Summer is the time for easy, breezy living. Hot days, cool drinks, and catchy, danceable tunes. I bet you can name a few that were the soundtrack to some summer phase of your life. They instantly call to memory people, a time, place, and events.
If you’re writing fiction and want to have your character recall some tunes from her past, the Billboard Charts are your go to resource. But, there’s a few tricks to get the goods. You can’t navigate through their site to get to past charts.
Google “Billboard” Hot 100 “July” “1995”, for example, and that should give you a link straight the chart for the first week of the month. Be sure and put the words Billboard, the month name and the year in quotes to get the best results. Skip the Wikipedia link, which will always appear at the top and go straight to one for billboard.com.
If you want more granularity, I’ve got you covered. Website URLs typically follow a pattern and Billboard’s are no exception.
Once you get the first week of the month, note the format of the web address. https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1958-08-04/ gives the first week they have available on the website, with the date format being four digits for the year followed by two digits for the month, then two digits for the date separated by dashes. Use an online day of week calculator to get the date you’re interested in. The weekday they announced the top hits varies through time, but if you enter a date, the website will take you to the page for the closest matching week. Ah, the magic of the intelligent 404 Redirect. But, I digress.
The week I was born the #1 hit was “Can't Buy Me Love” by The Beatles. My mother was a teenager in the fifties and a do-wop fan, so she was probably listening more to the #14 song “The Way You Do the Things You Do” by The Temptations."
Have fun finding the hits when you were a teen, and/or give your character some musical memories by taking a Billboard Charts trip back in time.