The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Record charts in the UK began life in 1952 when Percy Dickins from New Musical Express (NME) imitated an idea started in American Billboard magazine and began compiling a hit parade. Prior to this, a song's popularity was measured by the sales of sheet music. Initially, Dickins telephoned a sample of around 20 shops asking for a list of the 10 best-selling songs. These results were then aggregated to give a Top 12 chart published in NME on 14 November 1952. The number-one single was "Here in My Heart" by Al Martino.
In America, Peel worked for a number of commercial radio stations that used the chart-based Top 40 format which had become standard in the US radio industry. Therefore, he would often play records that were number one hits in the UK and America, and when he came back to the UK and joined Radio London in 1967, he found himself on a station which employed the same chart format. During his daytime shows and even occasionally on the Perfumed Garden, he would play songs that were number one on the Big L Fab Forty chart, some of which went on to hit the number one charts in the UK. Radio London prided itself on being ahead of the national charts, and when Peel joined Radio 1 he was assigned to present Top Gear, a show with a similar function, introducing new records and artists. Even if Peel became known as a supporter of underground and alternative music which often had little commercial appeal, he retained an interest, albeit a critical one, in the pop charts throughout his career. Peel would premiere new records that sometimes would go to number one in the UK Singles chart, or number one singles that ended up in the Festive Fifty. At other times, nostalgia would lead Peel to play old records that had been number one singles; or he would play them alongside newer, sometimes very different cover versions, so that listeners could make comparisons.
In a feature for The Independent in 1999 he stated that the charts "..have become a separate area of activity and are about as real as EastEnders. It is a selling game with organisations geared to focusing sales of a record into a particular week so that it goes in at Number One. I find the whole thing amusing." and added optimistically that "Eventually the human spirit will rebel..".[1]
Peel introduced the UK Singles Chart on Top Of The Pops when he was a presenter on some shows and was offered a chance to host a one-off Radio One Chart Show in January 2003, which some other DJ's such as Chris Moyles and Jo Whiley had already done, before the BBC's relaunch of the show. However, the station's management decided that they didn't want too many DJ's doing the show before it was re-launched and cancelled Peel's appearance.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
UK Number One singles tracks that have been in the Festive Fifty:
The Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash (Promo Video 1968) HD
The UK Number One singles tracks played by Peel on his own shows and guest hosted on others, as well as, radio documentaries he took part in, plus those played by other presenters who guest hosted on his radio programmes. The UK Number One singles tracks are listed according to when they reached number one first, rather than by alphabetical order.
↑Both Frankie Laine's and David Whitfield's version of "Answer Me" were classified jointly as number one on 11 December 1953. In the week before (4th December 1953 - 11th December 1953) and the week (1st January 1954 - 8th January 1954) after Laine's version took the number-one spot outright.
↑Number 1 for 3 weeks between 16 December 1955 and 06 January 1956.
↑The single went to number one for 3 weeks from 25 November 1955 and went back again to number one for 2 weeks from 06 January 1956.
↑Claudette was the double A-side to All I Have To Do Is Dream.
↑The song reached number one for 5 weeks from 19 December 1958 until 23 January 1959.
↑The Pirates did a Peel session track of the song first broadcast on 14 November 1977 without Johnny Kid, who died in 1966 of a motor car accident.
↑There is an amusing moment when Peel attempts to play the Impalas track, instead launching into Johnny Tillotson's 'Poetry In Motion' by mistake. He later apologises, stating that he has always intensely disliked the song and wished to save his audience from it.
↑Return To Sender was number one for 3 weeks from 13 December 1962 to 03 January 1963.
↑The group did a session version of 'How Do You Do It' on 24 April 1973
↑The group did a session version of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' on 24 April 1973
↑The record went to number one for 5 weeks from 12 December 1963 to 16 January 1964.
↑The singer did a session version of 'Little Children' on 24 April 1973
↑A live version of the track recorded on 13th March 1971 at Leeds University.
↑The song went to number one for 5 weeks between 16 December 1965 and 20 January 1966.
↑The song was number one between 11 December 1968 and 01 January 1969 and also jumped up at the same position between 08 January 1969 and 15 January 1969.
↑Peel mentioned playing the song on his programme when reviewing the single on Singles Reviews in Sounds, published on 6th July 1974.
↑The song was at number one between 21 December 1974 and 18 January 1975.
↑The song was from a live concert from the Olympia introduced by Bob Harris. It also was a double A-side single with The First Cut Is The Deepest,which beat the Sex Pistols' controversial 'God Save The Queen' to the number one spot in 1977.
↑This was the session version that was broadcast on that date.
↑This was the session version that was broadcast on that date.
↑The record spent 5 weeks at number one between 15 December 1979 and 19 January 1980.
↑This live version went to under the Too Much Too Young - The Special A.K.A. Live! EP went to number one for 2 weeks in 1980.
↑The song was reissued in 1986 following the showing of a clay animation video on the BBC Two documentary series Arena. The video was directed by Giblets, a London-based animation studio. The reissued version proved so popular that in December 1986, almost three years after Wilson's death, the song became a No. 1 in the UK for four weeks (selling over 700,000 copies), some 29 years after its chart debut.
↑Peel played the song to demonstrate to his producer Charles Foster, the assertion that it features a mistake by the recording engineer.
↑Peel plays it briefly before it segues into a Japanese hardcore punk track.
↑The song was produced for the England football team's 1990 FIFA World Cup campaign.
↑The song was re-released due to the popularity of the Levi Jeans TV advert that used the track.
↑Numerous versions of the song were released as singles between 1989 and 1992. In January 1991, an acid house pop version of the song became an international top ten hit single, reaching number-one on the UK Singles Chart.
↑The song was re-released due to the popularity of the Levi Jeans TV advert that used the track.
↑Peel played the South Of Detroit Instrumental mix of the track.
↑The song was re-released after the death of George Harrison in November 2001.
