Being an avid Billboard magazine reader, I've noticed hundreds of ads for chart related books through the years. One such publication that always intrigued me was simply titled Chartmasters' Rock 100 and if I'm not mistaken, the ad pictured above from the December 26, 1981 issue of Billboard, was the first I had ever seen. More ads followed, almost always in the final, most read Billboard issue of the year:
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1983
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1984
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1986
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1987
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1988
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1989
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1990
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In 2015, after a bit more research, I happened across the official Chartmasters website which offered the latest edition of Rock 100 - the 5th Edition - and ordered it without a second thought. Two weeks passed and I nervously sent an email inquiring if the book had been shipped. One of the authors himself replied that it had shipped the day after I ordered it and sure enough, a small package from Chartmasters was waiting for me when I checked the mail later that day. My first impression when I opened the box (or maybe it was an envelope?) was that the book was thinner than I had hoped but I have been conditioned to expect huge chart books by the original chart master, Joel Whitburn and his Record Research publications. Once I opened the book, I was enthralled. For a chart guy like me, the authors work presented familiar records in a new context using Billboard chart data and for a numbers lover like me, each page offered more numbers than words. It was divine.
This is an actual scan of the cover of the book I received. Below is a copy of the sample pages scan offered on the website so you can get a glimpse of what I'm taking about.
The layout of the 268 page book is divided into three parts:
- Development of the Ranking Formula (8 pages)
- Yearly rankings of top 100 songs for 1954-1991 with each year occupying four pages, twenty five titles per page with Rock 100 position for the year, title, artist, label, weeks spent in each of the Top 100, Top 40, Top 10 and at #1 as well as the song's total points based on the Chartmasters algorithm (149 pages)
- Indexes by both title and artist (111 pages)
Without giving too much away, each song's entire chart run is considered and songs are listed in year they first charted and Billboard's logic defying policy of basing their Year End tallies on the charting period of November through October is disregarded, which can make a difference. For fun, let's look at the Chartmasters' Rock 100 Number One Songs of the 1970s versus those same songs placement on other year-end charts.
| Rock 100 Number One Song Of Year | Billboard | Cashbox | Record World | WLS | Tunecaster | |
| Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head |
1970
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4
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13
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1
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31
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3
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| B.J. Thomas | ||||||
| Joy To The World |
1971
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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| Three Dog Night | ||||||
| The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face |
1972
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1
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19
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1 (tie)
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1
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6
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| Roberta Flack | ||||||
| Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree |
1973
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1
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1
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4
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33
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3
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| Tony Orlando & Dawn | ||||||
| The Way We Were |
1974
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1
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5
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1
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14
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2
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| Barabra Streisand | ||||||
| Rhinestone Cowboy |
1975
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2
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2
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15
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18
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20
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| Glen Campbell | ||||||
| Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright) |
1976
| 1 |
8
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1
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5
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1
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| Rod Stewart | (1977) | |||||
| You Light Up My Life |
1977
| 3 |
1
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1
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1
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2
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| Debbie Boone | (1978) | |||||
| Night Fever |
1978
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2
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1
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4
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4
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3
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| Bee Gees | ||||||
| My Sharona |
1979
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1
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2
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3
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1
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2
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| The Knack |
Some viewers may be aware of the recent relocation and consolidation of the Hideaway Archives and while moving books back onto shelves this morning I came across another book I have titled Rock 100 by David Dalton and the legendary Lenny Kaye. It's a first edition printing from 1977 and has tagline The All-Stars from Rock & Roll's Hall of Fame. It might be interesting in the near future to see which of those 100 artists have been inducted into the actual Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame over the past thirty years. What do you guys think?
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