WWTBAM Bored

The following line from the 'Life on Mars' thread read as follows:

In 1973 they released their only single "The Last Planet I kissed" which peaked at #27 on the Billboard charts, while the B-Side "Martians On My Mind" only made it as high as #137.

This reminded me of a question I always had - back in the old days when singles meant an actual physical record that had two songs, one on each side - the 'A' side was the song that the record company thought people wanted to hear and typically the song that got the airplay. The 'B' side was the song that folks felt wasn't that good and was there basically because there was a second side to a record.

I was under the impression that the Billboard charts tracked actual record sales and just placed in the charts what was regarded as the 'A' side. But based on the above quote and if memory serves me correctly, the 'B' side of The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields' was 'Penny Lane' and they both charted with different numbers - how does a single disc get different sales numbers? It is one physical disc after all. Am I incorrect that the charts are based either on sales or just sales - does it also include airplay or some other formula? How can two songs on the same physical disc chart differently?

Thanks,

---Jay

I believe the Billboard Charts use some formula that includes sales and airplay. IIRC, it also includes plays in a jukebox.

Cal's understanding is the same as mine.

One local's tale of woe is that he missed making the Billboard Top 100 by two radio stations. The song sounded better to me than some which did make it . . . no accounting for taste, I guess.

The "B" side of "Margaritaville" is "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" which I like far better.

"Wipeout" was on the B side of an awful song called "Surfer Joe."

Those of you who haven't heard Surfer Joe, you're not missing anything.

frogman042 wrote:The following line from the 'Life on Mars' thread read as follows:

In 1973 they released their only single "The Last Planet I kissed" which peaked at #27 on the Billboard charts, while the B-Side "Martians On My Mind" only made it as high as #137.

This reminded me of a question I always had - back in the old days when singles meant an actual physical record that had two songs, one on each side - the 'A' side was the song that the record company thought people wanted to hear and typically the song that got the airplay. The 'B' side was the song that folks felt wasn't that good and was there basically because there was a second side to a record.

I was under the impression that the Billboard charts tracked actual record sales and just placed in the charts what was regarded as the 'A' side. But based on the above quote and if memory serves me correctly, the 'B' side of The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields' was 'Penny Lane' and they both charted with different numbers - how does a single disc get different sales numbers? It is one physical disc after all. Am I incorrect that the charts are based either on sales or just sales - does it also include airplay or some other formula? How can two songs on the same physical disc chart differently?

Thanks,

---Jay

A combination of actual radio airplay and points of sale information from music retail outlets. That was, of course, from the days of the single (The "45" or later, cassette). These days there are very few singles per se, as most of the songs you see on the singles charts nowadays are songs that the record companies have identified as target tracks, or songs that they want to promote for a specific album. This is why it is fruitless to compare chart figures for today's "singles" to those from the area of the 45. It is apples and oranges, as sales figures can only be calculated for actrual singles, of which there are very few. It's pretty much airplay now, which is why you see songs stick around on the charts for much longer now..corporate radio takes chances on fewer and fewer songs nowadays, meaning a longer "shelf life" for the hits.

Not all charts in all places did this, but Billboard used radio, juke box, and whatever other data was available, including more than a little hocus-pocus, to yield separate A and B side chart numbers. Remember also that sales data in the pre-computer pre-point of sales terminal, were not always particularly exact, to begin with.

And it is good that BIllboard did, I think.

Some of the greatest recording successes came from flipping over to the B-side, including at least one Grammy Record of the Year (A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, which reached #7 , compared to the intended A -side, a remake of the Third Man Theme, which reached #47.)