Records debuted in 1962 but peaked in 1963:
Title Highest Ranking Week Debuted Week Highest Rank
Go Away Little Girl by Steve Lawrence # 1 12/8/1962 1/12/1963
Zip A Dee Do Dah by Bob B.Soxx & The Blue Jeans # 8 12/8/1962 1/12/1963
Hotel Happiness by Brook Benton # 3 12/8/1962 1/19/1963
Two Lovers by Mary Wells # 7 12/15/1962 1/19/1963
My Dad by Paul Petersen # 6 12/15/1962 1/26/1963
Tell Him by The Exciters # 4 12/15/1962 1/19/1963
Everybody Loves a Lover by The Shirelles # 19 12/15/1962 1/26/1963
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Bobby Vee # 3 12/22/1962 2/2/1963
Up on the Roof by The Drifters # 5 12/29/1962 2/9/1963
It's Up To You by Rick Nelson # 6 12/29/1962 2/2/1963
I Saw Linda Yesterday by Dickey Lee # 14 12/29/1962 1/19/1963
Pepino The Italian Mouse by Lou Monte # 3 12/31/1962 1/12/1963
Several big hits of 1963 failed to do well in the Billboard year end rankings due to their initial success coming in late 1962. The most impacted was Steve Lawrence's "Go Away Little Girl." Cashbox ranked the song #2 for 1963 and it was #20 for G&T, yet it barely made the Billboard Top 100 (#91). Lawrence's ode to the attractions of a younger girl (too young) had initially cracked the top twenty in December of '62 and it was #1 for two weeks in January of '63. Its overall success earns it the #9 spot in the EE rankings. Bobby Vee had been consistently scoring top twenty records but falling short of the top ten until "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" was released in late 1962. It climbed to #3 in February of 1963 and its #34 EE rank is far better than the #78 it scored for Billboard. "Tell Him" by The Exciters was ignored by Billboard but earns a #57 rank on the EE chart. It was in the top ten for seven weeks and was recognized by Cashbox as the #43 song of the year.
"Since I Fell For You" by Lenny Welch peaked at #4 the final week of 1963 and remained in the top ten for several weeks into 1964 and its success placed it at #40 on the EE chart although it failed to be listed by Billboard. Two songs that went to #1 in 1963 did not make Billboard's end of the year chart. "There I've Said It Again" by Bobby Vinton, which would be the first #1 of 1964, was #7 on the EE chart (It would receive a #98 ranking for 1964) and "Dominique" by The Singing Nun was ranked #2 by EE, spending the whole month of December at the top.
But perhaps one of the biggest slights of Billboard in 1963 was "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen. The Wand version of the record debuted in October of 1963 and it quickly gained popular notice, climbing to #2 in December. It dropped one spot in the last week of the year, but reclaimed the #2 slot the next week and remained #2 for four weeks. In all, the record spent 16 weeks in the Hot 100. But it was not in the Billboard top 100 for 1963 and only ranked #99 for 1964. On the EE Chart, one of the most recognizable records of the era was the 6th best of the year. |