Number Ones - Dec 1959

There are a number of reasons why there can be debate about which record should be considered to have been "Number One" in a particular country on a certain date. These are discussed further down this page. However there is clearly a sizable group that don't want to know about these details and just want to know what record was top of the charts on a given date (such as their birthday). This table shows which records were number one for various countries over the month of December 1959.

Nov 1959

December 1959

Jan 1960

1
0

1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

1
5

1
6

1
7

1
8

1
9

2
0

2
1

2
2

2
3

2
4

2
5

2
6

2
7

2
8

2
9

3
0

3
1

Bobby Darin -
"Mack the Knife"

Guy Mitchell -
"Heartaches by the Number"

Frankie Avalon -
"Why?"

Cliff Richard -
"Travellin' Light"

Adam Faith -
"What Do You Want?"

Emile Ford & The Checkmates -
"What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?"

Col Joye -
"Oh Yeah, Uh Huh"

Bill Haley & His Comets -
"Joey's Song"

Guy Mitchell -
"Heartaches By The Number"

Marty Robbins -
"El Paso"

Freddy Quinn -
"Unter Fremden Sternen"

Nelson Riddle -
"De guello"

Marino Barreto jr -
"Arrivederci"

Earl Grant -
"The end"

Marino Barreto jr -
"Arrivederci"

Cliff Richard -
"Travellin' Light"

Emile Ford & The Checkmates -
"What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes At Me For?"

Country

1
0

1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

1
5

1
6

1
7

1
8

1
9

2
0

2
1

2
2

2
3

2
4

2
5

2
6

2
7

2
8

2
9

3
0

3
1

Country

As was mentioned above, there are all sorts of reasons why the entries here rather over simplify the real situation. We have made a large number of sweeping assumptions in order to present a simple picture to the vast number of users that just want a song title. This means that there are a number of entries in these tables that should be handled with caution. In addition where these entries differ from the original sources (listed later) it should be assumed that the sources are correct, where these entries conflict with the main data assume that the other data is correct, if you find either of these cases please tell us and we'll correct the data here.

If, like us, you are the type of person that wants to know if a song was top of the Jukebox or Jockeys chart, or where a double-A side was released, or when chart entries did not specify an artist, or when the charts switched from one magazine to another we suggest that you have a look at the original sources:

Flag	Country	Data Source	Notes
	United States	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-o ne_hits_%28United_States%29	Before 1958 Billboard published a number of different charts, the number one record has been selected as the top song in these combined.
	United Kingdom	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2010s_UK _Singles_Chart_number_ones	The Charts as listed in the "Guiness Book of Hit Singles".
	United Kingdom	//www.onlineweb.com/theones/1950_sheet.h tm	Before the NME started publishing weekly song charts in late 1952 there were listings of "sheet music" sales. This list of number one songs originally didn't have a particular artist attached. The data at //www.britburn.co.uk/ has the complete sheetmusic charts starting in 1939.
	Australia	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-o ne_singles_in_Australia_during_the_1940 s	Based on the retrospective calculations of the Kent Music report, some songs during the 1940s were not assigned to an artist, in these cases a suitable artist has been picked.
	Canada	//www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020 -101.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=ccntousk30frf6h 4jsn237nm12	The RPM magazine was the definitive national chart in Canada from the 1960s until 2000. Archives Canada have published a list of scanned images of the charts, but no one has yet converted this into a usable form. This list of the number one records was originally based on one from Wikipedia but has used the original source to fix the most obvious issues.
	Canada CHUM	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CHUM_num ber-one_singles_of_1959	Before RPM magazine published regular charts the Toronto radio station CHUM 1050 AM aired a weekly chart. These are the number ones of that chart from before the RPM chart started in 1964.
	Canada	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian _number-one_singles_of_2001	After the RPM magazine finished publication there is some debate about which chart should be considered definitive in Canada. This listing is based on the Billboard chart as described in the Wikipedia pages.
	New Zealand	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_o f_number-one_songs_in_New_Zealand	This list claims to be mainly based on the RIANZ charts. For weeks where no chart was produced it has been assumed that the previous week's number one record just retained the top slot (and in most cases the same record was at number one the following week, so that seems reasonable).
	Germany	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-o ne_hits_%28Germany%29	This list of number one songs combines various sources (some retrospective) to list the number one songs of West Germany and Germany since the early 1950s.
	Ireland	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_th at_reached_number_one_on_the_Irish_Sing les_Chart	This list of number one irish songs from Wikipedia comes from various sources. We've filled out the gaps and attempted to interpret the various "Issue Date" and "Week Ending" notes.
	Italy	//it-charts.150m.com/numeriuno-1960.htm	The available list only covers a period from the 1960s to the 1990s.
	Finland	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_o f_number-one_songs_in_Finland	List of number ones in Finland.
	Japan	en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oricon_num ber-one_singles_of_2005	List of number ones in the Oricon chart in Japan.
	Europe	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European _number-one_hits_of_1959	In the text this claims to be hits in Europe from Eurparade, but since that chart didn't start till 1976 this is clearly wrong. However this small set of entries is early enough to be worth reporting.
	Europe	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-o ne_Euro_Digital_Songs	Billboard's estimate of the number one songs in Europe.
	Mexico	en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_of_ number-one_songs_in_Mexico	Billboard's estimate of the number one songs in Mexico