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Cash Box vs. Billboard


Les R.

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The Cash Box chart (CB) was MUCH kinder to the Raspberries (& EC) than was Billboard's Hot 100 chart (BB).

GO ALL THE WAY -- Reached #5 on BB, but #4 on CB.

I WANNA BE WITH YOU -- #16 on BB, but hit the Top 10 in CB! (#10)

LET'S PRETEND -- Definitely the biggest discrepancy of all: While it charted only at #35 in BB with 7 weeks in the Top 40, it fared quite differently in CB. There it reached #18, and held that position for 2 weeks! Not only that, Let's Pretend spent the same number of weeks in CB's Top 40 as did Go All the Way -- 12 weeks!

TONIGHT -- Another major difference: #69 on BB, but made Top 40 in CB! (#37)

I'M A ROCKER -- #94 on BB, but #75 CB.

Same goes for most of EC's big hits:

ALL BY MYSELF -- #2 on BB, but #1 on CB. I'll always have a little grudge against BB for that one!

NEVER GONNA FALL IN LOVE AGAIN -- #11 on BB, but #9 on CB. So on CB, EC has 2 more Top 10 hits to his credit!

SHE DID IT -- #23 on BB, #15 on CB. Those of you who know what my favorite EC song is can just guess what I think about this!

BABY, I NEED YOUR LOVIN' -- #62 on BB, #60 on CB.

HUNGRY EYES -- #4 on BB, #3 on CB.

Two EC songs actually tied (COH & ITWL), and a few others did chart just slightly lower on CB. The only significant exception was Overnight Sensation (#18 on BB, #24 on CB). But I hope you'll agree that all EC fans should consider Cash Box to be the more accurate source for charting information!!

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Les R. said:

LET'S PRETEND -- Definitely the biggest discrepancy of all: While it charted only at #35 in BB with 7 weeks in the Top 40, it fared quite differently in CB. There it reached #18, and held that position for 2 weeks! Not only that, Let's Pretend spent the same number of weeks in CB's Top 40 as did Go All the Way -- 12 weeks!

Yeah...that's because people at Billboard were too high to get the facts straight. :D

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Brian, different criteria were used for the chart rankings. Some publications used units shipped to the record stores as the criteria- if a record company had a super hot act and shipped 500,000 copies the first week, the album was certified gold the first week! Some publications used actual sales through the cash register, which is obviously more accurate. Some used a combination of things, including polling radio stations about airplay. You can see how the different methods could lead to wildly different rankings.

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  • 2 years later...

I have just made some additions to the Raspberries' Wikipedia article. They include all the Cash Box chart peaks as well as Canadian chart peaks. Someone had already put most of them on Eric's article, but now the significant discrepancies can be seen for the Raspberries too.

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It's OK to have a radio airplay chart, but mixing that data with sales as Billboard did just makes no sense to me. I much prefer Cash Box because it shows just what people laid "Money Down" for. Plus, 9 times out of 10 my favorites charted higher, with EC&R being two cases in point! Not only that, but Cash Box weekly Top 100 archives are all free online whereas Billboard reveals only the Top 10 for each week. They charge to see more.

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