UK Singles Chart: 1954

So now we're into 1954, midway through the fifties so surely now is the time for the rock n roll music the decade is often remembered for? Well, not quite.

The charts were still dominated by solo artists doing traditional pop music like they had been the previous two years. We still had nobody outside of the UK, USA, Canada or Trinidad & Tobago have a UK hit.

However, it was starting to evolve a bit more, most notably in October when it expanded from a top 12 to a top 20. Notable chart debutants of the year included Frank Sinatra and Petula Clark, both of who were already established musicians. The year also saw debut hits for the Crew Cuts and the Four Knights, bringing Doo Wop music to the charts for the first time.

Frankie Laine was still the artist who had scored the most hits, having 14 to his name by the end of the year. However, he failed to add to his tally of 3 number ones, but nobody had multiple number ones this year and Frankie Laine would still hold the record of most number ones by the end of the year.

The Christmas number one was Winifred Atwell - Let's Have Another Party. Winifred Atwell is the only female instrumentalist to have a UK number one and this is the only instrumental Christmas number one at the time of writing this. Another interesting fact though is that at 5 minutes 23 seconds long, its only 27 seconds shorter than Bohemian Rhaspsody the song you often hear was deemed too long to be a success prior to its release. Let's Have Another Party is it's length because it's a ragtime medley but I would also argue that Bohemian Rhapsody is its length because its essentially five songs rolled into one.

We had the first posthumous uk hit in 1954, Glenn Miller Orchestra - Moonlight Serenade. Glenn Miller had died whilst fighting in the second world war in 1944. He had also written this composition himself therefore joining Winifred Atwell on the list of musicians who had a UK hit they wrote. Also joining that list this year were Ken Mackintosh who had a hit with The Creep and comedian Norman Wisdom who had a hit with Don't Laugh at Me.

In addition to the doo wop groups mentioned, there were three more groups making their chart debuts this year. They were the Four Aces who did a version of Three Coins in the Fountain which was a number one that year for Frank Sinatra. Then there was The Chordettes who had a hit with Mr Sandman, which was also a hit for Dickie Valentine that year. Finally, in the final week of 1954 we had the first UK hit from Bill Haley & His Comets with........

No, not that one. It was actually Shake Rattle and Roll, but this is the beginning of the music which would go on to define the decade, the question is will the UK charts reflect this? We'll see when we look at 1955 and beyond.