ISBN: 0-89820-202-7
An essential tool for an elemental understanding of American music history
Hot R&B Songs 1942-2010 is the only comprehensive, artist-by-artist listing of this exciting, ever-evolving form of American music! It's loaded with research on every artist and all their songs that ever appeared on Billboard magazine's R&B singles chart from its inception as "Harlem's Hit Parade" on October 24, 1942 though the "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs" chart of August 28, 2010. That's over 23,800 hits by more than 5,200 artists! Witness the birth of rock 'n' roll in the early chart histories of Muddy Waters, The Clovers, Wynonie Harris, The Ravens, Ivory Joe Hunter, and many more!
From pastime to passion to profitable enterprise, the growth of Record Research has been the outgrowth of Joel Whitburn’s hobby. Joel began collecting records as a teenager in the 1950s. As his collection grew, he began to sort, categorize and file each record according to the highest position it reached on Billboard magazine's charts. He went on to publish this information — first on individual artists’ cards, then in book form in 1970 — and a business was born.
Over the nearly six decades since, Record Research has created data of the life of a recording on America's major music charts, publishing 189 reference books in print. Joel also collaborated with Warner/Rhino Records in creating a series of 150 CD albums, plus five CD albums with Curb Records.
The Joel Whitburn Music Archive remains unrivaled and includes every charted Hot 100 and pop single (back to 1936), every charted pop album (back to 1945), collections of nearly every charted Country, R&B, Bubbling Under The Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary records. The collection also boasts one of the world’s largest picture sleeve collections, many of which are displayed in the series of books (Top 40 Hits, Top 40 Albums, Top 40 Country Hits, Top 40 R&B Hits) he authored for Billboard’s book division.
The world's most authoritative historian on charted music passed away in 2022, still researching the charts until his final day. His Record Research legacy continues.
