The brand new Joel Whitburn / Record Research book "Hit Records" is now available and shipping early! And it is nothing short of amazing!
Living up to the true meaning of his company's name, Record Research, Whitburn veers away from the Billboard Charts for the very first time to bring us a similarly-constructed accounting of the Music Vendor / Record World Pop Charts, 1954 - 1982.
And what a goldmine of information it is!
You'll find HUNDREDS of titles and artists that failed to make Billboard's Hot 100 Chart ... and 160 titles that hit #1 in Record World but failed to reach the summit in Billboard Magazine.
The Beatles had 24 #1 Records in Record World Magazine (vs. 20 in Billboard) ... and Creedence Clearwater Revival, who many regard as the "Kings of #2" thanks to their reaching that peak position five times in Billboard without every hitting the #1 spot, topped the charts with three of those hit singles in Record World, where timeless classics like "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising" and "Lookin' Out My Back Door" all were #1 Hits.
You'll spend hours and hours and hours pouring over the information contained on these 400+ pages, checking and cross-checking the performance of so many of your favorite songs and artists. (And hey, guess what!!! Thanks to Record World, The Cryan' Shames now officially have a National Top 40 Record!!! "Sugar And Spice" snuck in at #39 in Record World during the Summer of 1966! And "It Could Be We're In Love", which topped the charts here in Chicago for four straight weeks in 1967 ... but never registered higher than #85 on the Billboard Chart ... is now a #52 record thanks to this brand new chart information.)
If you're a record or chart collector like so many of the folks that read Forgotten Hits, you'll find hundreds of new songs and artists to add to your want list. (Having all of this information readily available certainly makes MY life a whole lot easier ... there's a wealth of chart information contained in these books that now paint the perfect picture of what the charts were like during the golden age of rock and roll!)
And it only gets better ... because Joel has already announced that his NEXT book will be a recap of the Music Vendor and Record World charts encompassing #101 - #150! Talk about your obscure, regional hits!!! At their peak, Billboard never published a "Bubbling Under" Chart that went as deep as 50 additional titles! This new book (available in November) lists another 4500 titles that do not appear in any of Joel's other Record Research books! (Pre-orders are now being taken on The Record Research Website ... see link below)
Meanwhile, start saying your prayers early that he'll follow these two new titles up with the definitive book covering the Cash Box Charts ... this will put the entire history of the rock generation charts at our fingertips!!!
It's a whole new experience that you won't want to miss ... and it's available NOW through the Record Research Website: Click here: Joel Whitburn's Record Research | Music & Billboard Charts Data
Order your copy today!!!
