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Melody Maker was a British weekly pop music newspaper which was published from 1926 to 2000. Record charts in the United Kingdom began life on 14 November 1952 when NME (New Musical Express) began compiling the first UK-wide sales-based hit parade. Melody Maker's own chart began on 7 April 1956. Prior to 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau chart was established, there was no one universally accepted source and many periodicals compiled their own chart. During this time the BBC used aggregated results of charts from the NME and other sources to compile the Pick of the Pops chart. In 1969, Record Retailer and the BBC commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to compile the singles chart.[1]
Prior to this, The Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums, consider Record Retailer the canonical source for the British singles chart in the 1960s;[1] While NME had the biggest circulation of charts in the 1960s and was more widely followed, Melody Maker's chart was considered more influential and equally highly cited.[2][3] After 1969, the joint venture between Record Retailer and the BBC is widely considered as the beginning of the official UK Singles Chart.[2][3][4] Melody Maker, like NME, continued compiling its own chart until 14 May 1988.[5]
Notable differences in the Melody Maker charts in this decade when compared to the official chart run by BMRB and even NME are additional number-one singles for Gary Glitter, Queen, Showaddywaddy, Wings, The Real Thing, David Soul, John Travolta and The Jam. Such songs as "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave and "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)" by Joe Tex reached the top of the Melody Maker chart although neither topped the BMRB or NME charts.[6] Twenty-two acts achieved a number-one single on the Melody Maker chart but never had an official number-one single,[nb 1] although one of them was part of a singing duo whose other half had reached number one solo.[nb 2]
During the 1970s, Melody Maker charted 201 number-one singles, of which 49 did not make the top of the official UK Singles Chart. Of that figure, 18 singles also did not reach number one on the NME charts. One of the standouts in Melody Maker's unique number ones of the 1970s was "Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto de Aranjuez (Theme From 2nd Movement)" by Manuel and the Music of the Mountains (pseudonym of veteran arranger/conductor Geoff Love), which was number one for one week in February 1976. The BBC, which drew their charts from the BMRB, had announced this as the number one single in the United Kingdom, but the chart was withdrawn four hours later due to compilation errors, making it the shortest period that a song had been number one on the official charts.[7] Melody Maker thus had this at number one for six days and twenty hours longer than the BBC.
| ‡ | The song did not reach number one on the BMRB chart which is considered as the official chart after 15 February 1969. |
|---|---|
| [nb #] | The song spent a week at number one where it shared the top spot with another song. |
- La Belle Epoque, Barry Blue, The Carpenters, Tony Christie, Elvis Costello, Deep Purple, Don Fardon, Free, Bobby Goldsboro, Heatwave, Jean-Michel Jarre, Janet Kay, M, Manuel and the Music of the Mountains, McGuinness Flint, Ralph McTell, Marie Osmond, Minnie Riperton, Rose Royce, Space, R. Dean Taylor, and Joe Tex never had an official number-one single; in addition, La Belle Epoque, Blue, Fardon, Heatwave, Jarre, Manuel, Osmond, Rose Royce, Taylor, and Tex never had a number-one single on the NME charts.
- Marie Osmond's brother and singing partner Donny Osmond had a number-one single in 1972 with "Puppy Love."
- The names, singles, dates and duration of the number-ones are from Melody Maker."Melody Maker Singles Charts 1970's". UKMix. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- T. Rex' "Hot Love" and Dave and Ansel Collins' "Double Barrel" were classified jointly as number one on 1 May 1971. For the previous five weeks "Hot Love" had held the number-one spot individually, and the following week "Double Barrel" was number one outright.
- The New Seekers' "Never Ending Song of Love" and Diana Ross' "I'm Still Waiting" were classified jointly as number one on 21 August 1971. The following week, "Never Ending Song of Love" claimed the number-one spot outright, and "I'm Still Waiting" was number one for two weeks after that.
- Dawn featuring Tony Orlando's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" and Wizzard's "See My Baby Jive" were classified jointly as number one on 19 May 1973. For the previous four weeks "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" had been number one outright, and for the following two weeks "See My Baby Jive" claimed the number-one spot individually.
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