  Its last week at #1 was 2 June 2000, and it spent the next 31 weeks in the top _10_ alone and a total of 66 more weeks on the chart (having been bumped off for a few weeks over Christmas).  No wonder it finished in the top 3 two consecutive years and Billboard now lists it as the #1 song of all time.

Another likely contender was Glass Animals' "Heat Wave" which now holds the record for longest chart run and slowest climb _to_ #1 (a stunning 59 weeks on the chart...), but it "only" spent 21 weeks on the chart after hitting #1.

The slowest fall statistic will always need an * as the rules for when a song is removed has changed over time, with the biggest change in 1991 when songs below #50 were removed if they'd charted more than 20 weeks.  Both "Blinding Lights" and "Heat Wave" were removed when they dropped below #25 having already charted more than 52 weeks.

That rule also impacted the slowest climb to #1 -- Los Del Rio's "Macarena" which by chart rules hit #1 in its 33rd week, but because it hadn't made it to #50 by its 20th week on the chart, it was dropped from the Hot 100 for the next 4 months until it reached the #47 and then continued its climb to #1 13 weeks later.  It was on the Hot 100 Sales chart the whole time, so it was clearly one chart run.

Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" was also a slow climber to #1 in two senses:  it didn't make it until 25 years after first release, plus its 3-5 weeks of charting many years over Christmas before hitting #1 gave it a remarkable tally of 35 non-consecutive chart weeks prior to hitting #1.

Quickest Falls from #1

This week's random retro countdown on SiriusXM was from December 1972, and Casey Kasem read a letter about fastest and slowest falls from #1.  At that point, The Rascals' "Groovin'" had the record for the quickest drop off the chart with "Groovin'" which fell 1 to 2 to 9 to 38 and then off.

In the next few years to follow, this dubious record was tied by Billy Preston's "Nothing from Nothing", which fell 1-15-39-72-off, Andy Kim's "Rock Me Gently", which fell 1-12-32-48-off, and Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls", which fell 1-7-19-44-off.  Preston's record was the long-standing record holder for biggest drop from #1.

Casey made no qualifications about seasonal records, so I was surprised the answer wasn't "The Chipmunk Song" which spent 4 weeks at #1 over the 1958 Christmas season, but overall charted for 13 weeks, 6 of which were after it was #1.

The current record holder will be the all-time record holder, since no one can do more than tie... Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" in the 2019 Christmas season hit #1 (a record 25 years after its release), and when Christmas was over, it fell from #1 all the way off the charts.  Due to the timing of when Christmas Day falls in a given official chart week, in subsequent years she has actually stayed on the chart for an extra week .

Given the extraordinarily slow falls most records take, I doubt any non-seasonal records will even match the Rascal's achievement.  I looked up "Harlem Shake" and even that spent 9 weeks on the chart following the peak of the meme.

March 1983 -- goodbye to a legend

If I were a writer for the Big 80's on 8, Big 40 countdown, I would add much more historical perspective to the countdown.  The DJs regularly note whether a song is going up or down, like Casey Kasem would, and unlike him, even note where a song would peak.

What's rarer is to say where a given song fits into the artist's broader chart history -- at least Casey would often mention whether it was their first or 10th chart record and any streaks associated with it, which the DJs nearly never so.  Even more interesting though, the DJs know the future, and rarely indicate if a song the last of a string, which of course Casey never knew.

Such was the case today...Nine Blackwood appropriately honored Neil Diamond as she introduced "I'm Alive," but what she failed to mention was that this was his last week ever in the top 40.  He's known as a 70's singer-songwriter, but as of this chart, he'd had 9 top 40 hits in the 80's, including 4 top 10's.  This made him the 12th biggest artist of the 80's to date (per a Casey Kasem countdown that summer), but since this was the end, he did not end up in the top 50 artists of the 80's by the end (per Whitburn's book)

He also happens to be the singer on the first album I ever owned "I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight" from 1977 and on one of two 45's I received on my 13th birthday, "Hello Again" which started my collection that eventually numbered in the 100's.

This week also featured the last top 40 hit for lesser luminaries like Earth, Wind, and Fire; Eddie Rabbitt; Crystal Gayle; and Joe Jackson (plus the one-hit wonders...) making room for lots more hits from first-timers Culture Club and Duran Duran.

Favorite:  Journey, "Separate Ways"

1 4 BILLIE JEAN –•– Michael Jackson (Epic)-7 (1 week at #1) (1)

2 2 SHAME ON THE MOON –•– Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (Capitol)-12 (2)
3 3 STRAY CAT STRUT –•– The Stray Cats (EMI-America)-11 (3)
4 5 DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME –•– Culture Club (Virgin)-14 (4)
5 6 HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF –•– Duran Duran (Harvest)-11 (5)
6 1 BABY, COME TO ME –•– Patti Austin with James Ingram (Qwest)-25 (1)
7 7 YOU AND I –•– Eddie Rabbitt with Crystal Gayle (Elektra)-22 (7)
8 9 WE’VE GOT TONIGHT –•– Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton (Liberty)-6 (8)
9 11 BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG –•– The Pretenders (Sire)-13 (9)
10 10 PASS THE DUTCHIE –•– Musical Youth (MCA)-13 (10)

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11 14 YOU ARE –•– Lionel Richie (Motown)-8 (11)
12 16 ALL RIGHT –•– Christopher Cross (Warner Brothers)-7 (12)
13 13 YOUR LOVE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY –•– Sammy Hagar (Geffen)-13 (13)
14 8 DOWN UNDER –•– Men At Work (Columbia)-18 (1)
15 20 SEPARATE WAYS (Worlds Apart) –•– Journey (Columbia)-5 (15)
16 18 TWILIGHT ZONE –•– Golden Earring (21 Records)-15 (16)
17 17 ALLENTOWN –•– Billy Joel (Columbia)-15 (17)
18 21 ONE ON ONE –•– Daryl Hall & John Oates (RCA)-6 (18)
19 23 BREAKING US IN TWO –•– Joe Jackson (A&M)-8 (19)
20 24 MR. ROBOTO –•– Styx (A&M)-4 (20)

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21 27 FALL IN LOVE WITH ME –•– Earth, Wind & Fire (Columbia)-7 (21)
22 25 I KNOW THERE’S SOMETHING GOING ON –•– Frida (Atlantic)-18 (22)
23 12 GOODY TWO SHOES –•– Adam Ant (Epic)-17 (12)
24 15 HEART TO HEART –•– Kenny Loggins (Columbia)-15 (15)
25 31 COME ON EILEEN –•– Dexys Midnight Runners (Mercury)-7 (25)
26 26 ON THE LOOSE –•– Saga (Portrait)-14 (26)
27 19 AFRICA –•– Toto (Columbia)-19 (1)
28 32 I’VE GOT A ROCK N’ ROLL HEART –•– Eric Clapton (Duck)-6 (28)
29 22 YOU CAN’T HURRY LOVE –•– Phil Collins (Atlantic)-18 (10)
30 34 DREAMIN’ IS EASY –•– Steel Breeze (RCA)-8 (30)

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31 55 DER KOMMISSAR –•– After The Fire (Epic)-4 (31)
32 37 MY KIND OF LADY –•– Supertramp (A&M)-6 (32)
33 33 THE WOMAN IN ME –•– Donna Summer (Geffen)-12 (33)
34 41 JEOPARDY –•– The Greg Kihn Band (Beserkley)-6 (34)
35 35 I’M ALIVE –•– Neil Diamond (Columbia)-8 (35)
36 39 POISON ARROW –•– ABC (Mercury)-6 (36)
37 47 LITTLE TOO LATE –•– Pat Benatar (Chrysalis)-5 (37)
38 38 TIED UP –•– Olivia Newton-John (MCA)-8 (38)
39 42 MAKE LOVE STAY –•– Dan Fogelberg (Full Moon / Epic)-5 (39)
40 40 DON’T TELL ME YOU LOVE ME –•– Night Ranger (Boardwalk)-8 (40)