Top of the Pops - July 4th 1976

Here are the Top 5 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 for the Bicentennial celebration in 1976

5 - Better Shop  Around - Captain and Tennille
(peaked at #4)



4 - Sara Smile - Hall and Oates
(peaked at #4)


3 - Misty Blue - Dorothy Moore
(peaked at #3, #2 on the Soul chart and #5 on the UK Chart)



2 - Afternoon Delight - Starland Vocal Band
(#1 for 2 consecutive weeks in July)




1 - Silly Love Songs - Paul McCartney and Wings
(5 non consecutive weeks at #1, spent 1 week in May and then 4 consecutive in June and July)

Top 5

Here are the Top 5 Movies this week in 1986

5 - White Nights

starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines and Helen Mirren.   This movie also gave 2 of the years biggest songs of 1985 with the Academy Award winning "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie and the nominated "Separate Live" performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin and written by Stephen Bishop.

4 - Spies Like Us

starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase and directed by John Landis.

3 - Out of Africa 

The winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1986 as well as Best Director for Sydney Pollack.  Nominations for Best actress, Meryl Streep and Best Supporting Actor, Klaus Maria Brandauer.  Also starring was Robert Redford.

2 - The Jewel of the Nile 

the sequel to the 1984 blockbuster "Romancing The Stone", starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny Devito.

1 - Rocky IV

the fourth and most financial successful of the Rocky franchise bringing in $127.8 million in the US and Canada and $300 million worldwide.   This really introduced the world to Dolph Lundgren and Brigitte Neilsen who played and Ivan Drago and his wife Ludmilla.

Top 5

This week's Top 5 comes courtesy of the Clever Movies website and their Top 5 Horse Movies.

Top 5

Today's Top 5 is a look at the Top 5 bestselling novels on the New York Times Bestseller list November 22nd 1981
This weeks list contained some of the biggest names in novels and some of their most famous works.


5 - The Legacy by Howard Fast

The Lavette family of ''The Immigrants'' and ''The Establishment'' reaches the turbulent 60's.

4 - Noble House by James Clavell

 A British-Chinese struggle for control of one of Hong Kong's oldest trading houses. 
The first of Clavell's 2 #1 novels and spent 15 weeks at #1 from May until August 1981.

3 - Cujo by Stephen King

Monsters haunt a New York family seeking peace in rural Maine.
This was the 3rd #1 for Stephen King, spending 5 weeks at #1.

2 - The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
Life with an eccentric family

John Irving's first #1 novel, spending 9 weeks at the top of the list.

1 - An Indecent Obsession by Colleen McCullough
A nurse and her charges in a special-care ward of a WWII hospital
This is the second and last novel to reach the top of the Times bestseller list. The 'Thorn Birds' spend 15 weeks at #1 in the summer of 1977.  
This was the 2nd of 13 weeks at #1 for "Obsession".

Top 5 - Music Edition

Album sales by artist.  


Here are the Top 5 acts in albums sales since 1991, when Neilsen Soundscan started tracking album sales for Billboard magazine.  (Sales totals as of the week ending 10/29/2011).

5 - Celine Dion - 51,368,000 

4 - Metallica - 53,025,000


3 - Mariah Carey - 53,406,000

2 - The Beatles - 63,017,000 

1 - Garth Brooks - 68,551,000
All 15 of his releases have been certified multi-platinum (sales of 2 million or more)

Top 5

Our Top 5 this time around covers another of my favorites, Horse racing and the Kentucky Derby.  


Here are the 5 fastest horses to win the Kentucky Derby.

#5 - Decidedly - 1962 2:00.40
This was the son of the 1954 Derby winner Determine.


#4 - Spend a Buck - 1985 2:00.20
1985 Horse of the Year


#3 - Northern Dancer - 1964 2:00
The 3 Year Old Horse of the Year in 1964 and considered one of the greatest sires in the history of thoroughbred racing.  He is an ancestor of all the Triple Crown winners of 2009 (Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra and Summer Bird).


#2 - Monarchos - 2001 1:59.97
Only the 2nd (and to date last) horse to ever break the 2 minute barrier in the Derby



#1 - Secretariat - 1973 1:59.40
Considered by many the greatest race horse of all time and the first horse to break the 2 minute barrier at the Derby.  He went on to win the Preakness and Belmont for 1973 making him the first horse since 1948 to win the Triple Crown.

Top 5

This week's Top 5 is music oriented but its the Top 5 grossing concerts from Billboard magazine dated September 16th 1978

Top 5 Concerts (6,000 to 20,000 size arenas)


1 - REO Speedwagon/Climax Blues Band -  205,194.00 gross receipts
(Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Aug 28-29)

2 - Grateful Dead - 149,369 gross receipts
(Red Rocks Ampitheater Aug 30-31)

3 - Ted Nugent/Cheap Trick/AC/DC - 119,952 gross receipts
(Seattle, WA Aug 29th)


4 - Sha Na Na/Dr. Hook - 97,734 gross receipts
(Providence RI  Aug 31st)

5 - Outlaws/ Bill Chinook - 93,500 gross receipts
(Music Inn, Lenox MA  Sept 2nd)

The Top 5 (1985 Edition)

According to Billboard Magazine these are the top 5 rented VHS cassettes in the US for the week ending September 7th 1985

1 - The Karate Kid



2 - A Soldier's Story



3 - The Falcon and The Snowman



4 - Starman



5 - A Nightmare on Elmstreet

Top 5

Today's Top 5 is the Top 5 Bestselling Novels this week in 1991.  
From the New York Times Bestseller list from August 18th

1 - The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan
A ChineseAmerican matriarch tells the harrowing story of her life.

2 - The Firm - John Grisham 
A young lawyer learns that his firm is engaged in secret, possibly illegal activities.

3 - Maximum Bob - Elmore Leonard

A woman probation officer pursues the people trying to kill a redneck Florida judge
(the basis for a short lived tv show in 1998 starring Beau Bridges)

4 - Pastime - Robert B Parker

The private eye Spenser learns much about his own past while helping a young man track down his mother, who has disappeared.

5 - Heir To The Empire - Timothy Zahn

The survival of the "Star Wars" galaxy is menaced by new forces.

Top 5

New feature, the Top 5.  This could be music, sports, history, trivia, movies or just about anything else.

Today The Top 5 movies this week in 2001


#5 - America's Sweethearts ($12.1M)


#4 - Jurassic Park III ($18.1M)


#3 - The Princess Diaries ($37.8M)


#2 - The Planet of the Apes ($39.2M)


#1 - Rush Hour 2 ($100.4M)