I remember the first time I discovered that radio stations did end of year lists featuring the top records of the year I was a passenger with my brother driving the Ford Fairlane. We were listening to WABC and were trying to guess which Beatles record would be no. 1. I guessed She Loves You because it was the no. 1 record for several weeks in March. It was quite a surprise when Louis Armstrong's Hello Dolly came out to no. 1.
1965 was also an interesting year, I predicted Downtown by Petula Clark and much to my surprise Satisfaction was no. 1 that year. Apparently, millions of kids bought the record to hear the dirty lyric that was supposedly censored from radio play that summer. Ballad of the Green Berets was no. 1 in 1966 and Lulu's To Sir With Love got the honor in 1967.
By 1967 though, the hip kids were listening to albums and hearing album cuts on FM. The era of teenagers and AM radio was coming to an end. Woodstock killed classic AM radio.
