The '' NME'' (or ''New Musical Express'') was a British weekly popular music newspaper. Record charts in the United Kingdom began on 14 November 1952 when ''NME'' imitated an idea started in American ''

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 ...

'' magazine compiled their own hit parade. Until 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) chart was established, many periodicals compiled their own charts. During this time the BBC used aggregated results of the prominent ''NME'', ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', '' Disc'', '' Record Mirror'' and, later, ''

Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The title ...

'' charts to compile their '' Pick of the Pops'' chart. Prior to 1969 there was no universally accepted source or "official" singles chart; however, the Official Chart Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums regard the canonical sources for this period as ''NME'' before 10 March 1960 and ''Record Retailer'' from then until the BMRB took over in 1969. Although ''Record Retailer'' is now the most predominantly used source for charting music in the 1960s, ''NME'' had the biggest circulation of charts in the decade and was more widely followed. After the BMRB was formed, the ''NME'' continued compiling its own chart up until 14 May 1988. The Allisons' entry for

the Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...

, entitled " Are You Sure?", was the first single to be number one on the ''NME'' chart but not to reach the top spot on ''Record Retailer''s chart. In total, sixteen songs failed to reach number one with ''Record Retailer'' but topped the ''NME'' chart. In 1969, after the BMRB chart was introduced, four songs topped the ''NME'' but not the BMRB chart. Notable discrepancies include "

19th Nervous Breakdown "19th Nervous Breakdown" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was recorded in late 1965 and released as a single in February 1966. It reached number 2 on both the US ''Bil ...

", which reached number one for the Rolling Stones on the ''NME'', ''Disc'', and ''Melody Maker'' charts, topped the BBC's ''Pick of the Pops'' aggregated chart and was announced as number one on '' Top of the Pops''; however, because it did not reach number one on the ''Record Retailer'' chart, it is omitted from the Official Chart Company's canon. The Beatles' " Please Please Me" suffered the same fate so, arguably, should be considered the Beatles' first number-one single. Conversely, Elvis Presley's double A-side, " Rock-A-Hula Baby"/" Can't Help Falling in Love", reached number one on all charts except ''NME'' because the entries were split by ''NME'' according to which song was requested when the shop returned its figures. __TOC__

Number-one singles

Notes

References

;Footnotes ;Sources {{DEFAULTSORT:NME, 1960s Lists of number-one songs in the United Kingdom New Musical Express 1960s in British music