The #1 Song On This Date in History

April 12, 2008 7:29 PM

Ever wondered what the number one song was on your birthday? Anniversary? the day John Lennon was shot?, the attack on Pearl Harbor? (last two links can open iTunes directly).

Well, wonder no more. (via reddit)
posted by purephase (80 comments total)

Play that Funky Music!
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:38 PM on April 12, 2008

My Ding-a-Ling by Chuck Berry?!? WTF?!
posted by DiscourseMarker at 7:42 PM on April 12, 2008

The number one song on my birthday actually kinda sucks...
posted by wsp at 7:44 PM on April 12, 2008

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, by U2. Dear god.
posted by dismas at 7:44 PM on April 12, 2008

Jack and Diane!!

I used to hear that song all the time on the radio when I was a kid. It was one of my mom's favourites. I always loved it too. That makes me happy.
posted by PercussivePaul at 7:46 PM on April 12, 2008

"Say, Say, Say" by Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson

D:
posted by synaesthetichaze at 7:47 PM on April 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

"The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel.
posted by bwg at 7:47 PM on April 12, 2008

Bush's Inauguration: "Independent Woman Part 1" by Destiny's Child.

September 11: "Fallin" by Alicia Keys

Start of the Iraq War (3/20/03): "In Da Club" by 50 Cent (Also still #1 on May 1, 2003, aka "Mission Accomplished" Day)

This MEANS something...
posted by Saxon Kane at 7:48 PM on April 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

I got the Bee Gees. Ugh.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:50 PM on April 12, 2008

Damn. One year too late for "Another Brick in the Wall" and one year too early for "I love Rock 'n' Roll". Fuck you, Hall and Oates. Your list sucks.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:51 PM on April 12, 2008

This "internet", can it help me find porn?
posted by gauchodaspampas at 7:52 PM on April 12, 2008

I'm trying to figure out what large non-primate mammal Lionel Richie resembles and having a difficult time of it. Suggestions?
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:55 PM on April 12, 2008

"I Get Around" by The Beach Boys but if I'd been a few days younger it would have been "A Hard Day's Night".
posted by octothorpe at 7:57 PM on April 12, 2008

I didn't think that there were accurate charts from that far back (pre-1958).

And sure enough, the FAQ says:

To be honest, the research from these years is squirrelly at best, but it's what we have.

posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 7:57 PM on April 12, 2008

Well the year I was born it was "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer so I don't know what to think about that.
posted by nola at 7:59 PM on April 12, 2008

I'm still wondering.
(loading, loading, loading)
posted by chococat at 8:00 PM on April 12, 2008

"Car Wash" by Rose Royce - one that I actually like very much.
posted by dhammond at 8:00 PM on April 12, 2008

By birthdays:

Me: "Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr.
My Wife: "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas
Daughter: "Promiscious" by Nelly Furtado/Timbaland

We're doomed.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:02 PM on April 12, 2008 [2 favorites]

"All Shook Up" by Elvis Presley.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:02 PM on April 12, 2008

"War" Edwin Starr.
posted by hojoki at 8:03 PM on April 12, 2008

Me: "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight & the Pips
Mr. Lucinda: Crimson & Clover" by Tommy James & the Shondells
Kid Lucinda: "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink

Two outta three ain't bad.
posted by Lucinda at 8:05 PM on April 12, 2008

"Love Hangover" by Diana Ross.

I guess that's funny from my parents' point of view.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:10 PM on April 12, 2008

Actually, the first two links go to I-tunes, and you can't even open those links unless you first install the Apple I-tunes software. Sort of annoying.

Generally, the main link is supposed to go first.
posted by washburn at 8:11 PM on April 12, 2008

David Bowie - Fame

I think I win so far.
posted by empath at 8:11 PM on April 12, 2008

So based on that Bookhouse you were born on May 28, which makes you a Gemini, 1976. Well you and my baby's mamma.
posted by nola at 8:13 PM on April 12, 2008

If I were born on May 22nd 1997 my song would be 'MMMBop' by Hanson and I would not have liked that one bit.
posted by jimmythefish at 8:14 PM on April 12, 2008

Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was No. 1 when I was born, but I found that out over at This Day in Music. (Click on the Birthday Number Ones in the navigation.)

I like the drill-down interface better, but This Day In Music also has UK and Australian data. No. 1 in the UK on my birthday? "Amazing Grace" by The Pipes & Drums & Military Band of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. In Australia? "Without You" by Nilsson.

Beware of renegade embedded audio on This Day in Music, though.
posted by NemesisVex at 8:16 PM on April 12, 2008

First I looked up my birthday. Not a bad song. But then my eyes drifted upward towards the songs I really remember. My first sexual experience took place between a 70's last-gasp band and Madonna. Not sure what to make of that.
posted by treepour at 8:16 PM on April 12, 2008

My Eyes Adored You, to my eternal shame.
posted by evilcolonel at 8:17 PM on April 12, 2008

Me - "One Bad Apple" - The Osmands.
My wife - "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel
My Son - "Irreplaceable" - Beyonce

Clearly, my wife wins this game.
posted by Shfishp at 8:19 PM on April 12, 2008

"Three Times a Lady" by The Commodores

So that's why I have that third nipple...
posted by bunnytricks at 8:21 PM on April 12, 2008

you were born on May 28

Close, but no cigar.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:22 PM on April 12, 2008

I got the Bee Gees. Awesome!
posted by zennie at 8:22 PM on April 12, 2008

As soon as I posted I realized the song would have to be number one for more than a day. I feel kinda stupid now. And I could'a really used that cigar too.
posted by nola at 8:24 PM on April 12, 2008

"Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes. Ugh.

Also, the fact that they have any records at all dating back to the 1890s, however sketchy, I find interesting. Although I do find it odd that the same guy has a song on January 1st of almost every year of that decade.
posted by Target Practice at 8:28 PM on April 12, 2008

Purple People Eater
posted by Crabby Appleton at 8:29 PM on April 12, 2008

*passes nola a consolation cigar*
posted by Bookhouse at 8:29 PM on April 12, 2008

"On My Own" by Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald

I had to look it up on youtube and I'm pretty sure that ive never heard it before now.
posted by lilkeith07 at 8:30 PM on April 12, 2008

"Honky Tonk Women", The Rolling Stones.

Could be worse.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 8:33 PM on April 12, 2008

It probably says something about my cultural awareness that, despite being born in the 80s, I'm more familiar with the songs from the 60s and 70s than from this decade (although I also recognize most of the 90s ones).

In fact, so far the most recent song I've recognized through random browsing of the lists is "Smooth", that Santana song with Rob Thomas that got played like 50 times a day by a given station back in '99.
posted by Target Practice at 8:35 PM on April 12, 2008

"Half-Breed" by Cher. Ugh.
From then until about 2005, though, the songs for my birthday are pretty flippin' sweet.
posted by heathergirl at 8:41 PM on April 12, 2008

"Let's hear it for the boy" by Deniece Williams. Could've been worse I s'pose. Go 80s! I see it only goes downhill as my birthdays progress with "I swear", "MMMbop", "Livin' la vida loca", and finally "Hollaback girl". I yearn for the days when I was two.

Neat and disappointing. Thanks! :D
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 8:43 PM on April 12, 2008

Donna Summer's "Bad Girls." Okay, I can live with that. It makes a certain kind of sense for me, really.

Now let's look back 9 months prior (because doesn't everyone want to think about that?) -- "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond.

What the hell, mom & dad?
posted by empyrean at 8:45 PM on April 12, 2008

"Song Sung Blue" by Neil Diamond

Not sure how I feel about that.
posted by Zinger at 8:50 PM on April 12, 2008

Kung Fu Fighting...which I've looked up before...and is incredibly awesome.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:52 PM on April 12, 2008

My song was OK, but if I were born a mere five years later, I'd have had Jessie's Girl!

Two years after than, and I could have had When Doves Cry! Oh, the possibilities!
posted by dirigibleman at 8:56 PM on April 12, 2008

Two years Three years.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:59 PM on April 12, 2008

And if I'd been born a mere five years earlier, I'd have You've Got a Friend, by -- that's right -- James Motherfucking Taylor. Suck on that, Taylor-haters!
posted by dirigibleman at 9:02 PM on April 12, 2008

And they swam out to each other
Through the swirling stream they came
As their hands touched and their lips met
The ragin' river pulled them down
Now they'll always be together
In that happy hunting ground
posted by caddis at 9:09 PM on April 12, 2008

"I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow is my birthday song. On the UK charts, Bohemian Rhapsody was #1 that week.

I have never heard of the band or song that was #1 when I graduated from high school: "I Swear" by All-4-One.
posted by peep at 9:21 PM on April 12, 2008

Dup. Sort of. The previous post's link isn't working anymore.
posted by ryanhealy at 9:24 PM on April 12, 2008

I've never heard of my birthday song :(
posted by Planet F at 9:31 PM on April 12, 2008

What's much more interesting is if you calculate the date you might have been conceived and look that up. I get Eternal Flame for that and Another Day in Paradise for my birthday.
posted by flatluigi at 9:39 PM on April 12, 2008

"Check On It" by Beyoncé, featuring Slim Thug, was the number one song on February 20, 2006, the birthday of this FPP.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:50 PM on April 12, 2008

"Something Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra.

Yep.
posted by Dreama at 9:56 PM on April 12, 2008

Eye of The Tiger!

I always knew I had it in me.
posted by Science! at 10:08 PM on April 12, 2008

Can someone "Ring My Bell" please???
posted by hadjiboy at 10:15 PM on April 12, 2008

People Got to be Free.
posted by chococat at 10:31 PM on April 12, 2008

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye. It stayed at the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks, from December 14, 1968 to January 25, 1969, when it was removed from the top spot by Tommy James & The Shondells' "Crimson And Clover." Or so says wiki.
posted by Sailormom at 11:28 PM on April 12, 2008

Beat It.

That is all.
posted by Artnchicken at 12:20 AM on April 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Looking at my birthday over the years, I see that Kanye West has had 2 #1s, Nelly has had 2, Boyz II Men has had 2, Diana Ross 2, and, to my eternal shame, Mariah Carey is top performer with THREE separate #1 hits on my birthdays.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:47 AM on April 13, 2008

big girls don't cry. hahahhaahha. excellent.
posted by lapolla at 2:24 AM on April 13, 2008

Night Fever. FROWNIE FACE.

Though my parents apparently got it on to Got To Give It Up Part I by Marvin Gaye, so that explains some things...
posted by m0nm0n at 4:38 AM on April 13, 2008

NemesisVex wrote: Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was No. 1 when I was born, but I found that out over at This Day in Music.

That site is much better. The fact that I share a birthday with Aretha Franklin makes up for my birthday No. 1s being Chanson D'Amour by Manhattan Transfer (UK) and Rich Girl by Hall & Oates (US).
posted by jack_mo at 5:27 AM on April 13, 2008

"Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder, hell yes. No wonder I am so cool.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 7:07 AM on April 13, 2008

Oh girl by the Chi-Lites. So basically I'm old.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:49 AM on April 13, 2008

Mine was To Sir With Love, same as the last time we did this.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:05 AM on April 13, 2008

"Open Your Heart" by Madonna.

:|
posted by nonmerci at 10:15 AM on April 13, 2008

...I found that out over at This Day in Music. (Click on the Birthday Number Ones in the navigation.)

posted by NemesisVex at 5:16 AM on April 13 [+] [!]


Well, my birthday is the day the music died. Suck on that, Don McLean!
posted by nonmerci at 10:21 AM on April 13, 2008

"War! Huh! Good God, y'all! What is it good for? Absolutely nuthin'!"
posted by t2urner at 10:28 AM on April 13, 2008

All those great songs from the late 60s and I get Lulu. Damn.
posted by normy at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2008

"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco.

Well, that explains things.
posted by emd3737 at 10:58 AM on April 13, 2008

I Will Survive.
posted by Snyder at 11:02 AM on April 13, 2008

Also on my birthday in 1988.
posted by Snyder at 11:07 AM on April 13, 2008

"Get Down Tonight," K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Works for me.
posted by lackutrol at 1:08 PM on April 13, 2008

"Hello Goodbye" by The Beatles. Not bad. Considering my birthday is on Christmas I usually expect to get screwed with anything related to it.
posted by paddysat at 1:23 PM on April 13, 2008

Maggie May by Rod Stewart. I hate Rod Stewart. (though "Some Guys Have All The Luck" would've been ok)
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 1:44 PM on April 13, 2008

"Jump" from Van Halen? I hate the eighties even more now.
posted by ZaneJ. at 2:54 PM on April 13, 2008

Number one in the US the day I was born was Andy Gibb's I Just Want To Be Your Everything. Thankfully, being born in the UK means that my number one record was Donna Summer's I Feel Love, which is about as good as it gets for late-70s number one hits.
posted by Len at 4:25 PM on April 13, 2008

"In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" by Zager & Evans

Top that, bitches!
posted by fungible at 7:30 PM on April 13, 2008