The #Top100of1963

If I get another year before the fall of the Soviet Union next month, I'm finding a new random number generator.

Nonetheless, we're going to take a little look at the year of 1963. It's a very special year in my family for reasons I won't publish so the hackers can't learn more about my life, and the music that was popular in 1963 include some classics I enjoyed listening to on the Oldies station early in life.

Lesley Gore sang one of the quintessential songs of the early 60s, plus its sequel. (David Redfern // Redferns)

The artist of the year, mostly by virtue of volume, was Lesley Gore. A teenager at the time, Gore was the only artist with three songs to make my year-end list. Her most prominent single, and one of the most prominent of the pre-Beatles pop era, was the iconic "It's My Party."

In addition to "Party," which peaked at number one on the weekly charts but only reached 18 for all of 1963, Gore scored two other top-five singles with sequel track "Judy's Turn to Cry" and the unrelated but similar song "She's A Fool." The former finished the year at 65 and the latter at 32.

Gore's three 1963 hits were part of a streak of four straight songs - her first four ever released - which all peaked inside the top five of the Hot 100. Her fourth, released in December, will be featured in my 1964 list...whenever that comes out.

Surf music took over the pop charts in 1963 too. The Beach Boys had the 10th biggest song of the year with "Surfin' U.S.A." and added number 35 "Surfer Girl." "Surf City" was a number one hit for Jan and Dean that ranked at 11 for the year, and the Surfaris' "Wipe Out" earned the number 28 spot on the list.

The top song of 1963 was "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs. One of only three songs ever charted by Gilmer's band, and the only one to reach the top 10, "Shack" spent five weeks at number one in October and November.

Other songs that I enjoy from 1963 include "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels at number six, "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" from Peter, Paul and Mary at 17, "Easier Said Than Done" by The Essex at 24, and Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night" at 86.

And with that, it's PLAYLIST TIME!

*Missing songs: #33 Busted by Ray Charles, #96 Hot Pastrami by the Dartells

Everyone enjoy Pride Month and we'll see you next time!

The #Top100of1959

The very first full year of the Hot 100 was 1959. This is also the first year I'll have featured that I have a playlist, but no spreadsheet with my research on it. This is one of five years I'll cover that I completed on a spreadsheet that is on a flash drive which broke and was unrecoverable, so I may not have much to say about these songs.

"Mr. Personality" capped a decade of pop success with three 1959 chart-toppers. (Youtube)

Lloyd Price is the artist of the year, with three songs on the chart (all in the top half) including two in the top 10. "Personality" and "Stagger Lee" both ranked among the year's top hits, but neither was the biggest.

That honor goes to the Bobby Darin megahit, "Mack The Knife." There are few songs pre-Beatles that I enjoy enough to put on any non-chart related playlists, but "Mack" is the rare exception that has found its way onto a couple.

Ray Anthony's "The Peter Gunn Theme", in the low 30s (I don't have exact numbers because the playlist only has 98 songs and again, I don't have all the songs on a spreadsheet), reminds me of middle school jazz band. You can decide if that's a good or bad thing.

"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by The Platters is low on the list because half of its time on the Hot 100 was in 1958, but is also a rare pre-British Invasion hit that is recognizable.

Apart from Price, five other artists had three songs chart among the best of 1959. Brook Benton, Connie Francis, Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon and Paul Anka were the year's other biggest pop music stars.

We'll see if we can go into more depth with next month's list, but for now here's the playlist: