Quote Originally Posted by RanRan79 View Post
I don't even think Martha and the girls could've hit any bigger with "Lovelight". The fact that it made it as far as #23 pop is about as much as could've been expected IMO. What surprised me is that "Lovelight" reached #2 on Cashbox's R&B chart. It's my understanding- and someone please correct me if I'm wrong- that where Billboard relied on a combination of factors, Cashbox based it's chartings on record sales [[and I'm assuming reported sales via record stores, as I'm sure Motown wasn't giving anyone an accounting of just how well or not a record was selling). "Lovelight" made it all the way to #20 on the Cashbox pop chart, so between it's #2 and 20 showings sales wise, I think the song was probably more popular than it's #23 Billboard placement would otherwise suggest. It is interesting to ponder how the song would've charted on the Billboard r&b if that chart had not been discontinued at the time.
Wasn't that was when Billboard thought black artists didn't need an R&B chart? That period was kinda weird but yeah I do wonder about "Lovelight" and its position on the Billboard R&B chart myself...