1952 in British music
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
| 1950s in music in the UK | |
| Number-one singles | |
| Number-one albums | |
| Best-selling singles | |
| Summaries and charts 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 |
|
| ←1949 | 1960→ |
| Top 10/12 singles | |
| 1952, 1953, 1954 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 |
|
| 1960→ | |
This is a summary of 1952 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
This year was a turning point for music in not only the UK, but all over the world. The first official UK Singles Chart began in November 1952, compiled by the NME. This made the United Kingdom the first country in the world to have an official singles chart and created it in many other countries, with the Billboard Hot 100 era beginning in 1958 in the U.S. The singles chart quickly became a phenomenon and record breaking became a new excitement for the public. Compiled solely on sales; it kept this trend until April 2005, when it was combined with legal downloads.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
[edit] The Official UK Singles Chart
On the week ending 14 November 1952, NME published the first ever UK Singles Chart. Only a Top 12 at the time, it slowly grew over the years as nowadays sales data is gathered electronically and a Top 200 is compiled weekly for industrial purposes. During the rest of the decade and the early 1960s, there were many different charts formed and the general public and the BBC's Pick Of The Pops (now known as Top Of The Pops) were all confused as to which was the most accurate. The Official Charts Company uses NME until March 1960 and then uses Record Retailer until 1969, when an official sole chart was formed by an alliance between the two most popular charts.
To kick off the brand new chart, American jazz singer Al Martino had the first ever number one single in the UK with "Here in My Heart", which remains his biggest selling single. The song spent nine consecutive weeks at number one, which continued to be the longest consecutive run at number one until mid-1954. In second place was pop singer Jo Stafford with "You Belong to Me", and, with the exception of one week, she stayed just one place behind the top spot for nine weeks, until she finally managed to knock Al Martino off the top in 1953. Another record-achiever went to English traditional pop music singer Vera Lynn, who had three singles within the top 10 at the same time with "Forget Me Not (Vera Lynn song)" (at number 7), "The Homing Waltz" (at number 9), and "Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart" (at number 10).
Other artists that had chart success in 1952 included Bing Crosby, Guy Mitchell, Mario Lanza, Rosemary Clooney, and Kay Starr, who had hits with "The Isle of Innisfree", "Feet Up", "Because You're Mine", "Half as Much", and "Comes A-Long A-Love".
The charts from 1952 and beyond can be viewed here: http://www.chartstats.com/chart.php?week=19521115
[edit] Number Ones
[edit] Number-one singles
| Issue Date | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 8 November | "Here in My Heart" | Al Martino |
| 15 November | ||
| 22 November | ||
| 29 November | ||
| 5 December | ||
| 12 December | ||
| 19 December | ||
| 26 December |
[edit] Classical music
Welsh composer David Wynne produced his first symphony in this year. William Walton wrote a Coronation Te Deum for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The film version of The Importance of Being Earnest was released, with a score by Benjamin Frankel.
[edit] Births
- January 15 - Melvyn Gale, cellist (Electric Light Orchestra)
- January 20 - Ian Hill, bassist (Judas Priest)
- March 19 - Derek Longmuir, drummer (Bay City Rollers)
- June 14 - Jim Lea, guitarist (Slade)
- July 16 - Gary Howard, musician (The Pathfinders)
- August 21 - Joe Strummer, musician (The Clash) (d. 2002)
- September 9 - Dave Stewart, record producer (Eurythmics)
- December 27 - David Knopfler, musician (Dire Straits)
[edit] Deaths
- September 6 - Gertrude Lawrence, actress, singer, dancer (b. 1898)
- September 16 - Vesta Tilley, music hall entertainer (b. 1864)
- November 17 - Charles Penrose, music hall performer (b. 1873)
[edit] References
- General
- "ChartStats". http://www.chartstats.com/chart.php?week=19521115. (Type artist or song into search box and click "Search". To view a certain chart week, type the date into the box with the date and click "Go".)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
