Then he means the end of November, because it includes all of November. The last two weeks of December typically have no published chart because Billboard takes the weeks off. So you're talking about two weeks missing from that chart, and those spins are counted in the next year's chart. It's a function of total spins, not weekly chart position, that determines the year end numbers.
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Bob Seger Songs
- Thread starter oldies76
- Start date
Then he means the end of November, because it includes all of November. The last two weeks of December typically have no published chart because Billboard takes the weeks off. So you're talking about two weeks missing from that chart, and those spins are counted in the next year's chart. It's a function of total spins, not weekly chart position, that determines the year end numbers.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Yeah, Casey never hid the fact that it was November to November. Later, sometime in the '80s, they made it December through the end of November, so maybe they were able to do a faster turnaround time by then.
"Rockin' Me" by Steve Miller Band (#1 the first week of November 1976) had its airplay and chart totals split almost evenly over the 1976 and 1977 survey years, thus did not qualify to make either one. I appreciate Premiere Networks playing that one as a countdown extra. "Nadia's Theme" was another one with a similar split (and also played by Premiere as a countdown extra), but it only reached the lower rungs of the top 10, so I never noticed that it did not place within the top 100 of either year.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
No, that did not come until the '80s, when he specifically said "December through the end of November." So I am sure that there was a 13-month "year" in there somewhere.
I know that "You Light Up My Life" was the #3 song for all of 1978, and it was #1 for October-December of 1977.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Yeah, really enjoy those "dramatic" songs, and it seemed like Seger put one on almost every album. Usually at or near the end of side two for a great finish. I also like "Comin' Home" from The Distance and "Shinin' Brightly" from Against the Wind. Man does not live by "hits" alone.
Really surprised that "Betty Lou" does not get much play anymore. It would have made a great single (could have been the "Old Time Rock & Roll" of Against the Wind), but was instead a b-side. Meanwhile, "Horizontal Bop" tanked. Its b-side ("Her Strut") remains popular to this day!
oldies76
Star Participant
Which is really strange, since "Light" was #1 for 10 weeks, before "How Deep is Your Love" ended 1977. So how can it rank in 1978? Unless of course, he uses Nov to Nov periods. But either way, "Light" should be the top song of 1977 overall. Heck it's the top song of all the 70's for that matter.
http://www.oldradioshows.com/at100/1977.html
http://www.oldradioshows.com/at100/1978.html
I think Casey should have just used the real chart years as they were. If you own or have access to the Whitburn book "Pop Annual 1955-2011", you would see that the songs are ranked by position from #1 to #100 in each year, and within that, you'd have the real top 100 songs of 1977.
If Casey had used this method, then "Fire Lake" would have been ranked at #55, but "Against the Wind" at #42. "You'll Accompany Me" would have been at #99 for 1980.
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Because the song charted in both years, but also got recurrent airplay in 1978. Lots of songs like that.
Once again, the chart is from Billboard. Casey didn't do his own chart. It's possible Whitburn is using adjusted numbers, from Jan 1 to Dec 31, rather than the published year-end chart. Whitburn had access to the raw data, while Casey was supposed to be using the published chart. The way to check this is find the year-end Billboard magazine from the year of the AT40 show, and compare those numbers to Whitburn.
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oldies76
Star Participant
Yeah, he did mention on one of the countdowns, that Thanksgiving was around the cutoff. No, it just does not seem right when Debby Boone is ranked at #51 on the 1977 countdown, and only ranks at #3 on the '78 survey. Something just does seem right about that at all.
oldies76
Star Participant
The song was already on the way down from it's #1 peak (October 15th, through December 17th, 1977). If he cuts off the chart in late November, how can it rank at #51 in '77 and #3 in '78? If more time was spent at #1 prior to the cutoff, than after. Does not make sense. The links to the Casey Kasem top 100 are on a reply to Firepoint above.
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Billboard was after Thanksgiving, Radio & Records usually was before. The other countdowns, like Dick Clark, used R&R. So their numbers will be a little different.
Then again, Thanksgiving can sometimes be a week late, as it was this year.
In 1978, it had an entire year of accumulated spins, while in 1977, it only had a few months.
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oldies76
Star Participant
Not really a fan of the year end charts anyways because of this method . If the song spent 10 weeks atop in 1977, then it should be the top song of '77. The next closest song would at 5 weeks "Best Of My Love" by the Emotions.
Well we can't fix the past, can we?
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
The cutoff at that time was the first of November, not the end of the month. So it would have had more of its chart-topping run in the 1978 survey year. We have had lots of discussion about that on the AT40 (the '70s) Facebook page.
The example that I gave earlier of "Rockin' Me" by the Steve Miller Band (#1 for the week of November 6th, 1976) is a perfect example. Split nearly evenly over both survey years, so not enough points in either one to make the top 100 for either year.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
Apparently you have taken a look at the decade list. If you have, you would have noticed that all three of the Bee Gees big hits from Saturday Night Fever ranked in reverse order from what they were on the 1978 year-ender. Apparently the first two had some points in 1977, but not enough to show up in the 1977 year's end survey. Apparently corrected for the decade countdown. Ditto that for Debby Boone.
GregWilliamsLighthouse
New Participating Member
Bob Seger's catalog has a tremendous number of Top-40 charting songs that don't receive radio play these days: "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You", "Feel Like a Number", "Hollywood Nights", the full version of "Night Moves" (I die when they edit the bridge poem), I even heard Tom Kent play "Katmandu" one night. Funny thing...."Old Time Rock & Roll" only peaked at No.28 on Billboard.
Exactly. No one cares where it charted. They care about its impact.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
I almost never hear the edit of "Night Moves" anymore. Only during the retro countdown shows, and I must point out that the single came out in advance of the album, so that was all that they had there for a while. (The station in the town where I grew up even played the countdown edit of "Hollywood Nights" (in their regular rotation) the whole time that it was a hit. I suppose it never occurred to them that I could switch the dial and hear the full version on stations in neighboring towns!)
Yeah, I said that back on page 1 of this thread. Pay attention, people!
oldies76
Star Participant
Which is really unfortunate, since "Rockin' Me" is a top 100 song of '76, if you use the Jan - Dec. time frame
oldies76
Star Participant
He mentioned the peak of #28, because radio hardly plays lower-charting singles. "Old Time Rock and Roll" is an exception, but yes, it did chart low. Apparently BigA he cares, or he wouldn't have mentioned the peak position.
Great. Give him a cigar.
In the context of Bob's hits, it's one of the biggest, regardless of chart position, and he doesn't even perform Fire Lake any more.
firepoint525
Walk of Fame Participant
He also doesn't perform "Like a Rock" anymore, so big deal.
Actually he does. He did a show at Madison Square Garden last month, and it was right in the middle of his set. And when he sang the first few words, people exploded like it was his biggest hit. He probably made more money because of that one song than he did from Fire Lake, thanks mainly to Chevy Trucks.
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