Motown 45s that hit #1 on the Billboard Top Sales charts

Occasionally, I retrieve one of the dozens of Motown and Motown related books in my collection to reread the book to see what I may have forgotten. This time I decided to reread Where Did Our Love Go by the esteemed Nelson George. I had forgotten about the discography that lists the Top 40 pop songs from 1962 to 1971, the year of the label's greatest success. This is what was reported in the surveys.

Four Tops - 2
Marvin Gaye - 1
Jackson Five - 4
Gladys Knight & Pips - 1
Marvelettes - 1
Miracles - 1
Diana Ross - 1
Edwin Starr - 1
Supremes - 12
Temptations - 3
Mary Wells - 1
Stevie Wonder - 1
Total -29-

I was surprised that Martha & the Vandellas did not have any #1's on the pop charts; they did however have 2 #1's on the R&B charts. Heat Wave and Jimmy Mack were #1 on the R&B charts.

Interesting data and statistics.

The only thing is that the Billboard Charts were a mix of airplay and sales - based on the thinking that airplay reflected popularity and caused sales - and of course it did to some extent. But no one really knows the sales for sure; as we saw in Call Her Miss Ross, all the sales data was deleted for the 2nd book which means it was probably wrong or suspect or unverifiable.

Billboard did have a separate sales chart in the early 80's for a while and Missing You by Diana Ross performed significantly higher on the sales chart than on the airplay chart.

solo Ross [[including one duet) had 6 #1's, for a grand total of 18 number singles featuring her lead vocal out front..

Yes, I see those figures were 1962 to 1971

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Originally Posted by jobeterob

Yes, I see those figures were 1962 to 1971

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Yup. Those numbers would change if the survey was extended to the 00s.

It would be interesting to know whether the company preferred to have a #1 record or bigger sales. While there is an aura to being a #1 my gut instinct is that it would be a no brainer, they would want to sell as many copies as possible.

A record [[Supremes are a good example) could shoot up the chart quickly to #1 but then drop just as quickly while others could hang about the top 10 for many weeks and in the end have sold more than the #1.

I think I've heard Jimmy Ruffin and Martha & The Vandellas mentioned on the Forum before as having had bigger sellers in a particular year than some of the Motown records which made #1.

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Originally Posted by jobeterob

as we saw in Call Her Miss Ross, all the sales data was deleted for the 2nd book which means it was probably wrong or suspect or unverifiable.

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I personally think the info in JRT's first book was correct - it looks authentic particularly in relative terms.

Mr T was supposed to have been supplied with this by an "insider".

Motown probably took exception to this and could even have threatened legal action which is why it was all removed from the updated version.

All pure speculation of course.

I believe Randy's figure were wrong and so he eliminated them

I think they have been repeated enough times for people to think some of them are right

Randy didn't get sued the first time by motown so he wouldn't have done any more damage or assumed any more risk by repeating them again if they were accurate

Mostly speculation on my part too though

#1's were huge - remember Berrys memo that they'd only take #1's on the supremes after they hit big?

I believe the Randy's figures are correct or at least believable. They are true to others data from others similar companies and from the same period of time.
It is nevertheless very easy to notice that 90 %, if not more, certified gold records are attributed to songs in the top 5 of the Hot 100. During the disco era, there are some singles that are in the top 10.
The rare cases of a gold single which would not be in the top 10 are Country music hits.

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Originally Posted by woodward

Occasionally, I retrieve one of the dozens of Motown and Motown related books in my collection to reread the book to see what I may have forgotten. This time I decided to reread Where Did Our Love Go by the esteemed Nelson George. I had forgotten about the discography that lists the Top 40 pop songs from 1962 to 1971, the year of the label's greatest success. This is what was reported in the surveys.

Four Tops - 2
Marvin Gaye - 1
Jackson Five - 4
Gladys Knight & Pips - 1
Marvelettes - 1
Miracles - 1
Diana Ross - 1
Edwin Starr - 1
Supremes - 12
Temptations - 3
Mary Wells - 1
Stevie Wonder - 1
Total -29-

I was surprised that Martha & the Vandellas did not have any #1's on the pop charts; they did however have 2 #1's on the R&B charts. Heat Wave and Jimmy Mack were #1 on the R&B charts.

Interesting data and statistics.

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US Pop Charts-wise; Gladys Knight & the Pips did not reach number one, until "Midnight Train To Georgia", Post-Motown, 1973.

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Originally Posted by Ngroove

US Pop Charts-wise; Gladys Knight & the Pips did not reach number one, until "Midnight Train To Georgia", Post-Motown, 1973.

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I thought Marvin Gaye had more number one's . At least two with I Heard it Through the Grapevine and post Motown with "Sexual Healing".

* I just read above that this list only includes songs that made it to number one between the years 1962-71.

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Originally Posted by Ngroove

US Pop Charts-wise; Gladys Knight & the Pips did not reach number one, until "Midnight Train To Georgia", Post-Motown, 1973.

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You should have been a proofreader for Nelson George. At the beginning of the section where he detailed these songs, he stated that "the discography lists the Top Forty hits of the most important Motown acts from 1962 to 1971. the year of the label's greatest success."

He included "Neither One of Us [[Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye), year 1973. This should not have been included as it was outside the parameters of what he intended to present. I inadvertently missed this as I was only looking at the highest Pop Chart listing - #1. Therefore, Gladys Knight and the Pips had NO #1's. They did have a #2 though I Heard It Through the Grapevine but Marvin Gaye was able to take the song to #1.

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Originally Posted by woodward

You should have been a proofreader for Nelson George. At the beginning of the section where he detailed these songs, he stated that "the discography lists the Top Forty hits of the most important Motown acts from 1962 to 1971. the year of the label's greatest success."

He included "Neither One of Us [[Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye), year 1973. This should not have been included as it was outside the parameters of what he intended to present. I inadvertently missed this as I was only looking at the highest Pop Chart listing - #1. Therefore, Gladys Knight and the Pips had NO #1's. They did have a #2 though I Heard It Through the Grapevine but Marvin Gaye was able to take the song to #1.

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1961 - Marvelettes, "Please Mister Postman"
1962 - Little Stevie Wonder, "Fingertips"
1964 - Mary Wells, "My Guy", Supremes, "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me"
1965 - Temptations, "My Girl", Four Tops, "I Can't Help Myself [[Sugarpie, Honeybunch), Supremes, "Stop! In The Name Of Love", "Back In My Arms Again", "I Hear A Symphony"
1966 - Four Tops, "Reach Out [[I'll Be There)", Supremes, "You Can't Hurry Love", "You Keep Me Hangin' On"
1967 - Diana Ross & the Supremes, "Love Is Here [[Now You're Gone)", "The Happening"
1968 - Diana Ross & the Supremes, "Love Child", Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
1969 - Temptations, "I Can't Get Next To You", Diana Ross & the Supremes, "Someday, We'll Be Together"
1970 - Jackson Five, "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", "I'll Be There", Diana Ross, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "The Tears of a Clown", Edwin Starr, "War"
1971 - Temptations, "Just My Imagination [[Running Away With Me)"

For the record, there's some songs that did not make number one I find more deserving than others that did, and some number ones that I just never cared for altogether - "The Happening", "Tears Of A Clown", and later on, "Got To Give It Up" and "Endless Love"- but they are what they are, and still well deservable places on pop culture as a whole.

When I was just becoming a teenager myself, I stumbled upon, and bought a Billboard Number One Hits book - every number one from "Rock Around The Clock" to "Candle In The Wind 1997". Read it like a bible - absorbed that pop music information like a sponge - as it was my starter in research such as Supremes / Diana Ross, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder - not just the number one songs, but also told their other significant singles before, in between, and after them, as well as other interesting trivia - such as Smokey Robinson obtaining the Miracles' guitarist [[Marv Tarplin, but the book did not name him) from him originally being part of the Primettes / Supremes on their audition.