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Future Classics And Forgotten Novelties: Billboard Introduces The Hot 100

Listen to some of the well-known and more obscure entries on Billboard’s first-ever Hot 100, for the week of August 4, 1958.

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Buddy Holly - Photo: Courtesy of Michael Ochs Archives/Handout
Buddy Holly - Photo: Courtesy of Michael Ochs Archives/Handout

On August 4, 1958, Ricky Nelson‘s “Poor Little Fool” edged out Perez Prado’s “Patricia” to become the first No.1 on Billboard‘s newly-introduced Hot 100 chart. You can read more about that achievement in this story. But we also thought we’d leaf through some of the other notable entries on that historic debut countdown, remembering some classic singles and some that haven’t quite stood the test of time.

Speaking of which, there was a bizarre novelty at No.91, in the form of an “answer” to Sheb Wooley’s “Purple People Eater,” which had topped the pre-Hot 100 Billboard survey in June. “The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor” also acknowledged David Seville’s recent big hit of the latter title. The cash-in 45, on the NRC label, was by a teenage Joe South, fully a decade before his rise to southern rock-soul fame with “Hush” and “Games People Play.” It was only a minor national success, but it beat out rival versions by the Big Bopper and Joe Smith to make that first chart.

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Fats Domino was represented, at No.95, by the jaunty “Little Mary,” not one of his best-remembered singles, but already his 22nd US chart entry in just three years. The Everly Brothers were at No.92 with their new hit “Bird Dog,” while their previous chart-topper “All I Have To Do Is Dream” was in decline at No.48.

Summertime Blues

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Jackie Wilson brought some real soul to the 100 with “To Be Loved,” at No.86 on its way to a No.22 peak. Another soon-to-be-classic, “Summertime Blues,” was at No.84 for Eddie Cochran, en route to the Top 10 and a later place in both the Grammy and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

Beautiful Delilah

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Chuck Berry was back-to-back on the chart with “Beautiful Delilah” at No.81 and “Johnny B. Goode” at No.80. Fellow rock’n’roll pacesetter Buddy Holly, pictured in our main image, was represented three times, by the Crickets’ “Fool’s Paradise” at No.58 and “Think It Over” at No.27, and by his own “Early In The Morning” at No.41. Read more about the odd story behind that single.

Patti Page made the cut with the punning, military-style Mercury single “Left Right Out Of Your Heart” at No.13, and Bobby Darin was reaching the No.3 peak of his breakthrough hit for the Atco label, “Splish Splash.”

Poor Little Fool (Remastered 2005)

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But, as we said earlier, the single holding sway over all the other 99 titles on that first Hot 100 was the one by the the 18-year-old who was the nation’s ultimate pop heartthrob.

Listen to dozens more gems of the first decade of rock’n’roll, and much more besides, in uDiscover Music’s 50s playlist.

 

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Rex Humphrey

    August 5, 2016 at 3:26 am

    Isn’t this a wonderful chart, with some great rock’n’rollers and a terrific pop ballad at no.1. No wonder radio 1 is losing listeners, it wouldn’t if it had this chart to play with.

  2. pausextudusm

    August 5, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    Very good point, Rex. Yes, you can dip into any Hot 100 for decades and find endless gems, well-known and obscure, can’t you? Not to dismiss Drake or anyone else, but things have changed a bit!

  3. Tom RNR 5 7

    August 4, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    What year was this

  4. bud moore

    August 4, 2017 at 10:13 pm

    The BEST times.

  5. richard Simmons.

    August 4, 2017 at 10:13 pm

    Don Gibson my favourite and no 1 Ricky Nelson.

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