''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by

Walt Grealis Walt is a masculine given name, generally a short form of Walter (name), Walter, and occasionally a surname. Notable people with the name include: People Given name * Walt Arfons (1916-2013), American drag racer and competition land speed record r ...

in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner

Stan Klees Stan Klees (born 29 April 1932 at Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian retired music industry businessman. He created the music recording companies Tamarac and Red Leaf Records in the 1960s. Klees was a presenter at CHUM radio in the late 1940s then ...

. ''RPM'' ceased publication in November 2000. ''RPM'' stood for "Records, Promotion, Music". The magazine's title varied over the years, including ''RPM Weekly'' and ''RPM Magazine''.

Canadian music charts

''RPM'' maintained several format charts, including Top Singles (all genres), Adult Contemporary,

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, Urban, Rock/Alternative and Country Tracks (or Top Country Tracks) for country music. On 21 March 1966, ''RPM'' expanded its Top Singles chart from 40 positions to 100. On 6 December 1980, the main chart became a top-50 chart and remained this way until 4 August 1984, whereupon it reverted to a top-100 singles chart. For the first several weeks of its existence, the magazine did not compile a national chart, but simply printed the current airplay lists of several major-market top-40 stations. A national chart was introduced in the 22 June 1964 issue, and the first national number-one single was "

Chapel of Love "Chapel of Love" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector, and made famous by The Dixie Cups in 1964, spending three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.Whitburn, Joel (2009). ''Top Pop Singles 1955-2008'' ...

" by

the Dixie Cups The Dixie Cups (formerly known as The Meltones) are an American pop music girl group of the 1960s. They are best known for a string of hits including their 1964 million-selling record "Chapel of Love", " People Say", and "Iko Iko". Career ...

. Prior to the introduction of ''RPM's'' national chart, the

CHUM Chart The CHUM Chart was a ranking of top 30 (and, until August 1968, the top 50) songs on Toronto, Ontario radio station CHUM AM, from 1957 to 1986, and was the longest-running Top 40 chart in the world produced by an individual radio station. On Janua ...

issued by

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

radio station CHUM was considered the ''de facto'' national chart. The final number-one single in the magazine's chart was "

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

" by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

The RPM Awards

The modern

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

s had their origins in an annual survey conducted by ''RPM'' since its founding year. Readers of the magazine were invited to mail in survey ballots to indicate their choices under various categories of people or companies. The ''RPM'' Awards poll was transformed into a formal awards ceremony, the Gold Leaf Awards, in 1970. These became the Juno Awards in following years.

1964 ''RPM'' Awards

The ''RPM'' Awards for 1964 were announced in the 28 December 1964 issue: * Top male vocalist:

Terry Black Terry Black (February 3, 1949 – June 28, 2009) was a Canadian pop singer and teen idol, born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Career Black's debut U.S. single, " Unless You Care", was released in 1964, when Black was 15. The song was writ ...

* Top female singer:

Shirley Matthews Shirley Matthews (1942 – January 2013) was a Canadian pop singer. Matthews sang in a church choir and at high school dances prior to embarking on a career in music. She worked in a Bell Telephone office while singing nights at the Club Bluenot ...

* Most promising male vocalist:

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

* Most promising female vocalist: Linda Layne * Top vocal instrumental group:

The Esquires The Esquires were an American R&B group from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, principally active from 1957 to 1976. History The group first formed in 1957 around the Moorer family: Gilbert (born Gilbert Moorer, Jr., August 20, 1941, Birmi ...

* Top female vocal group: The Girlfriends * Top instrumental group:

Wes Dakus Wesley "Wes" Dakus (April 2, 1938 – August 18, 2013) was a Canadian musician and the leader of Wes Dakus and the Rebels, Canada's most popular instrumental group of the 1960s. Wes Dakus and the Rebels Dakus was born in Mannville, Alberta, and ...

& The Rebels * Top folk group: The Courriers * Top country male singer: Gary Buck * Top country female singer: Pat Hervey * Industry man of the year: Johnny Murphy of Cashbox Canada * Top record company: Capitol Records of Canada * Top Canadian Content record company: Capitol Records of Canada * Top national record promoter: Paul White, Capitol Records of Canada * Top regional record promoter: Ed Lawson,

Quality Records Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists. The company operated between 1950 and 1985 with offices in Toron ...

* Top album of the year (GMP): ''That Girl'' by Phyllis Marshall A column on page 6 of that issue noted that the actual vote winner for Top Canadian Content record company was disqualified due to a conflict of interest involving an employee of that company who was also working for ''RPM''. Therefore, runner-up Capitol Records was declared the category's winner.

1965 ''RPM'' Awards

The Annual ''RPM'' Awards for 1965 were announced in the 17 January 1966 issue, with more country music categories than the previous year: * Top male vocalist:

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* Top female singer:

Catherine McKinnon Catherine McKinnon (born May 14, 1944) is a Canadian actress and folk/pop singer. Early life and education Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, McKinnon began as a child performer, making her debut radio broadcast at age eight and her television ...

* Most promising male vocalist: Barry Allen * Most promising female vocalist: Debbie Lori Kaye * Top vocal/instrumental group:

The Guess Who The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of "Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After c ...

* Top female vocal group: Girlfriends * Top instrumental group:

and the Rebels * Top folk group: Malka and Joso * Top folk singer:

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

* Best produced single: "

My Girl Sloopy "Hang On Sloopy" (originally "My Girl Sloopy") is a 1964 song written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns. Rhythm and blues vocal group the Vibrations were the first to record the tune in 1964. Atlantic Records released it as a single, which reached N ...

Little Caesar and the Consuls Little Caesar and the Consuls is a Canadian rock band, originally active in Toronto from 1961 to 1971. The earliest tangible evidence of a group by that name is in the February 23, 1961, issue of the Weston, Ontario, ''Times & Guide'', which men ...

* Best produced album: ''Voice of an Angel'' by Catherine McKinnon * Top country male singer: Gary Buck * Top country female singer:

Dianne Leigh Dianne Leigh (born , sometimes spelled as Diane Leigh) is a Canadian country music performer. She was the first recipient of the Gold Leaf Award (later the Juno Awards) in 1970. In 1994, music trade publication '' RPM'' considered her the nint ...

* Most promising country male singer:

Angus Walker Angus Reynolds Walker (born August 27, 1939) is a Canadian bluegrass and country musician from Port Hastings, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He has been called "Canada's Prime Minister of Country Music" and "The Cape Breton Rebel". Walker has appeare ...

* Most promising country female singer: Sharon Strong * Top country instrumental vocal group:

Rhythm Pals ''Rhythm Pals'' is a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1956. Premise This Vancouver-produced series featured The Rhythm Pals, a Country/Western vocal/instrumental group formed in 1946 by Mike Ferbey, Marc Wald, a ...

* Top country instrumentalist: Roy Penney * Top country radio personality: Al Fisher,

CFGM CFIQ (640 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Richmond Hill, Ontario, and serving Greater Toronto. The station airs a talk format and is known as ''640 Toronto''. It is owned by Corus Entertainment with radio studios and offices i ...

Toronto * Top Canadian disc jockey: Chuck Benson,

CKYL CKYL-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a country format at 94.9 FM in Peace River, Alberta and also several different other frequencies on the FM dial. The station is branded as ''River Country'' and is owned by Peace River Broadcas ...

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

* Top record company: Capitol Records of Canada * Top Canadian Content record company: Capitol Records of Canada * Top national record promoter: Paul White, Capitol Records of Canada * Top regional record promoter: Charlie Camilleri,

1966'' RPM'' Awards

The winners were: * Top male vocalist: Barry Allen * Top female singer:

* Most promising male vocalist: Jimmy Dybold * Most promising female vocalist: Lynda Lane * Top vocal/instrumental group: Staccatos * Top female vocal group: Allan Sisters * Top folk group: 3's a Crowd * Top folk singer:

* Best produced single: "Let's Run Away", Staccatos * Top country male singer: Gary Buck * Top country female singer:

* Most promising country male singer: Johnny Burke * Most promising country female singer: Debbie Lori Kaye * Top country instrumental vocal group:

Mercey Brothers The Mercey Brothers were a Canadian country music group active from 1957 to 1989. The brothers were seven-time Juno Award winners for "The Top Country Group" and were inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Early life All three Me ...

* Top country instrumentalist: Roy Penney * Top country radio personality: Ted Daigle * Top country radio station:

* Top record company: Capitol Records of Canada * Top Canadian Content record company: Red Leaf Records * Top national record promoter: Paul White, Capitol Records of Canada * Top regional record promoter: Al Nair * Top Canadian music industry man of the year:

References

External links

Browse RPM issues 1964-2000

RPM archive charts

RPM (historical information)

The Canadian Encyclopedia: ''RPM''
* {{Authority control, state=expanded Magazines established in 1964 Magazines disestablished in 2000 Music magazines published in Canada Canadian record charts Defunct magazines published in Canada Magazines published in Toronto 1964 establishments in Ontario 2000 disestablishments in Ontario Weekly magazines published in Canada Canadian music history 20th century in Ontario