What determines a records staying power (years later?)

I’m searching through decade old Billboard Charts, and I started thinking. What determines a records staying power, through the years? I’m randomly looking at the 1968 Billboard Soul Charts. Very interesting, there’s a total of 21 number 1 singles that calendar year. Most of the number one are pretty common songs. James Brown’s “Say It Loud,” Aretha’s “Think,” Otis’ “Dock of the Bay” Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knights’ “Grapevine” (actually Gladys’s version with the first number one of the year and Marvin with the last. Pretty cool.) Literally every song that hit number one, is easily recognizable. Until …

I’ll use the Temptations as an example. They had a number 1 Soul record that year, “I Wish It Would Rain.” Pretty common Tempts record heard on most Soul oldies stations, right? Well, they had another #1 record that same year “I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You).” A not so common Tempts record, that I’ve never heard on an oldies station, ever. So, unless you’re a Temptations fan like myself or was around in 1969, you might not know of that song.

But how is that? It was a number one record. Hell, it was #11 on the Pop charts too. Sometimes Soul records may hit number one, but have a poor showing on the Pop side. This doesn’t fit that category.

So, why did this song (and others like it) though the year get out of rotation. While other hits, I guess stay hits?

Because some songs are still promoted and others aren't. That's all staying power is. If you listen to classic rock radio, you'll hear certain songs over & over by certain acts like Fly Like An Eagle, Blinded By The Light, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Janie's Crying, Hotel California, Layla, Don't Stop Believing, etc. It's the same with the adult R&B station which plays a lot of old songs like Happy Feelings, Outstanding, Rock With You and so on. Other songs are used in commercials, movies, video games, & TV shows like Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye. Whenever the Christmas season comes around, Johnny Mathis is sure to be played, but otherwise I never hear him on the radio. For Christmas & Halloween, a lot of acts that don't generally get airplay is on the radio. Like Burl Ives. In the case of the 1960s Motown stuff, the songs that were pop hits are more likely to be the ones that are still played today. I hear I Want You Back by the Jackson 5 all the time on the radio or in stores, but rarely singles that were more popular on the R&B side like Whatever You Got I Want.

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I remember in the 1980s there were oldies stations that played late 1950s thru 1960s rock n roll and also easy listening stations that played stuff like Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, & The Andrews Sisters. They'd also play a few new songs like I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder. By the mid-1990s the easy listening stations were gone. The local oldies station started playing 1970s hits, not the doo wop, girl groups, and Yeah Yeah Yeah era Beatles. The local oldies station just creep up in years every so often. Now the oldies station plays old rap hits from the 1980s & 1990s. The format started about a year or 2 ago. A few years ago they were playing 1980s stuff and was called "retro" rather than oldies. The retro playlist didn't last that long though, probably becuase it seemed a lot of the playlist was Journey and Jack & Diane by John Cougar. I thick I heard Jack & Diane more on this station than when it was originally out

Why do certain songs get picked over others? Richard Dimples Fields had a number one hit in 1982, If It Ain't One Thing It's Another. While Luther Vandross peaked at #3 with Bad Boy. That get's played all the time. Further on down the chart, D-Trains "You're The One For Me" peaked at #13. And, that even gets played more than "If It Ain't One Thing It's Another." The song might be a bad example lol, but you get my point.

Is Dimples stuff in print or available to buy as a download? (I don't know anything about the download sites because I've never used them.) Maybe that has something to do with it since Clear Channel stations are generally computer run, not a DJ playing records. I don't think Dimples even has a greatest hits or best of album. I've never seen one. He might be too obscure today. I used to hear She's Got Papers every once in awhile on the soul oldies station though.

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I don't hear singers like Tyrone Davis, Jimmy Bo Horne, The Sylvers, and Grey & Hanks on the radio today either.

It's a good question, and I'm not smart enough to know the answer. It would take data, and musical intelligence, to figure it out. But if I was going to talk out of my ass...

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Maybe the length of the hook? Shorter being better?

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Could be certain keys, or song subjects, age better? How easy is the song to sing along to? It could be the specificity of lyrics - more general, less specific lyrics being better.

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I don't think all charting songs - even all #1s - should be considered equal. Single A can go to #1 because it's a classic amazing song, and Single B can go to # 1 because there's not a lot of other good songs out at that time.

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I bet it's just random, and shocks even the artists, what songs become classics.

Initial commercial impact, overall positive critical assessment and a generally understood sense of "truth" and "relativity" from some part of the mass culture. I think those are the elements in the equation, though I can't say where the various mathematical symbols go

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Sometimes, what also happens is that an older hit gets used in advertisement, or in a movie (when it happens to be a fav song of the director). Then, more people are exposed to it and it experiences a 'revival'. Optionally, it might have a re-release then and re-enter the charts. But even if it doesn't, it will usually have more rotation again, especially on the golden oldies channels.

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Also, when sampled or remixed by new artists, an old semi-forgotten hit may rise to the surface again and get additional replay. Examples I can think of are 'A Little Less Conversation' by Elvis due to the JXL remix, and 'Valerie' by Steve Winwood due to the 'Call On Me' sample in the Eric Prydz tune. Suddenly, I heard these songs every day on the golden oldies channel after the remixes/samples had been hits.

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LittleBLUECorvette said:

The Jacksons "Can You Feel It" peaked at number 30 on the Soul charts in 1981. It was ine of their lower showings. Yet, it's one of their most known and signature songs.

Chart position is not necessarily always an indicator of popularity. Neither Bad To The Bone by George Thorogood, nor Bob Seger's Old Time Rock And Roll were big hits, but yet they're really famous songs and heard in a lot of places to this day. In Bob's case, Tom Cruise is probably the reason the song became really well known, when it was not a new song the year Risky Buisness was released. It's the same for other oldies that became hits in the 1980s because of being used in movies like Stand By Me (Ben E. King), It's A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong), and those Dirty Dancing & Big Chill soundtracks that were big sellers. Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder was never actually released as a single, so it didn't chart. Many Beatles songs were not actually singles, but are popular too, like A Little Help From My Friends, probably the most known Beatles song with a Ringo lead. I heard it the other day on the classic rock station. I don't think Memory from the Broadway play Cats was a big hit either, but it's well known. There's also acts who were not really popular on the Top 40 singles side like Pink Floyd, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. But they have really well known songs too. You can say the same for gospel songs. Many are famous, not because they were hit singles as Top 40 has rarely played religious songs, but because many church choirs perform the songs during their services. Aretha Franklin's biggest selling album was the gospel Amazing Grace.

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It's like TV theme songs, most weren't hit singles, but many people know the words to Gilligan's Island or Different Strokes because the shows continue to be rerun. I first heard of Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley because it was the theme to some seasons of Happy Days. TV reruns is also a reason The Monkees music always reach a new audience, when other acts from the same era don't have that outlet. They don't rerun the music and variety shows like American Bandstand, Midnight Special, or Shindig, but a sitcom like The Monkees can be shown. Leave It To Beaver still comes on, but the 1970s Donny & Marie Show doesn't. I do see the Lawrence Welk Show on PBS though. Same for channels showing Elvis Presley movies all the time. A different audience can discover Elvis that way, when maybe you can't hear him on the radio.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

What determines a records staying power (years later?)

I think it's "the hook"....I'll give you a great example...Lady Marmalade....It's that Damn Organ and the "Voulez, Voulez, something, something"....

Chancellor said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

What determines a records staying power (years later?)

I think it's "the hook"....I'll give you a great example...Lady Marmalade....It's that Damn Organ and the "Voulez, Voulez, something, something"....

It's alot to do with the hook especially in commercials. Because there are NO more real writers coming up with new commercial jingles, I mean I think Barry Manilow was the last jngle writer and Richard Marx's father was a legendary one too. But that art form really is done because now you just slap a current song that has a hook or an older one. I mean QUEEN "I want it all" in america was never a hit here and yet people know that song from a commercial. Fifth Harmony's "Work it" was still on the charts and was already in a commercial. So it really goes mostly to the hook. When Manilow spoke about how jingle writers back then (and why they dont exist now) is that you really have to come up with something quick and it's gotta be to the point 30 seconds sometimes less or a little more but basically you needed to be a quick writer and something that held.