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Listen to Five Seconds of Every #1 Pop Single from 1956 to 1992

Hugo Keesing‘s Chartsweep is comprised of five seconds of every #1 pop single in the history of the charts from 1956’s “Memories Are Made of This” by Dean Martin to Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” from 1992.

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The concept and term “Chartsweep” both originated in the late 60s with a syndicated radio show called “The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” I listened to it on WOR-FM in New York and recorded portions of it on an old Wollensack reel-to-reel tape recorder. As you know, the ‘sweep presented segments of every Billboard #1 single starting with “Memories Are Made of This” (Jan 1956). I don’t recall where it stopped, but it was around 1968/69. Six years later I began teaching an American Studies course at the University of Maryland called “Popular Music in American Society.” To provide a setting for each class I dusted off the concept, took it back to January 1950, added a number of songs based on Joel Whitburn’s re-definition of #1 songs, and continued where the original had stopped. I added each new #1 until fall, 1991 when I stopped teaching the course.

Listen below: (Or at least jump around through it: The whole thing is 74 minutes long, after all)

Part 1:

Part 2:

(Ubu via Joe. My. God. via BuzzFeed)

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