Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Variety album charts from late 1953

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Brian W.
MusicFan

Joined: 13 October 2004
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2507

Posted: 05 March 2010 at 1:02am \| IP Logged

Don't know how much interest this will be to folks here, as this involves neither hit singles nor the rock era. But I thought this website was as good a place to post this as any.

Long story short, Billboard published no album charts from 8/29/53 to 12/19/53, nor for a handful of dates in 1954. Cash Box had no album chart yet, according to Randy Price, so I thought I'd go to the library and have a look at the Variety microfilm.

There it was. It was only a top five at the bottom of their Retail Disk Best Sellers singles chart. Also, Variety at the time had a REALLY small survey sampling, apparently less than 20 retails stores nationwide. But it's better than nothing... it's all we have for this time period. (And, interestingly, Variety combined all formats -- 33, 78, and 45 -- into one listing... they didn't have separate charts for each format as Billboard did at the time.)

So, here for your info are the weekly Variety top five bestselling albums for the missing dates from Billboard...

Edited by Brian W. on 05 March 2010 at 1:08am

Brian W.
MusicFan

Joined: 13 October 2004
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2507

Posted: 05 March 2010 at 1:04am \| IP Logged

8/26/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
3.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack

9/2/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
4.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack
5.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason

9/9/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack

9/16/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack
4.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
5.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason

9/23/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
3.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
4.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
5.Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Soundtrack

9/30/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack
4.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
5.Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - Soundtrack

10/7/53

1.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
2.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
3.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack

10/14/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
4.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
5.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack

10/21/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
4.Ford 50th Anniversary TV Show - Mary Martin & Ethel Merman
5.The Band Wagon - Soundtrack

10/28/53

1.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.Can-Can - Broadway Cast

11/4/53

1.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
2.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
3.Ford 50th Anniversary TV Show - Mary Martin & Ethel Merman
4.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
5.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason

11/11/53

1.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
2.Me & Juliet - Broadway Cast
3.Victor Presents - Eartha Kitt
4.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
5.The Robe (Soundtrack) - Alfred Newman (not listed in Billboard)

11/18/53

1.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
2.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
3.Seven Dreams - Gordon Jenkins
4.The Robe (Soundtrack) - Alfred Newman (not listed in Billboard)
5.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston

11/25/53

1.Christmas with Arthur Godfrey - Arthur Godfrey
2.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
3.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
4.Seven Dreams - Gordon Jenkins
5.Can-Can - Broadway Cast

12/2/53

1.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
2.Christmas with Arthur Godfrey - Arthur Godfrey
3.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.The Robe (Soundtrack) - Alfred Newman (not listed in Billboard)

12/9/53

1.Christmas with Arthur Godfrey - Arthur Godfrey
2.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
3.Can-Can - Broadway Cast
4.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
5.Christmas Carols - Mantovani

12/16/53

1.Christmas with Arthur Godfrey - Arthur Godfrey
2.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
3.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
4.Christmas Carols - Mantovani
5.Ford 50th Anniversary TV Show - Mary Martin & Ethel Merman

12/23/53

1.Christmas with Arthur Godfrey - Arthur Godfrey
2.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
3.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
4.Christmas Carols - Mantovani
5.The Robe (soundtrack) - Alfred Newman

12/30/53

1.Christmas with Arthur Godfrey - Arthur Godfrey
2.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
3.Christmas Carols - Mantovani
4.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
5.Merry Christmas - Bing Crosby

No chart published 1/6/54

1/13/54

1.Kismet - Broadway Cast
2.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
3.Glenn Miller Limited Edition - Glenn Miller
4.Calamity Jane (not the soundtrack) - Doris Day
5.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason

1/20/54

1.Kismet - Broadway Cast
2.That Bad Eartha - Eartha Kitt
3.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
4.Show Biz - All Star Cast (narrated V/A retrospective)
5.Calamity Jane - Doris Day (not the soundtrack)

1/27/54

1.Kismet - Broadway Cast
2.That Bad Eartha - Eartha Kitt
3.Concertos for You - Liberace with Paul Weston
4.Calamity Jane - Doris Day (not the soundtrack)
5.Show Biz - All Star Cast (narrated V/A retrospective)

Charts for unpublished Billboard weeks (which was in between the Variety week dates, so I include both the week before and after the missing Billboard dates here):

4/7/54

1.Glenn Miller Story - Film Soundtrack
2.Glenn Miller Memorial - Glenn Miller
3.Songs for Young Lovers - Frank Sinatra
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.Rose Marie - Film Soundtrack
6.Kismet - Broadway Cast

4/14/54

1.Glenn Miller Story - Film Soundtrack
2.Songs for Young Lovers - Frank Sinatra
3.Glenn Miller Memorial - Glenn Miller
4.Rose Marie - Film Soundtrack
5.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
6.Kismet - Broadway Cast

5/12/54

1.Glenn Miller Story - Film Soundtrack
2.Glenn Miller Memorial - Glenn Miller
3.Songs for Young Lovers - Frank Sinatra
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.Rose Marie - Film Soundtrack
6.Pardon My Blooper! Vol. 1 - Kermit Schafer (compilation of radio and TV bloopers)

5/19/54

1.Glenn Miller Story - Film Soundtrack
2.Glenn Miller Memorial - Glenn Miller
3.Songs for Young Lovers - Frank Sinatra
4.Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason
5.Rose Marie - Film Soundtrack
6.Pardon My Blooper! Vol. 1 - Kermit Schafer (compilation of radio and TV bloopers)

Edited by Brian W. on 05 March 2010 at 4:56pm

Brian W.
MusicFan

Joined: 13 October 2004
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2507

Posted: 05 March 2010 at 1:23am \| IP Logged

Whoops! Already found and corrected an error... all instances of "The Band Wagon" should say "Soundtrack," not "Broadway Cast," as I'd typed in error (and replicated multiple times through copying).

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