On a site dedicated to Top 40 stations in Vancouver, British Columbia, I found this survey from CKWX, which was a Top 40 station from 1957 to 1962. The station went to a “middle of the road” format in 1962, then switched to country in 1973 and to all-news in 1996. Here’s their Top 10 from April 22, 1961, which, as you might suspect, is significantly different from the ones in the US.
- Santo & Johnny, “Hop Scotch” After “Sleepwalk” reached #1 in the US, the Farina brothers didn’t have another hit in the US, although the followup, “Tear Drop,” reached #23. This was included on their 1962 album Come On In, and was probably issued as a single in Canada.
- Cliff Richard & The Shadows, “Theme for a Dream” Cliff had limited success in North America, but this was a #3 hit in the UK and a #4 in Ireland, and apparently a local favorite in Vancouver.
- The Marcels, “Blue Moon” A #1 hit in the US that likely reached the chart in Vancouver due to its proximity to Seattle.
- Jerry Fuller, “Shy Away” From his 1960 album Teenage Love, it only reached #73 in the US and didn’t chart in Canada, but again, local favorite.
- Larry Verne, “Abdul’s Party” Verne was fairly successful doing his novelty songs, with two hit records in the US, most notably “Mister Custer” in 1960, which reached #1 and earned a Gold record. Later attempts were nowhere near as successful, and he got fed up with the music business and became a Hollywood set builder.
- Elvis Presley, “Flaming Star” Theme song from his 1960 movie which also starred Barbara Eden, he issued this on an EP, Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs. Its chart position is likely due to the sales of the EP, as it wasn’t released as a single.
- Bob Luman, “The Great Snowman” Another record that didn’t chart nationally in either the US or Canada, but did well at CKWX.
- Paul Evans, “After the Hurricane” You know the story by now: was not a national hit in the US or Canada, but was a big hit in Vancouver.
- Del Shannon, “Runaway” A #1 song in both the US and Canada, and fairly well-known.
- Roy Orbison, Running Scared” Also a #1 hit in the US and Canada, as well as #5 in Australia and #9 in the UK.
And that’s The Friday 5×2 for April 24, 2020.
I was only 11 at this time, but my brother being six yrs. old than me just started listening to music & playing the drums (and I must say he was good too). Plus my brother loved dancing (I think it ran in the family my mom did too as I also do). He paid me a quarter… sometimes fifty cents to dance with him in the basement to practice & I was held to secrecy – hahahaha. My brother was a card. We danced together when we got older too at weddings etc. we jitter bugged & he use to flip me. It was cool. I didn’t hear a lot of these, but there are a couple. You did a great job here my friend. Have a nice day!
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Thanks! A lot of these were new to me.
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Cool tunes,I fixed the 5 On Friday and added the linky back,hopefuly this time blogger will leave it there.if not I got to find a way to export all the posts and pending posts to my wordpress
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All set! Thanks…
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Never heard of some of these. That Hop Scotch really has me tapping my feet! Love it!
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I hadn’t heard a lot of these before. I like that, the chance to hear some different music.
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Some of these not familiar but I remember the last two, which I love both of these songs.
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Everybody loved those two, and “Blue Moon.” I hadn’t heard most of these.
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I’ve fallen behind so will try to catch up. Some of these I had never heard of but glad you have Runaway here because I saw Del Shannon at a place called Lulu’s that was a great dance bar. I was very close to him when he sang this song and I was dancing. I always feel sad when I think that he committed suicide.
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There were really only three that I recognized. Some of the musicians I hadn’t even heard of.
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