Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Charting the Charts: Steve Carlisle - WKRP in Cincinnati (1981)

chartingthecharts


As I was preparing this post on the Adult Contemporary singles chart of February 6, 1982, I noticed the main theme from WKRP in Cincinnati sitting at the #48 spot but didn't think much about it. Then it hit me that the show premeired in September 1978 and here's the single charting over three years later?  Odd stuff and I couldn't hunt down a reason why. In any case, here's a look at how the single fared on various Billboard charts:

1981-82
Date Billboard Hot 100Billboard AC
Nov 21 87
Nov 28 85
Dec 5 85
Dec 12 8240
Dec 19 7436
Dec 26 6532
Jan 9 6530
Jan 16 6529
Jan 23 9429
Jan 30
45
Feb 6
48

In a sad footnote, the series was on its last legs when the theme charted; the final episode aired in April 1982.

You'll notice that the producers of the single are Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia. Yes, the same duo that would subject us to "Pac-Man Fever" which debuted on the Hot 100 at #76 on the January 9, 1982 chart as "WKRP in Cincinnati" was peaking at #65 on the same chart.




Cash Box, Nov. 11, 1981, p. 11



1 comment :

  1. As a fan of the show and a victim of the earworm that is the show's opening credits theme song, I find its run on the charts pretty sad.

    Had it been released two years prior, with a full-color fold-out picture sleeve with "Jennifer Marlowe" on one side and "Bailey Quarters" on the other, it surely would have been much more successful.

    Three weeks at number 65? Checking to see what kind of record that is.

    (Note: because of the "frozen" chart on January 2nd held over from year's end, Whitburn credits the song with four weeks at number 65)

    For the entire decade of the Eighties, it was the only song to spend four weeks at 65 which is, indeed, a record for the decade.

    Over on the Cash Box Top 100, the single debuted the same week with this chart life:

    93-91-90-81-74-68-68-68-68-66-75-87
    (the two 68s in the middle are "frozen" charts as well as Cash Box gave its staffers an extra week off during the Winter holidays)

    ReplyDelete