Tuesday, December 31, 2024

My Favorite Singles and Albums from My Favorite Decade




My series of lists of my favorite singles for each year:




My series of lists of my favorite albums for each year:




Saturday, December 28, 2024

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #100


Albums: Huey Lewis and The News - Huey Lewis and The News (Chrysalis, 1980), The Doors - Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1980), Twennynine With Lenny White - Twennynine With Lenny White (Elektra, 1980), Times Square soundtrack, (RSO, 1980), The Babys - On the Edge (Chrysalis, 1980)
Episode: Season 3, Episode 12, "Venus and the Man"
Original air date: Saturday, January 31, 1981


Click here for more WKRP posters!

Album on the turntable is Candi Staton - Candi Staton (Warner Bros., 1980)

Also seen on studio door, a picture of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Lennon was killed around the time this episode was filmed.
Embed from Getty Images
Photographed on November 2, 1980 by Jack Mitchell

Thursday, December 26, 2024

CashBox's First Top Compact Discs Chart (1984)


Beginning with the September 15, 1984 issue, CashBox magazine began charting Compact Disc sales. Here's a look at that very first CD chart:

click image to enlarge

Check out those suggested list prices of $15.98 - $21.98. In today's dollar, that's $48 - $66.

Months later, Billboard would publish 2 Compact Disc charts starting on June 1, 1985, separating the pop and classical genres.


The final CashBox Compact Disc chart appeared in the June 25, 1988 issue with Van Halen's OU812 in the top slot.



How close is that initial CD chart to the Cash Box Top 200 album chart for the week of September 15, 1984? I'm glad you asked:

Album CD ChartAlbum Chart
Purple Rain 11
What's New 289
Thriller 349
Synchronicity 4142
Dark Side of the Moon 5-
Born in the U.S.A. 64
90125 7127
1984 829
Heartbeat City 95
Eliminator 1022
Can't Slow Down 116
Footloose 1240
An Innocent Man 1326
Meddle 14-
Star Tracks 15-
In the Digital Mood 16-
Trumpet Concertos 17-
Avalon 18-
Future Shock 19139
Digital Domain 20-
Rock 'N Soul Part 1 2129
Brandenburg Concertos Vol. 1 22-
Brandenburg Concertos Vol. 2 23-
Windham Hill Sampler Vol. 1 24-
Chariots of Fire 25-
Beethoven: Sym. 9 26-
Autumn 27*
Greatest Hits Vol 2 28-
Best of Alan Parsons Project 29-
Rumours 30-


*Autumn was #27 on the jazz chart on that date

Monday, December 23, 2024

Smash Hits 1984 Readers' Poll Results


Smash Hits was a British teen music magazine that was issued fortnightly. Here's their readers' choices for the best of 1984, taken directly from the December 20, 1984 issue:


BEST GROUP


BEST FEMALE SINGER


BEST MALE SINGER


BEST SINGLES


BEST ALBUMS


MOST PROMISING NEW ACT FOR 1985