Pick a Day

Music History Events: Charts

May 24, 1969 The Beatles' "Get Back," featuring piano from Billy Preston, hits #1 in America.

April 12, 1969 5th Dimension's "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," from the musical Hair, hits #1 in America, where it stays on top for six weeks.

April 5, 1969 The Guess Who's "These Eyes" enters the Billboard singles chart.

March 29, 1969 Blood, Sweat & Tears' LP Blood Sweat & Tears hits #1.

March 15, 1969 Tommy Roe's "Dizzy" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for four weeks. It's a rare pop hit of the era with a string section.

March 8, 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" hits #2 on the Hot 100, where it stays for three weeks. It's the first of five CCR singles to reach the runner-up spot on the chart without ever hitting #1.

February 15, 1969 Sly & the Family Stone land their first #1 hit when "Everyday People" tops the Hot 100 for the first of four weeks. The song's message: we're all essentially the same, no matter what we look like. Of the seven members in the group, two are white and five are black.

February 1, 1969 Tommy James & the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

December 14, 1968 Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for seven weeks. The song was recorded by a few different Motown acts before a version by Gladys Knight & the Pips was finally released, reaching #2 in 1967. Gaye's version, released about a year later, became an even bigger hit and the definitive rendition.

November 30, 1968 "Love Child" by The Supremes hits #1 in America.

November 16, 1968 The Jimi Hendrix Experience's LP Electric Ladyland hits #1.

October 12, 1968 Big Brother and the Holding Company's LP Cheap Thrills hits #1.

September 25, 1968 Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days," produced by Paul McCartney and released on the Beatles' Apple Records, goes to #1 in the UK, knocking off "Hey Jude." It stays for six weeks before being bumped by Joe Cocker's cover of the Beatles' song "With A Little Help From My Friends."

September 21, 1968 Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." hits #1.

August 17, 1968 The Rascals' "People Got To Be Free" hits #1 for the first of five weeks.

August 10, 1968 Cream's Wheels Of Fire album, which includes their classic "White Room," hits #1 in the US. The group, a volatile mixture of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, break up a short time later due largely to infighting.

August 3, 1968 The Doors hit #1 in America for the second (and last) time when "Hello, I Love You" reaches the top for the first of two weeks. Their first #1 was "Light My Fire" in 1967.

June 1, 1968 Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" hits #1 on the Hot 100. The song was written for the movie The Graduate and titled after the character played by Anne Bancroft.

May 18, 1968 Archie Bell & the Drells hit #1 in America with the funk-tacular "Tighten Up."

February 10, 1968 Paul Mauriat's orchestral version of "Love Is Blue" hits #1 in America. An international hit recorded in several languages, the song finished fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 with a version performed by Vicky Leandros.

February 3, 1968 The Lemon Pipers hit #1 in America with "Green Tambourine," a psychedelic song about a busker.

January 20, 1968 John Fred and His Playboy Band's "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" hits #1. The song is a takeoff on The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds."

December 2, 1967 The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" hits #1 in America for the first of four weeks.

December 2, 1967 The Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones album hits #1 in America.

November 15, 1967 Obsessive fans looking for "Paul Is Dead" clues on album covers and in songs push two previous Beatles albums, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour, back onto the Billboard albums chart.

October 28, 1967 Diana Ross and the Supremes' Greatest Hits album hits #1 in America.

October 21, 1967 Lulu's "To Sir With Love" hits #1 in the US for the first of five weeks. Lulu performs the song in the movie of the same name, where she portrays a high school student taught by Sidney Poitier.

October 14, 1967 After 15 weeks at #1, The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is knocked out of the top spot by Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe.

September 23, 1967 "The Letter" by The Box Tops goes to #1 in America. The Arbors take the song to #20 in 1969 and Joe Cocker's version hits #7 in 1970.

September 9, 1967 "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave enters the Hot 100 at #79. The song was co-written by Isaac Hayes, who wrote about what he thought a "soul man" would be.