Official singles chart celebrates 55th anniversary

When was the last time you checked the charts? Well you should at least reminisce about the times you did as, today, the Official UK Charts celebrates a musical and cultural landmark: the 55th anniversary of the first ever singles chart.

In the early days, the chart was a simple telephone poll of a few record shops. Today, the Official Charts Company electronically contacts over 6,000 traditional and online retailers to create the largest, most accurate, weekly market research survey in Europe... but that's all a bit boring isn't it?

The first chart – a Top 12 – appeared on 14th November 1952 in New Musical Express with Al Martino’s ‘Here In My Heart’ taking the pole position. Al Martino – the American octogenarian crooner, who is still touring the US, said of achieving the first ever UK Number One “I was pretty elated. I had no idea that I would be the first number one record charter in Great Britain. I guess that’s really a feather in my cap, isn’t it?” However, some real dross followed...

From the very first Top 12 to the current Top 100, the list of 1064 Number One singles certainly makes for interesting reading and debate. In the past few weeks, we have witnessed new chart feats with Leona Lewis smashing the 2007 record for the fastest-selling single in a first week of release AND becoming the best-selling single of 2007... and if that doesn't sound the death knell of modern pop music, I don't know what does.

Even though interest in pop has dwindled, 2007 is proving to be a bumper year for singles sales. “Seven weeks before the end of the year and as a nation, we’ve already bought more singles than any other year of the 2000s” added Haynes. That said, you only need to sell sixteen records to go platinum these days.

Since its inception, there have been some wonderful chart toppers... and in fairness, most of them can be found in the mid-to-late sixties... naturally, there have been some shockers too. Think of every single release related to Simon Cowell. Then there's our penchant for the Great British novelty single... There's No-one Quite Like Grandma anyone? Mr Blobby? What are your memories of the Top 40? Did you used to tape it on a Sunday night or have you always avoided it like the plague?