FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 3, 2017

DEAR JERRY: Of the most successful American artists with LP sales, how many never had a 45 rpm appear among the Hot 100 singles?
—Doug Baldwin, Fort Worth, Texas

DEAR DOUG: From nearly 600 top album sellers, whether vinyl or CDs, I find only 26 performers who either did not make singles, or who had singles that were unsuccessful, at least in the Pop market.

Artists are listed here based on overall album sales:

1. The Gaither Vocal Band (a.k.a., Bill & Gloria Gaither and Their Homecoming Friends)
2. Phish
3. Mannheim Steamroller
4. Miles Davis
5. Iron Maiden
6. Pat Metheny Group
7. Yanni
8. Earl Klugh
9. George Winston
10. Andrea Bocelli
11. Kidz Bop Kids
12. Weather Report
13. Joe Satriani
14. John McLaughlin
15. Anthrax
16. Marilyn Manson
17. Little Feat
18. Jean-Luc Ponty
19. Ani DiFranco
20. Richard Pryor
21. Bob Newhart
22. Luis Miguel
23. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
24. Stanley Turrentine
25. Rusty Warren
26. Jim Nabors

DEAR JERRY: On May 16th of this year, I decided to review the Billboard and Cash Box issues from 30 years ago.

I was really surprised to see both of their singles charts, for the week ending May 16, 1987, with the exact same songs at numbers one through eight. As for numbers nine and 10, they had nothing in common.

Considering how different their charts often were, is this the only time that eight of the Top 10 singles were identically ranked in both magazines?
—Ronnie Allen, Morrisville, Pa.

DEAR RONNIE: Probably so, but first let's look at the two Top 10s. As you discovered, the bottom two have different positions on each chart, as shown below.

BILLBOARD

1. "With Or Without You" - U2 (Island 99469)
2. "Looking for a New Love" - Jody Watley (MCA 52956)
3. "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" Cutting Crew (Virgin 99481)
4. "La Isla Bonita" - Madonna (Sire 28425)
5. "The Lady in Red" - Chris Deburgh (A&M 2848)
6. "Heat of the Night" - Bryan Adams (A&M 2921)
7. "Big Love" - Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros. 28398)
8. "You Keep Me Hangin' On" - Kim Wilde (MCA 53024)
9. "Talk Dirty to Me" - Poison (Enigma/Capitol 5686)
(No. 15 this week on Cash Box)
10. "Always" - Atlantic Starr (Warner Bros. 28455)
(No. 12 this week on Cash Box)

CASH BOX

1. "With Or Without You" - U2 (Island 99469)
2. "Looking for a New Love" - Jody Watley (MCA 52956)
3. "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" Cutting Crew (Virgin 99481)
4. "La Isla Bonita" - Madonna (Sire 28425)
5. "The Lady in Red" - Chris Deburgh (A&M 2848)
6. "Heat of the Night" - Bryan Adams (A&M 2921)
7. "Big Love" - Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros. 28398)
8. "You Keep Me Hangin' On" - Kim Wilde (MCA 53024)
9. "Don't Dream It's Over" - Crowded House (Capitol 5614)
(No. 15 this week on Billboard)
10. "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" - Aretha Franklin & George Michael (Arista 9559)
(No. 22 this week on Billboard)

For assistance with this challenging research, I called on the always helpful Randy Price, official Cash Box archivist and wide-ranging chart guru.

Here is the result of Randy's investigation:

"I checked every weekly Billboard and Cash Box chart for the month of May for each year from 1960 through 1979, and didn't find any week where the same songs were in the same positions beyond the Top 6, and only once were that many aligned. That was for the week of May 12, 1962."

As usual, the Price is right!

Now for newly curious readers, here are the Top 6 in both mags for the week of May 12, 1962:

1. "Soldier Boy" - Shirelles (Scepter 1228)
2. "Mashed Potato Time" - Dee Dee Sharp (Cameo 212)
3. "Stranger on the Shore" - Mr. Acker Bilk (Atco 6217)
4. "Johnny Angel" - Shelley Fabares (Colpix 621)
5. "Good Luck Charm" - Elvis Presley (RCA Victor 47-7992)
6. "She Cried" - Jay & the Americans (United Artists 415)

After being in sync on one through six, there are only three of the remaining 94 spots on which they agree:
17. "The One Who Really Loves You" - Mary Wells (Motown 1024)
38. "Nut Rocker" - B. Bumble & the Stingers (Rendezvous 166)
47. "King of Clowns" - Neil Sedaka (RCA Victor 47-8007)

IZ ZAT SO? The likelihood of eight consecutive identical chart listings anywhere in the Top 100 on both surveys is nearly nil, much less being the Top 8.

Using the remaining 92 positions for example, there are only 13 occurrences of a record being at the same spot on Billboard and Cash Box.

And only once do they have even two consecutive matches, at #44 and #45.

Another view of this situation is they go from having 100% of the first eight in common, to only 14% of the next 92:

14. "Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Bon Jovi (Mercury 888-467)
17. "Sign O' the Times" - Prince (Paisley Park 28399)
21. "If She Would Have Been Faithful" - Chicago (Warner/Full Moon 28424)
26. "Meet Me Half Way" - Kenny Loggins (Columbia 06690)
29. "You Can Call Me Al" - Paul Simon (Warner Bros. 28667)
36. "Fascinated" - Company B (Atlantic 89294)
40. "Come As You Are" - Peter Wolf (EMI America 8350)
44. "Jammin' Me" - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (MCA 53065)
45. "Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year)" - Anita Baker (Elektra 69484)
47. "Show Me" - Cover Girls (Fever 1911)
56. "Point of No Return" - Expose (Arista 9579)
61. "Every Little Kiss" - Bruce Hornsby & Range (RCA 5165)
85. "Something in My House" - Dead Or Alive (Epic 07022)