Pick a Day

Music History Events: Charts

December 5, 1964 The Beach Boys' Beach Boys Concert album hits #1 for the first of 4 weeks, claiming the top spot for the rest of December.

November 28, 1964 The Shangri-Las teenage tragedy song "Leader Of The Pack" goes to #1 in America.

October 31, 1964 "Baby Love" by The Supremes goes to #1 in America, giving them their second chart-topper (following "Where Did Our Love Go") and making them the first Motown act with two #1 hits.

October 17, 1964 Manfred Mann's version of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, hits #1 in America for the first of two weeks. The song was first recorded in 1963 by the female group The Exciters, who took it to #78.

October 10, 1964 "Leader Of The Pack," a song by the girl group Shangri-Las about a dreamy boy who dies in a motorcycle accident, enters the chart at #86. Despite the bleak subject matter, it rises to #1 at the end of November.

August 4, 1964 The Kinks release "You Really Got Me" in the UK. With a distorted guitar sound accomplished by taking a razor blade to an amplifier, it becomes their first hit, spending two weeks at #1 UK in September.

August 1, 1964 With The Beatles' album A Hard Day's Night already at #1 in America, the title track also hits the top spot, where it stays for two weeks. The film of that name - the first Beatles movie - is released in America 10 days later.

July 18, 1964 The Four Seasons' "Rag Doll" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

July 4, 1964 Millie Small, part of the British Invasion, reaches #2 in America with "My Boy Lollipop."

May 23, 1964 Ella Fitzgerald's cover of The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" enters the UK chart, making her the first outside artist to have a hit with a Beatles song.

May 16, 1964 Mary Wells' "My Guy" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

May 2, 1964 The Beatles Second Album, a collection of B-sides and sundry tracks yet to find a home in the States, goes to #1 in America, replacing their first album, Meet the Beatles!More

March 21, 1964 With Beatlemania rising, The Beatles land their second #1 hit in America with "She Loves You" supplanting their first chart-topper, "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

January 11, 1964 Billboard publishes its first Country and Western Albums chart. Johnny Cash gets the first #1 with Ring of Fire.

January 4, 1964 Bobby Vinton's "There! I've Said It Again" hits #1 in the US for the first of four weeks.

December 18, 1963 "I Want To Hold Your Hand" replaces "She Loves You" at #1 on the UK singles chart.

November 2, 1963 Folk music is in the air as Peter, Paul and Mary's album In The Wind hits #1 in America.

October 25, 1963 Peter, Paul and Mary's self-titled LP hits #1.

October 12, 1963 "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs hits #1 in America, where it stays for five weeks, longer than any other song in 1963.

September 21, 1963 Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" hits #1 for the first of three weeks.

September 16, 1963 Currently the #1 song in the UK, The Beatles' "She Loves You" is released by the tiny Swan label in America, but the Stateside public has no idea who the group is, and the single fails to chart. When Capitol releases "I Want To Hold Your Hand," Beatlemania ensues and the song hits #1. A re-released "She Loves You" single follows it to the top.

August 24, 1963 Stevie Wonder's album Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius goes to #1, making him, at 13, the youngest solo artist ever to top the albums chart.

August 3, 1963 The Tymes' "So Much in Love" hits #1, where it will stay for one week.

July 20, 1963 Jan and Dean's "Surf City" hits #1 in America. The song is co-written by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, who doesn't surf but can sure craft a melody.

June 1, 1963 Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" hits #1 a few weeks after her 17th birthday.

May 5, 1963 The Beatles' UK debut album Please Please Me goes to #1 in that territory.

April 27, 1963 With The Beatles yet to enter the picture, some unusual acts rule the pop chart. Little Peggy March is at #1 with "I Will Follow Him."

February 9, 1963 Paul and Paula's "Hey Paula" hits #1 for the first of three weeks.

January 26, 1963 The Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

January 12, 1963 Steve Lawrence's "Go Away Little Girl," written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, hits #1 in the US.