Product Description

From Arctic Monkeys and ABBA to the Zutons and Ziggy Stardust, from 'Anarchy in the UK' to 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' - and over 30,000 hit singles in between - this collector's must-have contains everything you could possibly want to know about every single to reach the charts since 1952. Packed full of charts, lists, facts and timelines as well as up-to-date information, extensive cross references and analysis from Martin Roach, this is the perfect book for music buffs, downloaders glued to iPods and budding Mark Ronsons. This new edition, previously published by Guinness World Records, is the first to be published under the Virgin brand with a whole new look. With new feature material covering a huge range of areas, bands and history from industry-insider Martin Roach, it's an essential part of any serious music fan's collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3633 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

From the Back Cover
How many covers of ‘Yesterday’ have been released?
What was Amy Winehouse’s first single?
What was No. 1 the day you were born?
What was the original name of the Pogues?
What do downloads mean for the charts?
How long did Gnarls Barkley spend at No. 1 with ‘Crazy’?
How many singles did Echo and the Bunnymen release?
James Last has sold 70 million albums worldwide but how many No. 1 singles has he had?
What chart position did 'Chelsea Dagger' reach?
What country did Black Box come from?
How many No. 1 singles did Dexy's Midnight Runners have?
Which Britney Spears single features Madonna?
How many decades did Frank Sinatra's recording career span?

About the Author
Martin Roach is a bestselling author who has penned dozens of books on music, youth culture, celebrity and film. He has also ghostwritten several high-profile celebrity autobiographies. His books have sold over 1.5 million copies and have been translated into twelve languages.

Customer Reviews

Must try harder.
I own every one of the Guinness Hit Singles books even though I stopped following the charts several years ago. Each successive edition has tried to offer added value and generally succeeded. Being charitable, if Guinness decided to end the series we should be grateful to Virgin for picking up the rights. Being more critical, I have to say that the layout, print size and additional information just don't match up to the Guinness editions which I always felt were a labour of love. It will probably be the last I buy which as someone who from 1974 to around 2002 always knew what was number one is quite sad really.The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles

Chart Details Missing . . . and What Everyone Else Said
My last Guinness book was the 12th Edition, published in 1999. I was fed up with the way pages fell away from the binding after little use. This had happened to each of the previous editions I had (2 Singles and 1 Album). When I heard British Hit Singles was coming out from a new publisher, I thought the binding couldn't be worse and I'd have information on the past decade of singles. So I ordered it unseen. I wish I had waited; I'd rather have the last Guniness edition.

I just received the book in the post today and found problems with it. Information with the entry that a single has re-entered the charts or entered after a reissue is missing. You might notice that the track is listed previously, but I'd like to know if it's the same recording as before. It looks like re-mixed singles are still indicated. So, does that mean if "REMIX" isn't listed, I can assume it's the same recording? Take "We've Got Tonight" and "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger. Their second appearance in the charts are tracks from a live album. The original charting tracks were different, studio recordings. But from Virgin's book, you'd think you'd have the charting versions if you had the studio recordings. Wrong. (Upon reissue, a track may be given a new catalog number; so the differing catalog numbers here are not a dead giveaway, and certainly don't indicate a live recording.)

You want something more definitively inaccurate? The Goons hit with "I'm Waking Backward for Christmas" in 1956. A few weeks later, its flip side, "Bluebottle Blues", also entered the chart. But the Virgin book claims both sides charted the same week. Or that's the only way I can figure to read their listing of both sides under the same date. And there are scores of other singles with different entry dates for their differing sides. (Or where one side, such as Gary Miller's "The Night Is Young", dropped out after 3 weeks while its flip continued for another 6 weeks in the top 75. Whoops, another 5 weeks in the top 40 since this book doesn't concern itself with with total weeks in the charts. It only worries about weeks in the top 40, as others have mentioned.)

More? The two Ipanema tracks under Stan Getz gives the wrong billings. ("Stan Getz" and "Stan Getz and Astrutd Gilberto" instead of "Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto" and "Astrud Gilberto" -- which the Guinness book confirmed both were the same recording.)

EPs? Who knows what tracks were on them.

I guess I won't be giving the binding on the Virgin book much of a workout.

Ian Dury was right!
You'll be able to find his first hit single in this new book, but I think it's title sums up my impession of it.
As others have pointed out, the exclusion of a list of UK number one singles from this volume is a complete mystery to me. It's surely a necessary requirement in any book of this type to be able to compare number one records year on year - not in this book though.
It's not a patch on the Collins Complete Hit Singles - that has terrific information about the bands themselves and not just a mundane list of their chart successes.
Hopefully the publishers will take note of these reviews before the album version comes out next year.
My advice - shop around for the most recent Collins or Guinness. If it's the most recent hits you're after, get the details online.