Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Singles 1942-1995 (Top R & B Singles)

Rating:
Summary: very Interesting
Review: of all the charts in Billboard this one has undergone so many different changes in Names.this chart has always reflected what was really happening in music.R-N-B has influenced all forms of music Period.from 50's Rock to Hip-Hop.

Rating:
Summary: excellent reference for rock and roll
Review: This is a great music reference book. The first 500 pages list every artist that ever made the Billboard R&B charts from 1942 to 1995. For each artist, it lists each charted record with debut date, peak position, weeks on chart, peak pop chart position, label and number. Most artist listings also contain a brief bio. The next 115 pages of this book list each charted song and the artist(s) who recorded with year and peak position. Then there are small sections with a calculated top 500 artists, top 25 artists by decade, top artist achievements, longest charted singles, top artists debuts, all-time top #1 hits and by decade, most valuable platters, etc.My particular interest is 1950's rock and roll. I find that this book more accurately reflects the popularity of black rock and roll performers of this period than the "Top Pop Singles" book. The weakness of this book is that the Billboard R&B charts at times only had 10 to 30 entries instead of the 100 on the Pop charts, so the book omits many records that would have been listed on the comparable Pop charts.