Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

is a

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

published by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

(AC) market. In 1965 the chart underwent a significant change. Since its first publication in 1961, the listing had been compiled by simply extracting from the magazine's all-genre chart, the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, those songs which were deemed of an appropriate style and ranking them according to their placings on the Hot 100. At the start of 1965, the chart used this methodology and was published under the title Middle-Road Singles. The title changed to Pop-Standard Singles in the issue of ''Billboard'' dated May 1. With effect from the issue dated June 5, 1965, however, the magazine dropped the Pop-Standard listing and began compiling an Easy Listening top 40 wholly independently of the Hot 100, based on playlists submitted by easy listening radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. At the time, ''Billboard'' promoted the revamped listing as a brand new chart, with each song in the June 5 issue shown as being in its first week on the chart, but the magazine now regards the charts before and after the methodology change as one unbroken lineage. On the first chart of 1965, the number one song was " The Wedding" by British singer

Julie Rogers Julie Rogers (born Julie Rolls, 6 April 1943, Bermondsey, London, England) is an English pop singer. She is best known for her multi-million selling song, " The Wedding". Career Rogers, the youngest of five children, had piano lessons and star ...

, which held the top spot for three weeks before being replaced by another British act,

Chad & Jeremy Chad & Jeremy were a British musical duo consisting of Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde, who began working in 1962 and had their first hit song in the UK with " Yesterday's Gone" (1963). That song became a hit in the United States in the following ...

, with their single "

Willow Weep for Me "Willow Weep for Me" is a popular song composed in 1932 by Ann Ronell, who also wrote the lyrics. The song form is AABA, written in time,Zimmers, Tighe, E. (2009). ''Tin Pan Alley Girl: A Biography of Ann Ronell''. McFarland. pp. 19-22. altho ...

". The longest unbroken run at number one during 1965 was ten weeks, achieved by

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...

with " King of the Road". The highest total number of weeks achieved by an artist was the 12 weeks which

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

spent in the top spot with "

Crying in the Chapel "Crying in the Chapel" is a song written by Artie Glenn and recorded by his son Darrell Glenn. The song was released in 1953 and reached number six on the ''Billboard'' chart. The song has also been recorded by many artists including the Orio ...

", " (Such an) Easy Question" and " I'm Yours". Presley was the only artist with more than one Easy Listening number one during the year, although all three of his chart-toppers were older songs which were not released as singles until 1965. "Crying in the Chapel", which had been recorded in 1960 but never previously released, held the number one position on the first chart compiled under the new methodology in June. The final number one of the year was "

Make the World Go Away "Make the World Go Away'" is a country pop song composed by Hank Cochran. It has become a Top 40 popular success three times: for Timi Yuro (1963), Eddy Arnold (1965), and the brother-sister duo Donny and Marie Osmond (1975). The original ver ...

" by

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

. Like "King of the Road" earlier in the year, Arnold's song also reached the top position on ''Billboard''s

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. None of 1965's Easy Listening number ones topped the Hot 100, which at the time was largely dominated by the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

-influenced style of acts associated with the so-called

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

, such as

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

Chart history

Chart history

References

See also