Music History

Lloyd Price reached No. 1 on the US chart with “Stagger Lee”.

Elvis Presley reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “A Big Hunk O' Love.” The song was recorded during Elvis’s only recording session while serving in the US Army, in four takes, with the released version assembled from the third and fourth takes.

Fats Domino entered the Billboard singles chart with “I Want to Walk You Home,” which later climbed to No. 8. Although he had 18 million-selling singles during his career, he never reached No. 1.

Brook Benton reached No. 1 on the R&B chart with “Thank You Pretty Baby.”

“The song “There Goes My Baby” performed by The Drifters with Ben E. King reached No. 1 on the Cashbox chart and No. 2 on Billboard. The recording was among the first to combine orchestral strings with a Black vocal group and later ranked No. 196 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs.

Elvis Presley had the song “A Big Hunk O’ Love” at No. 1 on the chart for a second consecutive week, bringing his career total to 60 weeks at the top.

The Browns began a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with „The Three Bells“. The song also reached No. 1 in Australia and No. 6 in the U.K. It was an English version of the 1945 French song „Les Trois Cloches“.

Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife” debuted at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 30. It came from the 1928 German play “Three Penny Opera”, later became Darin’s biggest hit, reached No. 1 and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates were at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin' All Over.”

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates began their run at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin' All Over.”

Johnny Kidd and the Pirates reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Shakin’ All Over.”

The soundtrack album to the 1958 film “South Pacific” reached No. 1 on the UK album chart.

Brian Hyland reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Best Sellers chart with "Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". In the U.K., the song reached No. 8.

Cliff Richard & The Shadows reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Please Don't Tease.” The song also topped the charts in India, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway that year.

With the song “It's Now or Never”, he began a five-week run at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also reached No. 1 in the UK. The song was based on the Italian song “O Sole Mio” and was his first postwar number-one hit. More than 20 million copies were sold worldwide.

The Five Satins' song “In the Still of the Nite” entered the chart.

The Shadows reached number one on the UK singles chart with their version of Jerry Lordan's “Apache”. It was the first of their five UK number-one singles.

The instrumental song “Apache”, credited to The Shadows, replaced Cliff Richard and The Shadows' “Please Don't Tease” at No. 1 on the UK chart. Cliff Richard contributed by playing the Chinese drum at the beginning and end of the recording.

Elvis Presley's song "It's Now or Never" was in its third week at No. 1, while "Kiddio" by Brook Benton took the No. 1 spot on the Easy Listening chart.

Eden Kane, born Richard Graham Starstedt, reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart with “Well I Ask You.”

“Shakin' All Over” by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart.

Patsy Cline se skladbou „I Fall To Pieces“ dosáhla 1. místa v Billboard Hot C&W Sides a 12. místa v Billboard Hot 100. Skladbě trvalo více než šest měsíců od vydání, než dosáhla vrcholu.

Lonnie Donegan achieved his biggest American hit with “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight”, which reached No. 5.

Fourteen-year-old Helen Shapiro became the youngest female artist to reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart with “You Don’t Know.” Her first four singles all reached the Top 3 in the UK.

The song “Right Or Wrong” entered the Billboard Pop chart and later reached number 29.

The Highwaymen’s million-selling recording “Michael (Row the Boat Ashore)”, their version of the African-American spiritual, reached No. 1 on the Cashbox chart. The five Wesleyan University students achieved another hit the following year with “Cotton Fields” and split up in 1964 after a run of 12 consecutive singles that failed to chart.

Bobby Lewis was at No. 1 for the seventh consecutive week with “Tossin' And Turnin'”.

Elvis Presley began a three-week run at No. 1 on the US album chart with “Something For Everybody”, his sixth US No. 1 album.

Joe Dowell reached No. 1 on the US singles chart with his version of “Wooden Heart”. The song is best known for its use in Elvis Presley’s 1960 film “G.I. Blues”, which gave Elvis a UK No. 1 hit. Among those who contributed to Dowell’s recording were Floyd Cramer on piano, The Anita Kerr Singers, The Jordanaires, and Ray Stevens on organ. The song remained at the top of the US chart for one week.

John Leyton began a three-week run at No. 1 on the British singles chart with "Johnny Remember Me". The BBC later banned it from airplay because of its unsettling sound and gloomy lyrics.

Joe Dowell’s version of “Wooden Heart”, originally associated with Elvis Presley, entered the US chart.

After eight previous Billboard Top 40 songs, Neil Sedaka reached No. 1 on the US chart for the first time with “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.” It spent two weeks at the top of Billboard and also two weeks at No. 1 on the Cashbox Best Sellers Chart. It reached No. 7 in the UK.

Tony Bennett released the single “Once Upon A Time” with “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” on the B-side. When DJs began playing the B-side, “San Francisco” climbed to No. 19 on the chart and later earned Bennett Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance.

Bobby Vinton began his fourth week at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart with “Roses Are Red (My Love).”

Carole King's first single “It Might As Well Rain Until September” debuted on the chart.

Elvis Presley moved up to number eight on the US singles chart with “She's Not You”.

Producer Don Kirshner of Dimension Records gave singer Eva Boyd a chance and had her re-record Gerry Goffin and Carole King's “The Loco-Motion”. The recording reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Best Sellers and number two in the UK.

Little Eva reached number one on the US singles chart with “The Loco-Motion”, written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, after nine weeks on the chart. She had previously worked as a nanny for King and Goffin's daughter, and the song had originally been offered to Dee Dee Sharp, who turned it down. In 1974 the same song also reached number one in a version by Grand Funk Railroad.

Peter, Paul & Mary moved from number 90 to number 59 with “If I Had A Hammer”.

New Jersey doo-wop group The Duprees reached the Billboard Top 40 with “You Belong to Me” and later reached number seven. During the following year and a half they had three more chart hits.

Bobby Vinton reached No. 1 for the fourth week with “Roses Are Red (My Love)” on the Easy Listening chart.

Elvis Presley's single “Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello” reached No. 55 in the United States.

Tommy Roe reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart with “Sheila,” beginning a two-week run at the top. In the United Kingdom, the song reached No. 3. It was a re-recorded version of a song he had first released in 1960 as a member of The Satins; he wrote it when he was just 14 years old.

The Beatles made their first appearance on the U.S. Billboard charts when “From Me to You” debuted at No. 125 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.

The Tymes reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with “So Much in Love,” where it remained for one week. It was their first No. 1 hit.