US #1 Hit Songs From The Last Century & This Fortnight's Statistics

Hello, my friends! Summer has officially begun, as of yesterday. While enjoying the warm sun and the cool waters, one's gaze turns towards the past. So, I thought it's a good idea to examine the songs that were big hits over the past hundred years - in five-year intervals. Since the US charts are the most organized, esp. in the older days, these will inform our list. Let's go!

Romeo & Juliet (1968)

This parade of hits will also give us the chance to appreciate how people's taste in music has evolved over the years. We begin with the song that occupied the top of the US charts this week in 1919, exactly 100 years ago. The song was called Beautiful Ohio (the state song) as performed by Henry Burr:

95 years ago, in 1924, the song at the top of the charts mentioned another state on its title: it was California, Here I Come by Al Jolson:

90 years ago, in 1929, the song at the top of the heap was from the first musical to ever win the Best Picture Oscar, Broadway Melody. The song was called The Wedding of the Painted Doll, performed by Leo Reisman and His Orchestra:

85 years ago, in 1934, the #1 song belonged to Ted Fio Rito and was called I'll String Along With You:

The #1 song this week in 1939 belonged to one of the most famous orchestra leaders of all-time, Glenn Miller. The song was called Wishing (Will Make It So):

Three-quarters of a century ago, in 1944, the most popular tune in mid-June was a song that was first recorded in 1941. It was the #1 song on D-Day. It was called I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You) and was performed by the Harry James Big Band featuring Dick Haymes:

70 years ago, in 1949, the biggest song was one of my favorites, (Ghost) Riders In The Sky (A Cowboy Legend), by Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra:

65 years ago, in 1954, right before the beginning of the rock era, the biggest hit of early summer was Kitty Kallen's Little Things Mean A Lot:

In 1959 the biggest hit of the summer was The Battle Of New Orleans by Johnny Horton:

In 1964, the year Beatlemania was at its peak, a song by Lennon-McCartney was at #1 - but it wasn't the Beatles; A World Without Love, the Lennon-McCartney composition was given to their proteges Peter And Gordon and made it all the way to the top:

Franco Zeffirelli has recently died: his biggest movie was Romeo & Juliet. The love theme from the film, written by the great Nino Rota and performed by the equally great Henry Mancini And His Orchestra, was #1 this week in 1969:

45 years ago, in 1974, one of my favorite Canadian artists, Gordon Lightfoot, had his only #1 in the US:

40 years ago, 1979 was Donna Summer's year. So, quite naturally, we find Hot Stuff sitting pretty at #1:

One of the major pop acts of the 80s, Duran Duran, held the top spot this week in 1984 with The Reflex:

30 years ago, in 1989, it was Richard Marx's turn at the top with the song Satisfied:

25 years ago, in 1994, All-4-One occupied the top spot with their hit I Swear:

We're getting closer to today - only 20 years ago, in 1999, Jennifer Lopez had the biggest hit of the week with the song If You Had My Love:

We are now well into the 21^st century, in 2004 in particular. Usher had the top 2 songs in the US. At #1 was Burn:

10 years ago, in 2009, it was the same phenomenon: the #1 and #2 spots were occupied by the same act. This time it was The Black Eyed Peas and the hit single at #1 was Boom Boom Pow:

Iggy Azalea also occupied the top two spots this week in 2014 but she was the primary artist only on the song at #1. Featuring Charli XCX, the song was called Fancy:

Finally, let's listen to the song that currently holds the #1 spot in the US; it's held the top position for 11 weeks now. The song is called Old Town Road and is performed by Lil Nas X, featuring Billy Ray Cyrus:

Now, it’s time for our statistics. There has been an 18% increase in the number of visits compared to the previous fortnight. The latest story did OK, while the top stories were George Maharis, Dave Clark, Terence Trent D'Arby, Simon & Garfunkel, and Joe Jackson.

As far as countries are concerned, France, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus suffered minor losses, while winners include the United States, Russia, Australia, South Korea, and Brazil. The United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany kept their percentages stable.

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. the United Kingdom

3. Russia

4. Canada

5. Australia

6. France

7. South Korea

8. Germany

9. Brazil

10. Greece

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dutch Caribbean (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba), Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, French Guiana, Georgia, Ghana, Guyana, Grenada, Guernsey, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Congo, Réunion, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 35.1%

2. France = 15.4%

3. the United Kingdom = 11.2%

4. Greece = 7.2%

5. Russia = 3.0%

6. Canada = 2.0%

7. Germany = 2.0%

8. Australia = 0.99%

9. Italy = 0.82%

10. Cyprus = 0.73%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!