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The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles
 
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The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles (Paperback)

by Martin Roach (Editor)
2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
RRP: £20.00
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Frequently Bought Together

The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles + The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums + The Virgin Book of Top 40 Charts (Virgin Books)
Price For All Three: £36.46

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Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles (16th Edition)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Virgin Books (6 Nov 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0753515377
  • ISBN-13: 978-0753515372
  • Product Dimensions: 26.2 x 19.6 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,232 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #23 in  Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop
    #88 in  Books > Reference

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Product Description

Product Description

From Arctic Monkeys and ABBA to the Zutons and Ziggy Stardust, from 'Anarchy in the UK' to 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' - and over 30,000 hit singles in between - this collector's must-have contains everything you could possibly want to know about every single to reach the charts since 1952. Packed full of charts, lists, facts and timelines as well as up-to-date information, extensive cross references and analysis from Martin Roach, this is the perfect book for music buffs, downloaders glued to iPods and budding Mark Ronsons. This new edition, previously published by Guinness World Records, is the first to be published under the Virgin brand with a whole new look. With new feature material covering a huge range of areas, bands and history from industry-insider Martin Roach, it's an essential part of any serious music fan's collection.


From the Back Cover

How many covers of ‘Yesterday’ have been released?
What was Amy Winehouse’s first single?
What was No. 1 the day you were born?
What was the original name of the Pogues?
What do downloads mean for the charts?
How long did Gnarls Barkley spend at No. 1 with ‘Crazy’?
How many singles did Echo and the Bunnymen release?
James Last has sold 70 million albums worldwide but how many No. 1 singles has he had?
What chart position did 'Chelsea Dagger' reach?
What country did Black Box come from?
How many No. 1 singles did Dexy's Midnight Runners have?
Which Britney Spears single features Madonna?
How many decades did Frank Sinatra's recording career span?

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Customer Reviews

46 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (10)
1 star:
 (17)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.5 out of 5 stars (46 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Must try harder., 6 Nov 2008
By P. Burton (Kent, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I own every one of the Guinness Hit Singles books even though I stopped following the charts several years ago. Each successive edition has tried to offer added value and generally succeeded. Being charitable, if Guinness decided to end the series we should be grateful to Virgin for picking up the rights. Being more critical, I have to say that the layout, print size and additional information just don't match up to the Guinness editions which I always felt were a labour of love. It will probably be the last I buy which as someone who from 1974 to around 2002 always knew what was number one is quite sad really.The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Chart Details Missing . . . and What Everyone Else Said, 9 Dec 2008
By Rodney W. Walker (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
My last Guinness book was the 12th Edition, published in 1999. I was fed up with the way pages fell away from the binding after little use. This had happened to each of the previous editions I had (2 Singles and 1 Album). When I heard British Hit Singles was coming out from a new publisher, I thought the binding couldn't be worse and I'd have information on the past decade of singles. So I ordered it unseen. I wish I had waited; I'd rather have the last Guniness edition.

I just received the book in the post today and found problems with it. Information with the entry that a single has re-entered the charts or entered after a reissue is missing. You might notice that the track is listed previously, but I'd like to know if it's the same recording as before. It looks like re-mixed singles are still indicated. So, does that mean if "REMIX" isn't listed, I can assume it's the same recording? Take "We've Got Tonight" and "Hollywood Nights" by Bob Seger. Their second appearance in the charts are tracks from a live album. The original charting tracks were different, studio recordings. But from Virgin's book, you'd think you'd have the charting versions if you had the studio recordings. Wrong. (Upon reissue, a track may be given a new catalog number; so the differing catalog numbers here are not a dead giveaway, and certainly don't indicate a live recording.)

You want something more definitively inaccurate? The Goons hit with "I'm Waking Backward for Christmas" in 1956. A few weeks later, its flip side, "Bluebottle Blues", also entered the chart. But the Virgin book claims both sides charted the same week. Or that's the only way I can figure to read their listing of both sides under the same date. And there are scores of other singles with different entry dates for their differing sides. (Or where one side, such as Gary Miller's "The Night Is Young", dropped out after 3 weeks while its flip continued for another 6 weeks in the top 75. Whoops, another 5 weeks in the top 40 since this book doesn't concern itself with with total weeks in the charts. It only worries about weeks in the top 40, as others have mentioned.)

More? The two Ipanema tracks under Stan Getz gives the wrong billings. ("Stan Getz" and "Stan Getz and Astrutd Gilberto" instead of "Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto" and "Astrud Gilberto" -- which the Guinness book confirmed both were the same recording.)

EPs? Who knows what tracks were on them.

I guess I won't be giving the binding on the Virgin book much of a workout.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Ian Dury was right!, 22 Nov 2008
By Poptastic (Suffolk) - See all my reviews
You'll be able to find his first hit single in this new book, but I think it's title sums up my impession of it.
As others have pointed out, the exclusion of a list of UK number one singles from this volume is a complete mystery to me. It's surely a necessary requirement in any book of this type to be able to compare number one records year on year - not in this book though.
It's not a patch on the Collins Complete Hit Singles - that has terrific information about the bands themselves and not just a mundane list of their chart successes.
Hopefully the publishers will take note of these reviews before the album version comes out next year.
My advice - shop around for the most recent Collins or Guinness. If it's the most recent hits you're after, get the details online.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars information missed out
In the old hits singles by Guiness Book of records they added information who was in the groups and when they were born and if the were now dead. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Mrs. Susan L. Allen

1.0 out of 5 stars Guinness come back
My issue 17 Guinness Book was getting a bit behind, so I decided to buy the latest one, only to find that they no longer do it, and it has been taken over by Virgin... Read more
Published 1 month ago by R. G. Hitchcock

5.0 out of 5 stars The Virgin Book Of British Hit Singles
I bought this book as a present for a friend who is very much into his music. He was thrilled with it & found it very useful.
Published 2 months ago by B. Littlejohns

3.0 out of 5 stars cronogogical its not
great reffrence book with more songs than i can remember, theres sections A-Z by song and artist BUT it would have been better with a cronological section from 1953-2005 in order... Read more
Published 3 months ago by P. T. Searle

2.0 out of 5 stars Hit Singles Books
There will not be any further Editions of the Guinness 'British Hit
Singles & Albums' Books. Guinness was taken over by HiT Entertainment
in 2002, & by 2007 the new... Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Hughes

5.0 out of 5 stars virgin book of hit singles
this book carries on from the guinness book of hit singles
written in the same way.thank god we found it as have been buying each new one published by guinness and didn't... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. P. Burrows

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than nothing.
I purchased the Virgin Book about 3 months ago and, like many other comments, it does lack the precision, layout and additional info that the Guinness Books provided. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Andrew Knight

3.0 out of 5 stars At least we've got one !
I have noticed there are quite a few negative responses from other reviews for this publication, and although I agree with some of them, I don't think Virgin have been given much... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. M. Stylianou

2.0 out of 5 stars Klaxons Klack Up
As the other reviews suggest it is not a patch on the Guinness books that preceded it, however it wouldn't take any more than a couple of days for a music expert to proof read the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Reviewhound 2009

3.0 out of 5 stars Virgin British Hit Singles
The product was recived very quickly and in excellent condition. Howver this is more a gripe at Virgin than anyone else. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mottys Mic

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