Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
Encyclopedia
The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles is a chart published weekly by Billboard
magazine in the United States. It lists the top 25 singles below number 100 that have not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100
. Sometimes, however, singles halt their progress on this chart, and never appear on the Hot 100. The chart initially had 15 positions (during 1959–1960), but expanded to as many as 35 during the 1960s, particularly during years when over 1,000 singles made the Hot 100 chart. From 1974 to 1985, the chart consisted of 10 positions. Since 1992, the Bubbling Under chart has listed 25 positions.
Several reference books on the history of the Billboard "Bubbling Under" charts have been published by Joel Whitburn
's Record Research company. The latest book (from 2005) was Bubbling Under The Billboard Hot 100: 1959-2004 (ISBN 978-0-89820-162-8). Whitburn's most recent book Top Pop Singles, 12th Edition (ISBN 978-0-89820-180-2), which covers all Hot 100 chart hits from 1955 through 2008, now includes all Bubbling Under entries also.
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine in the United States. It lists the top 25 singles below number 100 that have not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. Sometimes, however, singles halt their progress on this chart, and never appear on the Hot 100. The chart initially had 15 positions (during 1959–1960), but expanded to as many as 35 during the 1960s, particularly during years when over 1,000 singles made the Hot 100 chart. From 1974 to 1985, the chart consisted of 10 positions. Since 1992, the Bubbling Under chart has listed 25 positions.
Chart history
The Bubbling Under chart first appeared in Billboards June 1, 1959 issue. It continued until August 24, 1985, when it was discontinued. (Whitburn notes that during its original run, for unknown reasons the weekly chart was not issued on four occasions -- three of them in 1974, and one in 1978.) The Bubbling Under chart re-appeared without fanfare in the December 5, 1992 issue, and continues to the present day.Several reference books on the history of the Billboard "Bubbling Under" charts have been published by Joel Whitburn
Joel Whitburn
Joel Carver Whitburn is an American author and music historian.Whitburn founded Record Research Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1970, and put together a team of researchers to examine in detail all of Billboards music and video charts...
's Record Research company. The latest book (from 2005) was Bubbling Under The Billboard Hot 100: 1959-2004 (ISBN 978-0-89820-162-8). Whitburn's most recent book Top Pop Singles, 12th Edition (ISBN 978-0-89820-180-2), which covers all Hot 100 chart hits from 1955 through 2008, now includes all Bubbling Under entries also.
Notable "bubblers"
- "Nasty GirlNasty Girl (Vanity 6 song)"Nasty Girl" is a song written by Prince for his protégé girl group Vanity 6. Prince gave the songwriting credit to lead singer Vanity, although he was the writer and composer. It was the second single taken from their self-titled debut album Vanity 6 and was released in 1982.The backing music was...
" by Vanity 6Vanity 6Vanity 6 was a female vocal trio assembled by Prince in the early 1980s.They released one studio album, which blended the sounds of pop, New Wave, dance music, R&B, and funk.-Formation:...
spent 15 weeks on the Bubbling Under chart, including a record seven weeks at #101, but never cracked the Hot 100. Luther VandrossLuther VandrossLuther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
' "Think About You" also never made the main chart, despite spending 43 weeks bubbling under in 2004. - During the 1960s, there were as many as 35 slots in the Bubbling Under chart (with two exceptions; see below). Forty-three different songs grabbed the very bottom rung by peaking at #135, including tunes from Sammy Davis, Jr.Sammy Davis, Jr.Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
("If I Ruled The World"), DonovanDonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
("Summer Day Reflection Song"), Doris DayDoris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
("Send Me No Flowers"), The Applejacks ("Tell Me When", a Top 10 UK hit) and Shirley EllisShirley EllisShirley Ellis is an American soul music singer and songwriter of West Indian origin. She is best known for her novelty hits "The Nitty Gritty" , "The Name Game" and "The Clapping Song"...
, with "Ever See A Diver Kiss His Wife While The Bubbles Bounce About Above The Water?". - The chart contained 36 positions on two occasions. The two records that appeared at #136 were "The Bounce" by the Olympics (April 6, 1963; the song eventually hit #40) and "Turn Around, Look at MeTurn Around, Look at Me"Turn Around, Look at Me" is the name of a song written by Jerry Capehart.In 1961, Glen Campbell released his version as a single. This was his first song to chart in the United States, hitting #62 on the Billboard Hot 100.-The Lettermen's version:...
" by the Vogues (May 25, 1968; a huge hit that peaked at #7). - Ray CharlesRay CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
has the most bubblers ever under a consistent artist credit, charting 14 bubblers from 1963 to 1993. (A 'bubbler' is a track that appears on the bubbling under charts without ever making the leap into the Hot 100.) Don Everly also appears as an artist on 14 bubblers, 13 as one-half of The Everly BrothersThe Everly BrothersThe Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
, and one as a solo artist. Similarly, Joel Whitburn also gives credit for 14 bubblers to George ClintonGeorge Clinton (musician)George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
's Parliament/Funkadelic aggregation, which issued records under a variety of band names or solo identities. On the bubbling under charts, the loose-knit group appeared three times as Parliament, once as The Parliaments, three times as Funkadelic, once as The Brides of FunkensteinThe Brides of FunkensteinThe Brides of Funkenstein was a funk musical group originally composed of singers Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry.-History:Previously background singers for Sly Stone, Mabry and Silva joined the P-Funk collective in the mid-1970s. George Clinton named the group...
, twice as Bootsy's Rubber Band, once under the name of William "Bootsy" Collins, and three times under George Clinton's name. It could be argued that at least some of these groups are actually separate (though related) artists, however Whitburn lists them as one act under multiple aliases. - The RobbsThe RobbsThe Robbs were an American 1960s pop/rock band from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. They are best known for being the house band on Dick Clark's mid-1960s show Where The Action Is...
, a pop/rock band from Wisconsin, hold the record for the act with the most "Bubbling Under" appearances without ever once having any of their records cross over into the Hot 100. Between 1966 and 1971, six Robbs singles appeared on the bubbling under charts. (Their best showing was 1966's "Race With The Wind", which peaked at #103.) All four members of the Robbs later worked as writers, producers and session musicians, and—after their group had broken up—individually or collectively participated in the making of dozens of Hot 100 hits. - One of the most mysterious records ever to appear in any Billboard chart was "Ready 'n' SteadyReady 'N Steady"Ready 'n' Steady" is a song by the artist D.A. that appeared on Billboard magazine's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart for three weeks in June 1979...
", listed as recorded by an artist named "D.A.", which spent three weeks on the Bubbling Under chart in June 1979. In a 1995 interview, Joel Whitburn said that "Ready 'n' Steady" was "the only record we've never been able to find in the history of the pop charts." It was released on the Rascal label (which Whitburn postulated was run "out of a guy's home in Detroit"). However, in the 4th edition of Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Hot 100, published in 2005, the entry for "D.A." was amended with a note stating "the existence of this record and artist is in question." The most recent edition of Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" book, published in 2009, includes both Top 100 and Bubbling Under singles—but D.A. is not listed. Collectors now generally treat "Ready 'n' Steady" as a "phantom record", at least until Whitburn—or someone—can locate a copy.