The Daily Dose/February 15, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
IF DRY TECHNICAL MATTER IS INEVITABLE…: An On This Date item a couple of days ago noted that on Feb 13, 1954 Guitar Slim was at #1 on one of Billboard’s soul charts for the third week with The Things That I Used To Do. The song would spend 14 consecutive weeks at #1 and further research showed this was Guitar Slim’s only chart single. No other record he released made an appearance on any Billboard singles chart.
Oh, Jesus H: We greatly enjoy research here, and this item got us thinking about whether 14 weeks is a record stay at #1 for an act’s only chart record.
It is, though Guitar Slim is tied with Wanz, whose only chart appearance – 2013s Thrift Shop, with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – also spent 14 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart. Now, Macklemore and Lewis have had other chart appearances, but Wanz got label credit as a featured artist and this remains his only chart appearance, so he makes the list.
Oh Yeah: No one-hit wonder on the Billboard’s Hot 100 or country charts can top 14 weeks at #1 and no song before the Hot 100 era spent more than 13 weeks at #1.
Can You Show Off Any More Useless Knowledge, Gaylon?: We’ve also come across some other Billboard chart tidbits which we’ve mentioned in this space before, but we want to flesh out this item a little bit:
Most Weeks at #1, Any Billboard Chart
108, Wendy Carlos, Switched on Bach, Classical Album chart, 1969-72.
Most Weeks at #1, Any Billboard Singles Chart
73 – Lauren Daigle, You Say, Hot Christian Songs chart, 2018-20
Most Weeks at #1, Major Billboard Singles Chart
50 – Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line, Meant To Be, Hot Country Songs chart, 2017-18
Most Weeks at #1, Any Billboard Album Chart
54 – Soundtrack from West Side Story, Billboard 200, 1962-63
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest MPG figure for the new ride, and he’s not entirely thrilled with it. Today’s Diary.
29.96 MPG!!!…I am not making that up, tho I wish I were…That figure is down over 1.5 MPG from last week and a full 3.1 MPG from the lusty total of two weeks ago.
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On This Date
Great moments in us.
In 1992 – Confessed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is found legally sane while he committed 15 murders he had pled guilty to on Jan 13. Dahmer was sentenced to 15 life terms. Dahmer had been arrested the previous July after an intended victim had escaped and flagged down police. He confessed to 16 murders and admitted to having sex with his dead victims before and while dismembering them and later eating some of them. Dahmer was killed in prison in Nov 1994, beaten to death while on a work detail in a prison shower.
In 1980 – Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers ties the NHL record for most assists in a game, tallying seven in an 8-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Gretzky had one assist in the first period and three each in the second and third periods. Gretzky tied the record established by Billy Taylor, Sr on March 16, 1947, and Gretzky would tie the record again twice more, in the 1985-86 seasons and the records still stand. Gretzky finished the season with a league-leading 86 assists and 137 points, which tied with Marcel Dionne for the league lead.
In 1960 – Teen Angel by Mark Dinning is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second and final consecutive week. The song also peaked at #5 on Billboard’s soul chart and at #37 in Great Britain. A cheery song about a teenage girl who gets hit by a train, Teen Angel was Billboard’s fifth-biggest song of the year and ranked 469th on Billboard’s 60th anniversary Hot 100 in 2018 and remains Dinning’s only Top 40 hit.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
As physical exertion diminished and wealth expanded, the old simple diet gave way to long and heavy meals… – Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. III, Caesar to Christ, Regards the Roman Empire
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The first #1 on Billboard’s dance chart was Never Can Say Goodby by Gloria Gaynor, which was #1 for the week ending Oct 26, 1974.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was Billboard’s biggest hit of 1960? – Answer next time!
