American Hits - The Ones That Got Away

Our previous books have chronicled every hit from the first chart in July 1940 to the last one of the 1980s. These were the top 20s, top 30s and top 100s of this classic period of music. From June 1959, Billboard magazine began to list up and coming records that were outside of the Hot 100 each week. This section of the chart was called ‘Bubbling Under’. In October 1959, Cash Box magazine began a similar listing which they called ‘Looking Ahead’. The purpose of these additional chart placings was to show which records were gaining airplay and starting to sell in the shops with the expectation that some of them would become big hits. Many of the records that appeared on the ‘Bubbling Under’ and ‘Looking Ahead’ charts never made the top 100 and for many years have been forgotten and disregarded. These records are listed in this new book showing the date they entered the ‘Bubbling Under’ and ‘Looking Ahead’ lists and the highest chart position (outside of the top 100) that each one achieved. Billboard discontinued their ‘Bubbling Under’ charts in August 1985 while Cash Box continued with their additional chart placings until February 1993.