As most Beatles obsessives know, it was 50 years ago this week, on the Billboard charts of April 4, 1964, that the Fab Four held the top FIVE singles on the Billboard music charts and a dozen songs in the top 100. I wrote about this five years ago.
What I want to ponder now is, Could it ever happen again? It’s unlikely that an artist would be appearing on multiple labels, as the Beatles did.
For the purpose of the charts, the cast of Glee, the TV show, is considered an artist and has had multiple songs on the charts simultaneously, though NONE of them have gone to #1, and only a handful in the top 10. Still, it’s a model for potential chart dominance.
The closest anyone has come to the Beatles record is 50 Cent, who placed three titles simultaneously – “Candy Shop” (No. 1), the Game’s “How We Go,” on which he guested (No. 4), and “Disco Inferno” (No. 5) – in the top five on the charts dated March 12 and 19, 2005. So it’s possible that a VERY popular rapper could guest on a bunch of other artists’ tracks and break the record.
Now that YouTube views will now count towards Billboard Hot 100, it seems possible that someone will create a whole slew of brilliant videos and dump them on an unsuspecting world simultaneously, wowing the country with its awesomeness. But probably not.
Even if the Beatles’ record is matched or exceeded, it is unlikely that the group’s impact will ever be eclipsed.
Well, now I know what the Shoop Shoop Song is, it’s that old song I thought was called something else. And now I know who Betty Everett is. But… I remember when this happened. It was a big deal at the time. Or it seemed that way to me.
It had a parenthetical title (It’s In His Kiss), I do believe. And it never got above #6.
Being something of a chart freak myself, I looked at that Top Ten list, and noticed that nine of those tracks had plenty of life on oldies radio, while oldies radio still existed.
But I barely remember the Bobby Vinton tune, even though it’s readily available on the old Greatest Hits set from Epic. I think it’s due to being overshadowed by “There! I’ve Said It Again,” released a mere 91 days before, which got bumped out of Number One by, yes, the Beatles.
Betty Everett, just before “Shoop Shoop,” put out a slinky kiss-off song called “You’re No Good,” covered a decade later by Linda Ronstadt.