50 Years of Australian Top 40s

50 years ago today Australia’s first top 40 was published.

Go Set Magazine was the first to compile and present an Australian chart, put together by Ed Nimmervoll.

Nimmervoll and Ian Molly Meldrum worked on the music side of the magazine.

Nimmervoll “had a burning passion for music and began collecting and closely studying the sales charts from around the nation. He had imported his own records before they became hits here and was having overseas “pop” magazines such as Billboard, Cashbox and Musical Express flown direct by airmail about two or three months before they arrived at the local newsagents. On his journey into the city, he would drop off his chart at the Go-Set St. Kilda office,” according to PopArchives.

The National Film & Sound Archive published the chart today, reminding readers “we were living in a Yellow Submarine” in October 1966.

The top 5 songs were:
 

  •  The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and the flip side, Elenor Rigby was at the top
  •  Followed by Sunshine Superman by Donovan.
  •  Third was Black is Black by Los Bravos
  •  With A Girl Like You was fourth
  •  Born A Woman was fifth. The US version of the song by Sandy Posy co-charted with a version of the same song by Australia’s Judy Stone.

The full chart is below.

 

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