On this date back in 1934, Billboard decided that it was time for some sort of statistical analysis to determine who was on top of the "charts" each week. The longtime magazine, which is now a blog/internet/print/video/twitter/appealing to anything possible source of music news, had big band violinist Joe Venuti on top of what would be the Number One Pop Chart list.
Over the thousands of weeks, the charts have continued to evolve/devolve into various genres, with some albums staying on them so long people have literally been born and have died during their stay (Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon is a case in point).
There was also a time when it seemed to mean something, when being the top banana would result in some semblance of a career. But over time, the top of the charts is more these days a push by labels to get their rosters or some of the roster a bit of attention. It's been ages since Dylan has been on the top of the pop charts but he has managed to survive such an epic catastrophe as has Petty, Springsteen and the other long in the tooth-sters.
Now the pop charts change like a germophobe's underwear, and with much the same payoff in that there's nothing left to see. Katy Perry becomes Ke$ha who becomes Justin Bieber who becomes Paris Hilton who becomes Yeti the singing Slavic frisbee tosser.
I'm sure Mr. Venuti was a nice man, but perhaps if he saw what the charts had become, he might have done the Hendrix schtick and set his instrument ablaze.
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