I’ve gotta tell you about William Carroll’s newly revised … and greatly expanded … edition of RANKING THE ‘70’s, a GREAT time capsule that captures the entire decade at its charted best.
The new edition (called Version 2.0) has added over a hundred pages of additional facts and figures, now encompassing not only every charted single from this decade, but also including every album … as well as all of the writers and producers of every hit.
In Bill’s own words, The Table Of Contents tells it all …
EVERY Single to make the charts …
Date of Entry, Peak Position, Date of Peak, Weeks At Peak, Number of Weeks in The Top Ten, The Top 40 and The Top 100 as well as each hit’s Exit Date
The writers and producers are also listed, as well as the album source from where the single came. (It even tells you if that particular song ever “bubbled under” prior to charting.)
And then there are lists of special categories …
Like singles that spent 25 weeks or more on the chart … 10
weeks or more in The Top 10 … 17 weeks or more in The Top 40. There is also a year-end recap of the Top 50
Biggest Hits for each year … as well as a composite ranking of EVERY song to chart during
the decade, ranked by its overall chart performance (from #1 - #5315!)
The book has been expanded to include all of the decade’s album charts, which breaks things down in similar categories to those stated above ... as well as what singles charted from each charted LP.
There are bonus lists ranking every artist … every writer …
every producer … and statistical graphs to show you just how this information
was arrived at. There’s even a Trivia
Quiz!!! (Good luck with that one, guys ... I failed miserably!!! lol)
Simply put, it’s the most comprehensive analysis we’ve seen … and I’m hoping that a ‘60’s revamp is also in the works!
You may be wondering what were, statistically speaking … (and is there really any other way to rank them???) … the ten biggest singles of the ‘70’s???
Well, we’re not going to ruin any surprises … but the obvious suspects are there including (alphabetically) “American Pie,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Joy To The World” and “You Light Up My Life” … but you’ll find a few surprises listed here as well.
Just as surprising are some of the titles that are "missing in action." For example, mega hits like “Alone Again (Naturally),” “Close To You,” “It’s Too Late,” “Let It Be,” “My Sharona,” “My Sweet Lord,” “Silly Love Songs,” “Stayin’ Alive” and “You’re So Vain” did NOT make The Decade's Top Ten … and, in some cases, not even The Top 20!
Still, the numbers don’t lie.
If you’re a chartaholic like me, you will DEFINITELY want to check this book out!
