Saturday, November 16, 1996

Cash Box's Top 100 Singles 1958-1996

First posted 11/28/2011; last updated 3/23/2020.

Cash Box’s Top 100 Singles

1958-1996

Cash Box magazine first issued a top 100 singles chart for the September 13, 1958 issue when they expanded their top 75 chart to one hundred positions. The original version of the magazine lasted through November 16, 1996. Using a progressive inverse point system, Cash Box chart archivist Randy Price compiled a list of the top 100 songs according to the Cash Box charts. Here’s the list:

Chubby Checker “The Twist” (1960)
Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” (1959)
The Monkees “I’m a Believer” (1966)
Boyz II Men “End of the Road” (1992)
The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1964)
The Beatles “Hey Jude” (1968)
Debby Boone “You Light Up My Life” (1977)
Johnny Horton “The Battle of New Orleans” (1959)
Percy Faith & His Orchestra “The Theme from “A Summer Place” (1960)
Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1976)
Boyz II Men “I’ll Make Love to You” (1994)
Lionel Richie & Diana Ross “Endless Love” (1981)
Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (1981)
The Archies “Sugar Sugar” (1969)
Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra “Love Is Blue (L’Amour Est Bleu)” (1968)
Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” (1992)
Boris Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers “Monster Mash” (1962)
Louis Armstrong “Hello, Dolly!” (1964)
The Fifth Dimension “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (1969)
Queen “Another One Bites the Dust” (1980)
Three Dog Night “Joy to the World” (1971)
Los Del Rio “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)” (1996)
Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men “One Sweet Day” (1995)
The New Vaudeville Band “Winchester Cathedral” (1966)
Irene Cara “Flashdance...What a Feelin’” (1983)
The Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Women” (1969)
Chic “Le Freak” (1978)
The Bee Gees “Night Fever” (1978)
The Police “Every Breath You Take” (1983)
Boyz II Men “On Bended Knee” (1994)
Sir Mix-A-Lot “Baby Got Back” (1992)
Blondie “Call Me” (1980)
The J. Geils Band “Centerfold” (1981)
The Bee Gees “How Deep Is Your Love” (1977)
Andy Gibb “Shadow Dancing” (1978)
Tony Orlando & Dawn “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree” (1973)
Tag Team “Whoomp! (There It Is)” (1993)
The Four Seasons “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” (1976)
The Platters “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1958)
Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961)
The Knack “My Sharona” (1979)
Tommy Edwards “It’s All in the Game” (1958)
Phil Collins “Another Day in Paradise” (1989)
Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1962)
B.J. Thomas “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” (1969)
Donna Lewis “I Love You Always Forever” (1996)
Lionel Richie “Say You, Say Me” (1985)
Snap! “Rhythm Is a Dancer” (1992)
Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1968)
The Steve Miller Band “Abracadabra” (1982)
UB40 “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (1993)
Don McLean “American Pie” (1971)
Andy Gibb “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” (1977)
Ssgt. Barry Sadler “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” (1966)
The Jackson 5 “I’ll Be There” (1969)
Kenny Rogers “Lady” (1980)
Ferrante & Teicher “Exodus” (1960)
Chubby Checker “Limbo Rock” (1962)
Mariah Carey “Fantasy” (1995)
Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” (1978)
Men at Work “Down Under” (1982)
The Beatles “She Loves You” (1964)
Janet Jackson “That’s the Way Love Goes” (1993)
Gilbert O’Sullivan “Alone Again (Naturally)” (1972)
Jim Reeves “He’ll Have to Go” (1960)
The Box Tops “The Letter” (1967)
The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965)
Exile “Kiss You All Over” (1978)
Elvis Presley “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” (1960)
The Singing Nun “Dominique” (1963)
Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” (1982)
Mary MacGregor “Torn Between Two Lovers” (1977)
Daryl Hall & John Oates “Maneater” (1983)
Jimmy Dean “Big Bad John” (1961)
The Human League “Don’t You Want Me?” (1982)
Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes” (1981)
Toni Braxton “You’re Makin’ Me High”/“Let It Flow” (1996)
The Monkees “Last Train to Clarksville” (1966)
Real McCoy “Another Night” (1994)
Glen Campbell “Rhinestone Cowboy” (1975)
The Partridge Family “I Think I Love You” (1970)
The Everly Brothers “Cathy’s Clown” (1960)
Mr. Aker Bilk “Stranger on the Shore” (1962)
USA for Africa “We Are the World” (1985)
Roy Orbison “(Oh) Pretty Woman” (1964)
The Kingsmen “Louie Louie” (1963)
Elvis Presley “It’s Now or Never” (1960)
Stevie B “Because I Love You (The Postman Song)” (1990)
Bobbie Gentry “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967)
Tony Orlando & Dawn “Knock Three Times” (1970)
Dire Staits “Money for Nothing” (1985)
The Supremes “Love Child” (1968)
Bobby Lewis “Tossin’ and Turnin’” (1961)
Rod Stewart “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” (1979)
The Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman” (1961)
Lulu “To Sir with Love” (1967)
Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra “Calcutta” (1961)
The Kingston Trio “Tom Dooley” (1958)
The Starland Vocal Band “Afternoon Delight” (1976)
George Michael “Faith” (1987)

Saturday, November 9, 1996

Blackstreet “No Diggity” hit #1

No Diggity

Blackstreet with Dr. Dre & Queen Pen

Writer(s): Teddy Riley, Chauncey Hannibal, Lynise Walters, William Stewart, Dr. Dre (see lyrics here)

Released: July 29, 1996

First Charted: October 12, 1996

Peak: 1⁴ US, 1¹ CB, 13 GR, 12 RR, 1⁴ RB, 9 UK, 2 CN, 21 AU (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.6 US, 1.8 UK, 3.44 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 342.66 video, 669.85 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Teddy Riley became “one of the greatest producers in pop history” ^SG and the “originator of the new jack swing sound,” ^FB “a streetwise brand of R&B.” ^TB He produced blockbuster albums for Bobby Brown (Don’t Be Cruel) and Michael Jackson (Dangerous) and rap classics “The Show” by Doug E. Fresh and “Rump Shaker” by Wreckx-N-Effect. He “injected R&B with rap swagger and dance-music intensity.” ^SG

He’d also been with the group Guy in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but started a new R&B group Blackstreet in 1991. He said, “I wanted to do something like Boyz II men but with a different sound, different style, different image.” ^FB Their self-titled 1994 debut went platinum and set up the group for even greater success on their sophomore effort, Another Level. That album hit #3 and was certified four-times platinum. The first album generated a top-ten hit in “Before I Let You Go,” but the second album did even better with the chart-topping “No Diggity.”

The phrase came out of a unreleased remix of “I Like the Way You Work” from the first album. LL Cool J rapped on the track, using the line “no diggity” to mean “no doubt.” ^SG The song was built on a sample of “Grandma’s Hands” by Bill Withers. Riley and co-producer William “Skylz” Stewart looped the song’s “soft and thoughtful humming-to-himself moment.” ^SG Withers wrote the song about his grandma, but Riley “turned it into a song about an extremely sexy woman.” ^SG

“Blackstreet performed ‘No Diggity’ with all the swagger of street rappers” ^TB but it did also feature actual rapping. Riley brought in Lynise Walters, a rapper from Brooklyn known as Queen Pen who sounded a lot like Lil’ Kim. ^SG “She’s got a ton of presence, and she really attacks the beat, bringing equal measures of strut and style.” ^SG

Even bigger, though, is Dr. Dre, “the former N.W.A. producer and occasional rapper, [who] figured out how to make a street-rap blockbuster.” ^SG When Dre first heard the song, he told Riley he wanted to be in the video. Riley agreed, but only if Dr would rap on the song. His “verse isn’t exactly masterful, but it sounds cool as hell anyway.” ^SG

Resources:

DMDB encyclopedia entry for Blackstreet
DMDB encyclopedia entry for Dr. Dre
^FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 850.
^SG Stereogum (4/25/2022). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan
^TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 272.
^WK Wikipedia

First posted 6/26/2023.

Saturday, November 2, 1996

“Macarena” spent 14th week on top