List of Billboard Middle-Road Singles number ones of 1964

In 1964, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States which were considered to be "middle of the road". The chart has undergone various name changes and since 1996 has been published under the title Adult Contemporary.^[1] Until 1965, the listing was compiled simply by extracting from Billboard's pop music chart, the Hot 100, those songs which were deemed by the magazine's staff to be of an appropriate style and ranking them according to their positions on the Hot 100.^[1] In 1964, the chart was published under the title Middle-Road Singles through the issue of Billboard dated April 25, Pop-Standard Singles through the issue dated October 17, and Middle-Road Singles again for the remainder of the year. In 52 issues of the magazine, 12 different songs topped the listing.^[1]

Louis Armstrong had the longest-running number one of the year with "Hello, Dolly!".

The only artist to achieve more than one number one in 1964 was Dean Martin, who spent eight weeks in the top spot with "Everybody Loves Somebody" and one with "The Door Is Still Open to My Heart". Martin tied for the highest total number of weeks spent at number one with Louis Armstrong, who had an unbroken run of nine weeks at number one with "Hello, Dolly!", the longest uninterrupted run in the top spot during the year. Armstrong's song was the title song of the stage musical of the same name, which had opened on Broadway earlier in the year.^[2] A second song from a newly opened musical to top the chart was "People" from Funny Girl,^[3][4] which gave Barbra Streisand her first Billboard chart-topper; she would go on to have one of the most successful careers in popular music history.^[5][6]

Four of the year's Middle-Road/Pop-Standard chart-toppers also reached number one on the magazine's pop music chart, the Hot 100, including both the first and last number ones of the year, "There! I've Said It Again" by Bobby Vinton and "Ringo" by actor-singer Lorne Greene.^[7] Armstrong's "Hello, Dolly!" and Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody" also topped both charts.^[7] Three of the year's number ones were Grammy Award winners. Al Hirt's "Java" won the award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra at the 1964 ceremony,^[8] and the following year "Hello, Dolly!" won the award for Song of the Year and "The Girl from Ipanema" by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto was named Record of the Year.^[9]

Chart history

"Love Me with All Your Heart" was a chart-topper for the Ray Charles Singers (Charles pictured in 1975).

Dean Martin was the only artist with two Middle-Road number ones in 1964.

Gale Garnett had her only number one hit on the Middle-Road chart with "We'll Sing in the Sunshine".^[10]

The actor-singer Lorne Greene ended the year at number one with "Ringo".

Chart history

Issue date	Title	Artist(s)	Ref.
January 4	"There! I've Said It Again"	Bobby Vinton	[11]
January 11			[12]
January 18			[13]
January 25			[14]
February 1			[15]
February 8	"For You"	Ricky Nelson	[16]
February 15			[17]
February 22	"Java"	Al Hirt	[18]
February 29			[19]
March 7			[20]
March 14			[21]
March 21	"Navy Blue"	Diane Renay	[22]
March 28	"Hello, Dolly!"	Louis Armstrong	[23]
April 4			[24]
April 11			[25]
April 18			[26]
April 25			[27]
May 2			[28]
May 9			[29]
May 16			[30]
May 23			[31]
May 30	"Love Me with All Your Heart"	The Ray Charles Singers	[32]
June 6			[33]
June 13			[34]
June 20			[35]
June 27	"People"	Barbra Streisand	[36]
July 4			[37]
July 11			[38]
July 18	"The Girl from Ipanema"	Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto	[39]
July 25			[40]
August 1	"Everybody Loves Somebody"	Dean Martin	[41]
August 8			[42]
August 15			[43]
August 22			[44]
August 29			[45]
September 5			[46]
September 12			[47]
September 19			[48]
September 26	"We'll Sing in the Sunshine"	Gale Garnett	[49]
October 3			[50]
October 10			[51]
October 17			[52]
October 24			[53]
October 31			[54]
November 7			[55]
November 14	"The Door Is Still Open to My Heart"	Dean Martin	[56]
November 21	"Ringo"	Lorne Greene	[57]
November 28			[58]
December 5			[59]
December 12			[60]
December 19			[61]
December 26			[62]