Bill Withers enters the Top 20 at Number 18
After just a single week at Number 1, Rod Stewart vacated the top spot as glam rockers Slade climbed one place with another (now usual) misspelled song title. This time it was Mama Weer All Crazee Now which secured the group another chart topper, their third in just ten months.
That track was among a number of singles making an upward move in the charts - seven in the Top 10 alone - but, in spite of that, only one record was able to cross the threshold into the Top 20 this week.
That honour fell to what has since become a classic song - as well as a then recent Number 1 single on the American Hot 100 - Lean on Me by Bill Withers.
Read on...
Above image by Columbia Records [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Slade at Number 1
The Chart: 01 (02) Slade - Mama Weer All Crazee Now 02 (01) Rod Stewart - You Wear It Well 03 (05) Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes 04 (09) Blackfoot Sue - Standing in the Road 05 (06) Faron Young - It's Four in the Morning 06 (12) Lynsey De Paul - Sugar Me 07 (04) Hawkwind - Silver Machine 08 (18) Roxy Music - Virginia Plain 09 (07) Derek and the Dominos - Layla 10 (14) Jackie Wilson - I Get the Sweetest Feeling 11 (03) Alice Cooper - School's Out 12 (11) Little Eva - The Loco-Motion 13 (13) Bee Gees - Run to Me 14 (08) Hot Butter - Popcorn 15 (10) Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs - Seaside Shuffle 16 (20) Michael Jackson - Ain't No Sunshine 17 (15) The Electric Light Orchestra - 10538 Overture 18 (25) Bill Withers - Lean On Me 19 (17) Donny Osmond - Puppy Love 20 (16) The Partridge Family - Breaking Up is Hard to Do*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red; New entries in bold
Download This Week's New Hit:
18: Bill Withers: Lean on Me
This was the first UK hit for now-legendary RandB singer, Bill Withers.
Although his original recording of Ain't No Sunshine was a Top 3 hit on the American charts the previous year, it had completely missed the British listing (cue Michael Jackson...) So, it was Lean on Me which really introduced Withers' brand of soul to the British public.
In his homeland, it had had already topped the charts some months earlier and the single was now making steady progress in the UK. However, the Number 18 spot would prove to be its high spot, remaining there for two consecutive weeks, before falling down the listing.
It wouldn't be the last that was heard of Lean on Me on the British charts, though. Later in the 1970s, glam rockers Mud would release their version of the song and take it into the Top 10 while RandB group Club Nouveau would peak at Number 3 with it in 1987. The latter single would also hit Number 1 in the US, making it one of only nine songs to accomplish the feat of topping the American charts with recordings released by two different artists.
The UK Number 1 album this week:
Various Artists: 20 Fantastic Hits
The American Top 10 (Click to play tracks)
Original link
Presenting the Top 20 music chart in the UK for the week ending 9 September, 1972
After just a single week at Number 1, Rod Stewart vacated the top spot as glam rockers Slade climbed one place with another (now usual) misspelled song title. This time it was Mama Weer All Crazee Now which secured the group another chart topper, their third in just ten months.
That track was among a number of singles making an upward move in the charts - seven in the Top 10 alone - but, in spite of that, only one record was able to cross the threshold into the Top 20 this week.
That honour fell to what has since become a classic song - as well as a then recent Number 1 single on the American Hot 100 - Lean on Me by Bill Withers.
Read on...
Above image by Columbia Records [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Slade at Number 1
The Chart: 01 (02) Slade - Mama Weer All Crazee Now 02 (01) Rod Stewart - You Wear It Well 03 (05) Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes 04 (09) Blackfoot Sue - Standing in the Road 05 (06) Faron Young - It's Four in the Morning 06 (12) Lynsey De Paul - Sugar Me 07 (04) Hawkwind - Silver Machine 08 (18) Roxy Music - Virginia Plain 09 (07) Derek and the Dominos - Layla 10 (14) Jackie Wilson - I Get the Sweetest Feeling 11 (03) Alice Cooper - School's Out 12 (11) Little Eva - The Loco-Motion 13 (13) Bee Gees - Run to Me 14 (08) Hot Butter - Popcorn 15 (10) Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs - Seaside Shuffle 16 (20) Michael Jackson - Ain't No Sunshine 17 (15) The Electric Light Orchestra - 10538 Overture 18 (25) Bill Withers - Lean On Me 19 (17) Donny Osmond - Puppy Love 20 (16) The Partridge Family - Breaking Up is Hard to Do*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red; New entries in bold
Download This Week's New Hit:
18: Bill Withers: Lean on Me
This was the first UK hit for now-legendary RandB singer, Bill Withers.
Although his original recording of Ain't No Sunshine was a Top 3 hit on the American charts the previous year, it had completely missed the British listing (cue Michael Jackson...) So, it was Lean on Me which really introduced Withers' brand of soul to the British public.
In his homeland, it had had already topped the charts some months earlier and the single was now making steady progress in the UK. However, the Number 18 spot would prove to be its high spot, remaining there for two consecutive weeks, before falling down the listing.
It wouldn't be the last that was heard of Lean on Me on the British charts, though. Later in the 1970s, glam rockers Mud would release their version of the song and take it into the Top 10 while RandB group Club Nouveau would peak at Number 3 with it in 1987. The latter single would also hit Number 1 in the US, making it one of only nine songs to accomplish the feat of topping the American charts with recordings released by two different artists.
The UK Number 1 album this week:
Various Artists: 20 Fantastic Hits
The American Top 10 (Click to play tracks)
Original link
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