Pick a Day

Music History Events: Charts

June 3, 1972 Jethro Tull's concept album Thick As A Brick, complete with an insert from the fictional newspaper St. Cleve Chronicle and Linwell Advertiser, hits #1 in America.More

May 27, 1972 The Chi-Lites land their first and only #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Oh Girl."

April 29, 1972 Roberta Flack's debut album, First Take, released three years earlier in 1969, goes to #1 thanks to the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty For Me, which uses the song "Feel Like Makin' Love." It's a huge career boost for Flack, who lands another huge hit the next year with "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

March 31, 1972 America's self-titled debut album hits #1 in, yes, America.

February 26, 1972 Joe Tex's "I Gotcha" hits #1 on the R&B chart.

February 19, 1972 Nilsson's "Without You" hits #1 in America, where it will stay four weeks.

January 22, 1972 Don McLean's album American Pie hits #1 in the US, where it stays for seven weeks. It's a hasty ascent for McLean, whose previous album stalled at #111.

January 1, 1972 Carole King's album Music, her follow-up to Tapestry, hits #1 in America.

December 25, 1971 Melanie's "Brand New Key," a whimsical song about a young girl pursuing a boy with a skate key that might fit her pair, hits #1 in America for the first of three weeks.

December 4, 1971 Sly and the Family Stone's "Family Affair" hits #1 for the first of three weeks. The song is true to life: Sly's brother and sister are in the band, and the other members are like family.

November 20, 1971 Isaac Hayes' "Theme From Shaft" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

November 13, 1971 Santana's Santana III album goes to #1 in America, where it stays for five weeks. Their next #1 album doesn't come until the next millennium, when Supernatural hits the top in 2000.

November 6, 1971 Cher has her first #1 as a solo artist with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves."

November 6, 1971 Isaac Hayes' soundtrack LP Shaft hits #1.

October 2, 1971 Rod Stewart, still a member of the group Faces, goes to #1 in America with his mandolin-powered solo smash "Maggie May," inspired by the woman who took his virginity.

October 2, 1971 Rod Stewart's LP Every Picture Tells A Story hits #1.

August 28, 1971 John Denver's first hit, "Take Me Home Country Roads," peaks at #2 on the Hot 100, held back by the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" Denver's song, which endures as a singalong favorite, is about West Virgina, but he had never been there - the lyric was inspired by postcards his co-writer Bill Danoff received from a friend who lived in that state.

August 7, 1971 The Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" hits #1 in America for the first of four weeks.

July 24, 1971 The Raiders' "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) hits #1.

July 21, 1971 Carole King's "It's Too Late" hits #1 in America.

June 12, 1971 Honey Cone's "Want Ads" hits #1 in America.

April 24, 1971 The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album 4 Way Street, recorded at various stops on their 1970 tour, hits #1 in America.

April 17, 1971 Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World" reaches #1, where it stays for six weeks.

April 3, 1971 The Temptations' "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

March 20, 1971 Nearly six months after her death, Janis Joplin's "Me And Bobby McGee" hits #1 in the US for the first of two weeks. It is her only Top 10 hit.

February 13, 1971 The Osmonds' "One Bad Apple" hits #1 in America for the first of five weeks.

December 12, 1970 Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Tears Of A Clown" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

November 21, 1970 The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You" hits #1 for the first of three weeks. It's the first single from the group, which was created for the TV series The Partridge Family. David Cassidy, the breakout star of the show, is the lead singer on the track and he really does sing, unlike all the other cast members except Shirley Jones, who sings backup.

October 25, 1970 Led Zeppelin's LP Led Zeppelin III hits #1.

October 24, 1970 Santana land their first #1 album in America as Abraxas claims the top spot. The tracklist includes "Oye Como Va" and their Fleetwood Mac cover, "Black Magic Woman."