This Day in 1964: The UK Has An All-British Top 10

52 years ago today, the UK achieved a feat in the top 10 of its singles chart that you’d think would’ve happened sooner, but it’s true: that week was the first time that all 10 singles in the UK Singles top 10 were by British artists.

1. Cilla Black, “Anyone Who Had A Heart”
2. The Dave Clark Five, “Bits and Pieces”
3. Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, “Little Children”
4. The Bachelors, “Diane”
5. The Rolling Stones, “Not Fade Away”
6. The Hollies, “Just One Look”
7. The Searchers, “Needles and Pins”
8. The Merseybeats, “I Think of You”
9. Eden Kane, “Boys Cry”
10. Kathy Kirby, “Let Me Go Lover”

We tried to put together a Spotify playlist filled with all 10 songs, but wouldn’t you know it? They’re not all on there. For one, Dave Clark has been notoriously strict when it comes to the reissuing of his material, but for another, Kathy Kirby’s early work is very poorly represented.

In the case of “Bits and Pieces,” we opted to include Joan Jett’s live cover of the song, since it’s a fun romp through a pop classic, but we couldn’t resist offering up the Dave Clark Five’s original version via their performance on Top of the Pops, which features some choreography that can’t help but make you smile:

For “Let Me Go Lover,” we opted for Ruby Murray’s version, which was actually a top-five hit in 1955, but once again, we thought it’d be fun to include a video of Kirby herself singing it. Sadly, there’s no clip available from when the song was originally released, but we did find a TV appearance from some years later when Kirby performed it, and she still looks and sounds great.