Billboard’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits

Confession: When I first got a radio and started listening to it a lot, I almost never missed the “American Top 40” countdown show with Casey Kasem. This was in 1971 and throughout my high school years I was pretty well up on what was hot and being played across the country, which was good because where I lived we were still playing the top 40 from 1966…

The pop music charts are fascinating things. Whether you want to believe it or not, they give a little snapshot into the public mindset of the time. And at this point in my life it’s fun to look back and remember the differences between what was on the radio and what we actually listened to.

If you’re the sort who is fascinated by these things, then you will no doubt enjoy Fred Bronson’s latest, Billboard’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits, now out on Billboard Books. Not only does Mr. Bronson go through the usual stuff – he dutifully catalogues the top 100 of each year from 1956 to 2001 – but he also has taken the time to compile quite a few interesting charts based on all sorts of things. There is a section on artists, one on songwriters, one on producers (would you believe that Iggy Pop’s Candy was one of Don Was’ top ten songs as a producer?). There’s even a section that breaks down the top 100 or top 50 songs of various major recording labels, which is great information to know if you’re trying to get yourself in the door!

There are also some decidedly goofy sections (“the top 30 songs about DAYS OF THE WEEK”), but even these are fun. It’s actually very interesting, to me anyway, to look at a list of “the top 100 instrumentals” and see that so many of them are from before 1975. Since then, an instrumental single that was not from a film or television program has rarely been charted. When did we, as a music buying culture, collectively decide to turn our ears away?

As with any book of this nature, there are bound to be heated arguments about the system used to come up with such charts and while Bronson touches upon his methods, it would have been very nice to have gotten a little more information on how he went putting all this together.

But all in all, it’s a good time.