Here are charts from November shows played this year:
Seems I was regularly listening to only the first halves of shows at this point–here I don’t have the third 60s Archive song (it was “Honky Tonk Women”) or the second LDD (“Every Time I Think of You”).
The first year-end countdown I heard in real time was that of 76, and Casey saying on that show that his staff used a “November-to-November” year for compiling their list stuck with me over the years. Throughout my chart-keeping days, I considered the first weekend of November the beginning of a new “chart year.” (I realized–too late–that by 81 this actually was no longer true, at least for putting together year-enders. More on that some other day.)
As for my own listing:
LRB was in their fifth and final week atop the chart. Christopher Cross, Hall and Oates, the Four Tops, and the Police were awaiting their turns. For the curious, “Waiting for a Girl Like You” got to #3 (“Physical” is lurking just outside the top 25 and would reach #4 in January). Like many other 17-year-olds in 81, I cranked Billy Squier’s music plenty enough. Not seeing any good obscurities to bring to light this time, though a couple of AOR favorites would soon be on the scene (I’ll wait for an early 82 show to say more).
Finally, this past weekend’s 76 show:
This is on pink paper, the second and final time I used that color. I’m also in the middle of a three-week run of red ink (the only three times I did that).
WSAI had taken AT40 off their schedule after the 9/4/76 show; listener outrage led to a restoration by 10/17. For years (actually, decades) there was a five-week gap in my charts. When it came back, I adopted a simpler design for a number of months.
Note that I had picked up on the persistence of slow descents, predicting the Bay City Rollers and Heart to stay on the show the following week. I wasn’t wrong about either, though I was still too aggressive (BCR stayed at #33, while the Wilsons dropped only to #32). I had the right idea about BÖC, Chicago, and Abba, too, though I nailed only “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”
The Music of My Life 