Pick a Day

Music History Events: Charts

October 18, 1969 The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

October 4, 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival's LP Green River hits #1.

August 23, 1969 The Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" hits #1 in America for the first of four weeks.

August 23, 1969 Johnny Cash's album Johnny Cash At San Quentin, the soundtrack to a documentary of the same name featuring Cash performing at the prison, hits #1 for the first of four weeks.

July 28, 1969 Eight days after the moon landing, "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival reaches its chart peak of #2. The song was inspired by a 1941 movie called The Devil And Daniel Webster, about a hurricane that blows through a town.

July 12, 1969 A week before the moon landing, "In The Year 2525" by Zager and Evans, a bleak sci-fi song where humankind gradually destroys itself, hits #1 in the US. It stays at #1 for six weeks.

July 9, 1969 John Lennon makes his solo debut on the UK charts with "Give Peace A Chance."

June 4, 1969 Tommy Roe's "Dizzy" hits #1 on the UK singles chart.

May 24, 1969 The Beatles' "Get Back," featuring piano from Billy Preston, hits #1 in America.

April 12, 1969 5th Dimension's "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," from the musical Hair, hits #1 in America, where it stays on top for six weeks.

April 5, 1969 The Guess Who's "These Eyes" enters the Billboard singles chart.

March 29, 1969 Blood, Sweat & Tears' LP Blood Sweat & Tears hits #1.

March 15, 1969 Tommy Roe's "Dizzy" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for four weeks. It's a rare pop hit of the era with a string section.

March 8, 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" hits #2 on the Hot 100, where it stays for three weeks. It's the first of five CCR singles to reach the runner-up spot on the chart without ever hitting #1.

February 15, 1969 Sly & the Family Stone land their first #1 hit when "Everyday People" tops the Hot 100 for the first of four weeks. The song's message: we're all essentially the same, no matter what we look like. Of the seven members in the group, two are white and five are black.

February 1, 1969 Tommy James & the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" hits #1 for the first of two weeks.

December 14, 1968 Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for seven weeks. The song was recorded by a few different Motown acts before a version by Gladys Knight & the Pips was finally released, reaching #2 in 1967. Gaye's version, released about a year later, became an even bigger hit and the definitive rendition.

November 30, 1968 "Love Child" by The Supremes hits #1 in America.

November 16, 1968 The Jimi Hendrix Experience's LP Electric Ladyland hits #1.

October 12, 1968 Big Brother and the Holding Company's LP Cheap Thrills hits #1.

September 25, 1968 Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days," produced by Paul McCartney and released on The Beatles' Apple Records, goes to #1 in the UK, knocking off "Hey Jude." It stays for six weeks before being bumped by Joe Cocker's cover of the Beatles song "With A Little Help From My Friends."

September 21, 1968 Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." hits #1.

August 17, 1968 The Rascals' "People Got To Be Free" hits #1 for the first of five weeks.

August 10, 1968 Cream's Wheels Of Fire album, which includes their classic "White Room," hits #1 in the US. The group, a volatile mixture of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, break up a short time later due largely to infighting.

August 3, 1968 The Doors hit #1 in America for the second (and last) time when "Hello, I Love You" reaches the top for the first of two weeks. Their first #1 was "Light My Fire" in 1967.

June 1, 1968 Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" hits #1 on the Hot 100. The song was written for the movie The Graduate and titled after the character played by Anne Bancroft.

May 18, 1968 Archie Bell & the Drells hit #1 in America with the funk-tacular "Tighten Up."

February 10, 1968 Paul Mauriat's orchestral version of "Love Is Blue" hits #1 in America. An international hit recorded in several languages, the song finished fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 with a version performed by Vicky Leandros.

February 3, 1968 The Lemon Pipers hit #1 in America with "Green Tambourine," a psychedelic song about a busker.

January 20, 1968 John Fred and His Playboy Band's "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" hits #1. The song is a takeoff on The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds."