1960's Charts

[Brugel]

I've read that the Beatles had 17 number ones in the UK. One of their early singles- "Please Please Me" - apparently reached number two. But I recently heard that at the time this particular single was released there were actually four different singles charts in use, and that "Please Please Me" reached number one on the other three charts. Does anyone know if this is true? And, if it is, why is it the fourth chart that is actually used?

[Greedyfly]

I have the album Beatles 1 - 27 No1 hits not 17

[Greedyfly]

http://www1.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=28 0;-1;-1;-1&sku=794533

[mikey172]

Yes it is true. The Beatles DID reach No1 on other charts but it is the Record Retailer chart that is the main source of information by most in the media. Please Please Me reached No1 in the NME chart on February 23rd 1963 and stayed there for 2 weeks. In the Record Retailer chart it was stuck at No2 behind Frank Ifield - Wayward Wind.

[littleoldme]

In response to Greedyfly, the tracks on 1 are those that got to number 1 in either the UK or US. Some number ones here were not number ones over there and vice versa, but they had 17 official number ones in the UK. Having said that, I've heard much the same thing about Please Please Me so a case could be made for an 18th,

[jenstar]

The major charts at the time were NME, Melody Maker, Disc And Music Echo and Record Retailer, in roughly that order, most recognised first. (The BBC, meanwhile, was using a weird chart compiled by averaging out the first three of these). When Paul Gambaccini and his pals were compiling the first "Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles" in 1977, they opted to use the Record Retailer chart from its inception in March 1960 because it was a top 50, and the others were top 20s and 30s. The snag is, nobody cared much about the RR chart at the time. It was printed in a trade magazine that wasn't even on general sale, and what's more it used a points system rather than adding up actual sales to produce the listing. (i.e. record shops would send in their own best-seller lists, and RR would give, say, 50 points to the number one, 49 to the number two... I don't know the exact scoring system, but that's the principle.) There wasn't a proper official chart until February 1969, when the BBC decided enough was enough, joined forces with Record Retailer, and paid a professional polling firm to do the whole thing properly.

[Brugel]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Part of my reason for asking the question is that Elvis recently had a number one (well it was a year or so ago)and there was a great fuss at the time about him having the most number ones ever-a total of 18. But it seems that a case could be made for denying him this accolade (let's hope there aren't any Elvis fans reading this!). As for the album Beatles 1, I'm pretty sure (as littleoldme says) that some of those songs ( e.g. "Yesterday", "The Long and Winding Road") were never singles in the UK