Third and final disco chart data - MS&S

i think in the #1 cd, in the liner notes, they list some other songs that went #1 for Sups and/or DR. or were #1 on other charts. I do believe they list HMM as a regional #1 there. And i'm not sure how they calculated the national charts starting in Sept 76 or how much each city or region factored into the calculation.

i don't discount the ranking of HMM in that it was a #1 regional hit in NYC which really was sort of the epicenter of disco. 75 was early in disco and it's development and shift into the mainstream

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Originally Posted by sup_fan

now i'm definitely not an expert on the how billboard charts are established and the criteria and all. nor when they introduced new charts

by the time of HMM and Sup 75, Billboard was doing a section called Disco, just like they did sections on C&W, Classical, etc. It was only a few pages and included news and whatnot. during this time, they included a handful of NYC charts. There was one called Audience Response NYC [[which i'm assuming was somehow gathered from djs and clubs) plus several key area record stores. like Melody Song Shops Brooklyn, LI and Queens or Colony Records NYC. They would also include a few other markets and these sometimes changes. Usually there was the LA/San Diego Audience response. also sometimes Boston, DC, Toronto.

Then in Sept 75 it seemed to change. [[AUGUST 26, 1976) They now published a National Top 40 plus they were listing out 12 or so big market Audience Responses - Atlanta, Balt/DC, Dallas, Phoenix, Miami, NYC, Boston, LA, etc. For the most part, these remained consistent but sometimes there was a change or two.

So i tracked the info from spring 75 [[just prior to Sup 75 release) and through early winter 77, once Let Yourself Go and Wheel dropped off the charts. What happened with the charts post LYG, i don't really know

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khansperac

I think it may have been #1 in one market and fans have run with that, now its claimed it was #1 on the disco chart, although after all these years, I’ve yet to see proof.

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So since I have some spare time, [[ as if lol!) I traced some Billboard disco action until I found this :

Melody Song Shops [[Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island) Retail Sales This Week

I HE'S MY MAN /WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE -The Supremes- Motown [[LP)
2 BRAZIL -Richie Family -20th Century
3 NON -STOP -B.T. Express [[LP)- Roadshow
4 CHECKMATE -Barrabas -Atco [[LP)
5 LOVE POWER -Willie Hutch - Motown [[LP)
6 DO IT ANYWAY YOU WANNA -People's Choice -TSOP
7 LADY, YOU'RE LADY- Boogie Man Orch.- Boogie Man Records
8 WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG AND IN LOVE - Ralph Carter- Mercury
9 CHINESE KUNG FU- Banzaii- Scepter
10 DISCO GOLD [[LP)- Scepter
11 I LIKE IT- Silver Convention -Midland In- ternational [[LP)
12 WHAT A DIFFERENCE [[ANYTHING DAY MAKES)- Esther Philips -Kudu [[LP)
13 CALL ME YOUR [[ANYTHING MAN) -Bobby Moore -Scepter
14 DANCE, DANCE, DANCE- Calhoun- Warner /Spector
15 FOREVER CAME TODAY- Jackson Five- Motown

don't ask me the exact date , I failed to note it , sometime in June '75 I think.

One thing: Somebody at Melody Song Shops loved their Supremes ! They get mentioned for weeks.
[[I haven't found these songs listed any where else yet )


[[WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE is an HDH song)

Just because , here's :

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGN841iZTM

Melody Shop absolutely DID love the girls!! lol that's the only chart that any of Sup 75 appears on. Colony Records - nope, Downstairs Records NYC - nope. none o the audience responses

now that changes with Walking

Melody is, again, all of them and Walking charts long and hit. but it also appears on Colony, lots of the various city Audience Response and it even appears a bit on Downstairs for a few weeks

once they started the National charts and the expanded city lists, they stopped reporting the stores.

Melody also listed a lot of the separate Sup 75 songs.

one week This Is Why was #1 at Melody! that was June 28.

Where do i go from here charted at #3 on Melody on July 26

HMM/WDIGFH were a combined #1 listing on 8/2

Color My World Blue when to #9

WDIGFH appears again in Sept and peaks at #7

I have to admit this is one of the flimsy things about those early disco reports [[or is it a part of their bare-knuckles charm?) , the idea of a record store reporting what cuts on the album are the reason for its sales. [[With one week it being WDIGFH , the next , CMW etc.)

As if , as they are selling their records , they are continuously asking the customers, what disco cuts are you buying this album for? ..... :rolleyes:

yeah i'm not sure how that worked. is it based on what djs were buying and playing and therefore what people were asking for in the store?

i know they would sometimes just list the album, especially on Audience Response. This means that the dj was using many or all of the tracks from the lp. The Boss was listed this way as were many of the Donna Summer albums.

none of Sup 75 is listed this way

but HE album is for 1 week in May 76 from Melody Shops

and MSS was listed for 1 week in the NY Audience Response on 11/27/76

i don't know if for other artists the full albums ran lots of weeks like the songs did. i've not looked into it. Don't know if Once Upon A Time or Four Seasons of Love were listed for weeks or one week.

also not sure when they started listing "All Tracks" on the various regional charts. when they started doing that

It was complicated , sorting out which album cuts were actually doing well in clubs, and then trying to list them in a representative way. When Billboard split credits for two cuts , someone might get the likely wrong idea that these two cuts were equally popular, when really the one song was the monster , and the other one , eh , not so much.
"All cuts" was seldom true , as many albums also had songs that were ballads or not disco. But "all cuts" was easier dictation than listing say four songs out of seven, or in the cases of one region reporting two titles , another region listing two others , etc.. "all cuts" covers it !

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Originally Posted by Boogiedown

It was complicated , sorting out which album cuts were actually doing well in clubs, and then trying to list them in a representative way. When Billboard split credits for two cuts , someone might get the likely wrong idea that these two cuts were equally popular, when really the one song was the monster , and the other one , eh , not so much.
"All cuts" was seldom true , as many albums also had songs that were ballads or not disco. But "all cuts" was easier dictation than listing say four songs out of seven, or in the cases of one region reporting two titles , another region listing two others , etc.. "all cuts" covers it !

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exactly - that's how i've interpreted it too. djs were using many of the songs on the album. 3, 4 or more so it was easier to just list the album vs all of those song titles. Billboard wouldn't have allowed them to do that anyway from a publication stand point. would have fucked up the page layouts and spacing too much

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Originally Posted by sup_fan

yeah i'm not sure how that worked. is it based on what djs were buying and playing and therefore what people were asking for in the store?

i know they would sometimes just list the album, especially on Audience Response. This means that the dj was using many or all of the tracks from the lp. The Boss was listed this way as were many of the Donna Summer albums.

none of Sup 75 is listed this way

but HE album is for 1 week in May 76 from Melody Shops

and MSS was listed for 1 week in the NY Audience Response on 11/27/76

i don't know if for other artists the full albums ran lots of weeks like the songs did. i've not looked into it. Don't know if Once Upon A Time or Four Seasons of Love were listed for weeks or one week.

also not sure when they started listing "All Tracks" on the various regional charts. when they started doing that

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I'm glad you mentioned finding this, I hadn't found HIGH ENERGY mentioned at all.

.....which is why I find it a serious error that Whitburn's disco book reports it as having charted for four weeks , peaking at #9
as a separate entity from IGLMHDTW.

This is all just based on my understanding of how these charts worked or what i've read on here. it would great if an older fan that worked in the industry or was connected to it and had more insight could confirm or help explain

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Originally Posted by sup_fan

This is all just based on my understanding of how these charts worked or what i've read on here. it would great if an older fan that worked in the industry or was connected to it and had more insight could confirm or help explain

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That's all Tom Moulton's doing. If there's someone I would pay top dollar for a book by, it would be him .:cool:

Hey Sup , have you delved into the Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary chart concerning The Supremes and DR? That could be fun! ...

i've not yet. nor have i done the r&b charts

All of my data ends around 77 or so. i didn't bother to move forward with diana's solo work but i did do her material up through 77 or so. and i only did her Billboard pop charts. i've thought about adding in Diana's disco stuff with LH and One Love In My Lifetime. but haven't yet