Customer Reviews

Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs, 1944-2005

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

With this edition, the author has inexplicably (and unforgivably) removed the B-side information of all singles, and even worse, the Billboard Hot 100 data for each song. One must now fork over another $50 for the author's "Top Pop Singles" book to obtain this information.

Also, no longer is the following included: picture sleeve availability; catalog numbers of post-1989 singles; price guide estimates; and Bubbling Under the Hot 100 data, all of which were in the 2002 edition. Too much space is wasted on songwriting credits, this edition's sole major new feature. Unfortunately, it is at the expense of the previously mentioned data.

One wonders how this figures into their "continuing efforts to improve each subsequent edition." Worthless.

2008 UPDATE: To their credit, the fine folks at Record Research have learned from this debacle and listened to their customers' complaints. The data that was stripped from the 2005 edition will be restored to the 7th edition of this book, due November 2008.

I have to agree with previous online writers that the latest version of Billboard's Top Country Singles is not one to own. After seeing a sample page in a flyer sent to me and on Billboard's website, I noticed the changes: dropping the b-side information, discontinuing ranking the top five hits of each artist, discontinuing pricing information for each single among many other changes. I would like to get the latest version of this book, but I will not waste my money if this information is not included. I have the two previous versions of this book and those are great. I can only hope that if enough people don't like the new version that future versions will be changed back.

I have the previous version of this book entitled Top County Singles (5th Edition, 1944 to 2001). The version you see being reviewed here is the really dumbed down 6th Edition with a new title. Someone made a VERY bad decision to remove quite a bit of information from this book. And seeing as how it is the most recent of their main books to be released, it has to make one wonder if ALL their future books will be lacking information they once had. Previous to this release, I would applaud Record Research for their continuing additions to every new edition in their main series of books (Top Country Singles, Billboard Albums, Top Pop Singles, Pop Annual, R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Rock Tracks) but these changes will NOT go unnoticed. One could speculate that they are slowly removing information from their books in order to promote other means of obtaining information (online?). Anyways, take a long hard look before you actually spend your hard earned cash on this series of books, as it is not what it once was. Luckily I spent an hour looking through the new version at a bookstore and decided not to buy, given the absence of information.

I started with the 1988 version and updated it with the 1994 version, both excellent publications. This 2005 version leaves a few things to be desired . First, duets are now co-mingled with the individual artist listings making them more difficult to locate, and some of these duet hits aren't listed under both artists names. Top 10 hits are no longer listed in BOLD print. Pop chart info isn't listed AT ALL, which makes it impossible to readily determine crossover hits. It was nice to include the songwriter by the selection, but there isn't a "Songwriter Section" for all the songs by the writer listed together. There is a section that ranks the songwriters in number of hits written, but no listing of the titles they wrote. You can't do one without the other, in my opinion. CONCLUSION: If you are mostly concerned with the tracking of pre 2000 hits, crossover hits, duets, and ease of finding top 10 hits, stay with your older version of the "Top Country Singles" books.
Respectfully submitted, Donnykaye

I, like most chart fanatics, own the previous 2002 edition of Top Country Singles. I know many people are disappointed by the lack of all the features that once existed. I was a bit ticked off, too, but then I got to thinking. I know at the moment Joel Whitburn and crew are still in a dilemma about doing the research for the next Top Pop Singles book. Since their are now two major pop singles charts now (the Hot 100 and the Pop 100), I think that is why Record Research omitted all the Pop chart information. I also think another reason was because a majority of the country artists from the 70s and 80s hardly had any Pop hits (ex. Hank Williams Jr., the Judds, Don Williams, Earl Thomas Conley) so I think Whitburn must have felt that how they did on the Country charts is more important.
I don't like the elimination of the B-sides feature as well, but I do like how he brings the spotlight to all the songwriters who have long deserved their recognition. You would think he would put it in his "Country Annual" book, but whatever.
As for the other features like price and picture sleeve guide, I would suggest that any collector should pick up a price guide book other than Joel Whitburns. Their price guides aren't that accurate (and they actually admitted it too).
But this still has a wealth of great chart information but I hope that this format does not follow in any other Record Research books.

I have been using a number of different Joel Whitburn books for many years and have found nothing that even comes close to the quality of his books. They are the perfect referrence work for the music industry. You can't ever go wrong with any book by Joel Whitburn. Other Joel Whitburn books I own: Top Pop Singles, Top Pop Singles Annual, Pop Memories or any of his other books are all excellent and worth every penny you pay for them. I use mine all the time and have never not found what info I was seeking.

For any country music fan or country music radio station, this is the ultimate source...guaranteed to settle any argument. Our old editions were well-worn so this update is a welcome sight! Highly recommended for all country music researchers.

Great book, well worth the money. Well thought out and very informative. You will not go wrong if you buy this book. Don't listen to the people who wrote the bad reviews below, the things that were taken out were not all that important anyways.