The second biggest #2 Record of The Forgotten Hits Era (1955 - 1989) ...
The #2 #2, if you will ...
Belongs to Jim Lowe and his 1956 novelty hit, "The Green Door."
This record spent an incredible EIGHTEEN accumulated weeks in the #2 position, rock-blocked by The King himself, Elvis Presley, and his #1 Record, "Love Me Tender."
Lowe was a disc jockey at WNBC in New York City when his record about the hot piano playing behind "The Green Door" hit the charts. He quickly went from playing the latest rock and roll records to HAVING one of the hottest rock and roll records in the country. (Ironically, the record probably received its least amount of airplay in NYC where his fellow deejays weren't too keen on playing a record by their local competition on the air!)
Still, the record was popular enough everywhere ELSE in the country to rise all the way to #2 on all three national charts, staying there for eight weeks on the Music Vendor chart, six weeks on the Billboard chart and four weeks on the Cash Box chart, thus accumulating its 18 total weeks at #2 ... and 180 points in this special #2's Countdown. (That's 60 points more than the #3 record we featured last hour ... or 50% more than Lloyd Price's "Personality" earned in its twelve weeks in the #2 position!)
And it could have been more ...
On the Billboard chart alone, Lowe first hit #2 on November 10th, 1956, where it stayed for the next three weeks.
It then fell to #3, where it spent the next five weeks (!!!) ... before rebounding back up to the #2 spot for another three weeks! At one point during this run, the top three records in the nation (according to Billboard Magazine) were the colorful trio of Fats Domino's hit "Blueberry Hill" at #3, Jim Lowe's "The Green Door" at #2 and Guy Mitchell's "Singing The Blues" at #1. According to Christopher G. Feldman's book "The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles, "The Green Door" is the second biggest song of the rock era to feature a color in its title ... second only to Mitch Miller's "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" in total chart points earned.
Oh wait ... sorry ... I was thinking about something else ...
