Heavyweight: Chubby’s Twist is Favourite Song
By BRIAN DONNELLY
THERE had to be a twist.
Chubby Checker was yesterday crowned as a surprise number one in the US top song lists of the last five decades.
Billboard Magazine found that his defining single, The Twist, was the most popular hit from the 50 years of its Hot 100.
It weighted earlier leading songs with modern singles so that sales and popularity could be comparable, taking Checker to the top and meaning that Elvis Presley and the Beatles did not even make the top five.
Santana’s Smooth featuring Rob Thomas was at number two, followed by Bobby Darin’s Mack the Knife .
The Beatles did make the top 10, coming it at number eight with Hey Jude.
They topped Billboard’s all-time Hot 100 artists, followed by Madonna, Elton John, Elvis, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and the Rolling Stones.
The Billboard Hot 100 chart measures airplay and sales and digital downloads in determining America’s most popular songs. To determine the most popular song of the Hot 100 era, it used a formula to calculate the top song which did not always rely on weeks at number one, since the data was reported differently in its early days.
Checker was delighted. He said of the 1960 hit: “I’m glad they’ve finally recognised it.”
He compared The Twist, named by the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum as one of the 500 songs that shaped the genre, with the creation of the telephone as a groundbreaking moment, as he said it was the first time people danced “apart to the beat”.
Checker said: “Any place on the planet, when someone has a song that has a beat, they’re on the floor dancing apart to the beat, and before Chubby Checker, it wasn’t here, and hat has a lot to do with me being on the charts.”
Geoff Mayfield, director of charts at Billboard, said:
“This is simply a chronicle of how each of these songs performed in their era ” Richard Witts, of Edinburgh University music department, said: “The Billboard Hot 100 exposes the hazards of using sales and airplay statistics of varying precision, and different periods, to indicate worth. “
The top 20
1. The Twist Chubby Checker
2. Smooth Santana feat. Rob Thomas
3. Mack The Knife Bobby Darin
4. How Do I Live Leann Rimes
5. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) Los Del Rio
6. Physical Olivia Newton-John
7. You Light Up My Life Debby Boone
8. Hey Jude The Beatles
9. We Belong Together Mariah Carey
10. Unbreak My Heart Toni Braxton
11. Yeah! Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris
12. Bette Davis Eyes Kim Carnes
13. Endless Love Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
14. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) Rod Stewart
15. Foolish Games Jewel
16. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You Bryan Adams
17. I’ll Make Love To You Boyz II Men
18. The Theme From A Summer Place Percy Faith & His Orchestra
19. Le Freak Chic 20.
How Deep Is Your Love Bee Gees .
Read the full list online at www. theherald. co. uk
Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.
(c) 2008 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.