The number one song today in 1957:

The number one song today in 1967:

Today in 1969, the Northern Star, the Northern Illinois University student newspaper, passed on the rumor that Paul McCartney had died in a car crash in 1966 and been impersonated in public ever since then.  A Detroit radio station picked up the rumor, and then McCartney himself had to appear in public to report that, to quote Mark Twain, rumors of his death had been exaggerated.

(Thirty-five years to the day later, in 2004, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor issued a statement denying his death after a Des Moines radio station announced he had died from a drug overdose, then correcting to say Taylor had died in a car crash.)

The number one song today in 1972:

Today in 1980, Bob Marley collapsed during a concert in Pittsburgh:

That was Marley’s last concert. He died of cancer the following May.

The number one song today in 1989 was Milli Vanilli’s “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You.” But I’m not going to play it because neither Milli nor Vanilli sang on the song. Blame it on the rain, or choose your favorite song from Marcel Marceau or Mummenschanz.

The number one British single today in 2001:

Birthdays begin with Ray Charles, with whom, as you know, my father once played:

One-hit wonder Toni Basil …

… was born the same day as Steve Boone of the Lovin’ Spoonful:

Bruce Springsteen:

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