December 26-27-28:
The Beatles close out 1964 on top as "I Feel Fine" becomes this week's brand new #1 Record on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart. "She's A Woman", the flipside, jumps up ten places to fall right behind it at #4. (Back in the day, I seem to remember them playing both sides of this record pretty equally here in Chicago, with perhaps a SLIGHT edge to "I Feel Fine".)
The Zombies are at #5 with "She's Not There", holding on to a Top Ten Spot for their seventh week in a row. Other British Acts of note: "Time Is On My Side" (#10 for The Rolling Stones), "Love Potion Number Nine" by The Searchers, which jumps from #30 to #11 this week, "Sha La La" by Manfred Mann, now sitting at #13, "The Wedding" by Julie Rogers is right behind it at #14, "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits (#17), "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (#18), "Any Way You Want It" by The Dave Clark Five (#19), "Willow Weep For Me" by Chad and Jeremy (#24), "As Tears Go By" by Marianne Faithful (#26), "Walk Away" by Matt Monro (#40), "Downtown" by Petula Clark, which leaps all the way from #87 to #41 (!), "Boom Boom" by The Animals (#49), "I'll Be There" by Gerry and the Pacemakers (#51), "There's Always Something There To Remind Me" by Sandi Shaw (#54), "I Can't Stop" by The Honeycombs (#68), "All Day And All Of The Night" by The Kinks, brand new at #69 and "No Arms Can Ever Hold You" by The Bachelors, which premiers at #98.
The Beatles close out 1964 on top as "I Feel Fine" becomes this week's brand new #1 Record on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart. "She's A Woman", the flipside, jumps up ten places to fall right behind it at #4. (Back in the day, I seem to remember them playing both sides of this record pretty equally here in Chicago, with perhaps a SLIGHT edge to "I Feel Fine".)
The Zombies are at #5 with "She's Not There", holding on to a Top Ten Spot for their seventh week in a row. Other British Acts of note: "Time Is On My Side" (#10 for The Rolling Stones), "Love Potion Number Nine" by The Searchers, which jumps from #30 to #11 this week, "Sha La La" by Manfred Mann, now sitting at #13, "The Wedding" by Julie Rogers is right behind it at #14, "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits (#17), "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (#18), "Any Way You Want It" by The Dave Clark Five (#19), "Willow Weep For Me" by Chad and Jeremy (#24), "As Tears Go By" by Marianne Faithful (#26), "Walk Away" by Matt Monro (#40), "Downtown" by Petula Clark, which leaps all the way from #87 to #41 (!), "Boom Boom" by The Animals (#49), "I'll Be There" by Gerry and the Pacemakers (#51), "There's Always Something There To Remind Me" by Sandi Shaw (#54), "I Can't Stop" by The Honeycombs (#68), "All Day And All Of The Night" by The Kinks, brand new at #69 and "No Arms Can Ever Hold You" by The Bachelors, which premiers at #98.
Seem like a lop-sided list??? Well, as we head into 1965, this just goes to show again what kind of stranglehold the British acts had on our American charts during 1964 ... a full 20% of The Top 100 Hits belong to British Artists.
Taking a quick look at Billboard's Year End Chart, we find British Invasion Artists holding down sixteen of the Top 50 positions. Six of those positions belong to The Beatles: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (#1), "She Loves You" (#2), "A Hard Day's Night" (#11), "Love Me Do"(#12), "Please Please Me" (#16) and "Twist And Shout" (#40).
The other ten spots on the year-end countdown belong to Manfred Mann ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy", #15), Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas ("Little Children", #18), The Dave Clark Five ("Glad All Over", #23 and "Bits And Pieces", #45), Peter And Gordon ("A World Without Love", #30), The Honeycombs ("Have I The Right", #31), Dusty Springfield ("Wishin' And Hopin'", #35), The Animals ("House Of The Rising Sun", #38), Gerry and the Pacemakers ("Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying", #49) and Chad and Jeremy ("A Summer Song", #50).
The last 1964 WLS Silver Dollar Survey Chart was dated Christmas Day ... their official "Year End Chart" (counting down The 20 Best Selling #1 Records of 1964) was issued on Gold Paper on January 1st. (That chart also listed The Top 20 Hits of the week. You'll find it posted here on January 5th when we revamp our "50 Years Ago This Weekend" series and our "Saturday Surveys" feature into one weekly posting.)
The Beatles topped BOTH of these charts with their latest two-sided hit "I Feel Fine" / "She's A Woman". On the December 25th chart, The Zombies came in at #3 with "She's Not There", followed by Herman's Hermits and "I'm Into Something Good" at #4. The Dave Clark Five and Julie Rogers wrapped up Chicagoland's Top Ten at #9 and #10 respectively with "Any Way You Want It" and "The Wedding".
"Sha La La" by Manfred Mann sat at #12 this week, followed by "As Tears Go By" by Marianne Faithful at #13, "Love Potion Number Nine" by The Searchers at #15, "Walk Away" by Matt Monro at #19, "Boom Boom" by The Animals at #20, "Willow Weep For Me" by Chad and Jeremy at #23, "Google Eye" by The Nashville Teens at #25 and "Downtown" by Petula Clark at #27.
A week later, "Any Way You Want It" would climb to #4, "Love Potion Number Nine" would move to #6, "The Wedding" would jump up a couple of places to #8, "Downtown" would leap to #11 (from #27) and "Willow Weep For Me" would move up ten spots to #13, while "She's Not There" by The Zombies and "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits would continue their descent down the charts at #5 and #7 respectively.
According to WLS' Year End Chart, The Beatles (spelled Beatle's AGAIN!!!) held down FIVE of the top 8 spots with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (#1), "A Hard Day's Night" (#3), "She Loves You" (#4), "Twist And Shout" (#6) and "Love Me Do" (#8). Other British acts in the Year End Top 20 include Peter And Gordon (#14 with "A World Without Love"), Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas at #17 with "Little Children", The Animals at #18 with "House Of The Rising Sun" and Herman's Hermits at #20 with "I'm Into Something Good", giving The Brits 45% of the spots on this special chart.
This concludes our "50 Years Ago This Weekend" / British Invasion special feature that has run throughout the entire year ... we hope you have enjoyed it. (It was a HUGE undertaking ... Scroll back to ANY Friday in 2014 to catch up on what you may have missed!) We appreciate your support ... and your input. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our Forgotten Hits Readers!
