Every Year-End Number One Song You Know Is WRONG!

Rich Appel (above), lists himself as a "boss jock", professor and writer on his Twitter account and may have inadvertently added two new credentials to his CV after Billboard recently ran his seven-part series Revisionist History on their website: chart revisionary and chart saboteur, depending on which way you lean. In his own words, this is what he did:

each year's top song has been "re-computed," based on Nielsen SoundScan-measured digital sales since 2004 (when iTunes became the standard) and Nielsen BDS-monitored airplay since 2010, using a formula where sales and airplay are weighted fairly equally.

Using this new data, Appel revealed his findings:

not one of the original No. 1 songs for any year from 1961 through 2003 remains at the top of the heap now. That could be due to several factors: greater interest in songs licensed for use in movies, television series or commercials; heavier airplay for several older titles on genre-based radio formats such as classic rock and adult R&B; and, as a result, few places left on modern commercial radio for many straight-ahead pop songs which ruled the roost on top 40 in their day.

My fellow chart fans, here are those "new" Number Ones as Appel has revealed them on his seven Revisionist History articles thus far (links to those articles are at bottom of this page.)  Click on song title to play in Spotify.

1962	Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett
1967	Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
1968	All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix Experience
1969	Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
1970	All Right Now - Free
1971	Baba O'Riley - The Who
1973	Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye
1974	Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
1975	Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
1976	Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
1977	Hotel California - Eagles
1978	We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions - Queen
1979	September - Earth, Wind & Fire
1980	Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
1982	Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
1984	Thriller - Michael Jackson
1985	Summer of '69 - Bryan Adams
1987	Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
1989	Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N Roses
1992	Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
1993	Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
1994	Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
1995	All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
1996	What I Got - Sublime
1998	Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) - Green Day

What do you think?  
Fresh new perspective on history or pointless pastime?

Revisionist History - Part One

Revisionist History - Part Two

Revisionist History - Part Three

Revisionist History - Part Four

Revisionist History - Part Five

Revisionist History - Holiday Edition

Revisionist History - Valentine’s Day Edition

But wait, there's more!

Rich's chart revisionist efforts are shared by many like-minded individuals and each year for the past eight years around Tax Day (April 15th), he has indulged and invited his listeners to submit their Top 10 I.R.S. songs!  (I.R.S. in this case means It Really Shoulda been a Top 10 hit!)  Then he counts down the Top 104 vote-getters across two days on his show That Thing With Rich Appel on Rewound Radio.  The list below are my favorite picks from the Top 104 Songs for 2015!  For a complete list of the top 1040 songs from 2015, click here.

	song	artist	2015	year	Hot 100 peak
	GOD ONLY KNOWS	The Beach Boys	5	1966	39
	BORN TO RUN	Bruce Springsteen	9	1975	23
	DRIVER'S SEAT	Sniff 'n the Tears	13	1979	15
	SO VERY HARD TO GO	Tower of Power	14	1973	17
	SOLITARY MAN	Neil Diamond	19	1966	21
	SAUSALITO SUMMERNIGHT	Diesel	35	1981	25
	KENTUCKY RAIN	Elvis Presley	38	1970	16
	THE SUN AIN'T GONNA SHINE (Anymore)	The Walker Bros.	41	1966	16
	SOS	ABBA	42	1975	15
	DOUBLE SHOT (of My Baby's Love)	Swingin' Medallions	45	1966	17
	SOUL DEEP	The Box Tops	46	1969	18
	BABY I NEED YOUR LOVING	Four Tops	47	1964	11
	IT'S A SHAME	Spinners	48	1970	14
	HOLD ON! I'M A COMIN'	Sam & Dave	51	1966	21
	RIVER DEEP - MOUNTAIN HIGH	Ike & Tina Turner	57	1966	88
	SUAVECITO	Malo	60	1972	18
	SOMEDAY, SOMEWAY	Marshall Crenshaw	62	1982	36
	DON'T WORRY BABY	The Beach Boys	63	1964	24
	I MELT WITH YOU	Modern English	67	1983	78
	OUR LIPS ARE SEALED	The Go-Go’s	69	1981	20
	SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU	The Skyliners	70	1959	12
	PIANO MAN	Billy Joel	73	1974	24
	DO IT AGAIN	The Beach Boys	75	1968	20
	STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN	Led Zeppelin	77	1972
	AT LAST	Etta James	80	1961	47
	I GOT YOU	Split Enz	81	1980	53
	QUESTIONS 67 AND 68	Chicago	82	1969	24
	UP IN A PUFF OF SMOKE	Polly Brown	83	1975	16
	I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU	The Flamingos	86	1959	11
	ALONE AGAIN OR	Love	87	1968	99
	RUNAWAY	Jefferson Starship	89	1978	12
	FOOL (IF YOU THINK IT'S OVER)	Chris Rea	95	1978	12
	MIGHTY LOVE	Spinners	96	1974	20
	KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU	ABBA	97	1977	14
	AND I LOVE HER	The Beatles	99	1964	12
	WHAT DO ALL THE PEOPLE KNOW	The Monroes	103	1982	59
	WISHING YOU WERE HERE	Chicago	104	1974	11