And the countdown rolls on!

Because I am a nerd, I own a couple of editions of the BILLBOARD BOOK OF TOP 40 HITS. Before you stone me for handing all my money over to Billboard, let me say in my defense that they were purchased at a considerable discount at the late, lamented Book Warehouse. My conscience is relatively clear. Also...wow, Joel Whitburn is almost omnipresent, isn't he? I suppose someone had to devote their life to this kinda research, so I'm glad it's him and not me.

Still, there are numerous things we can learn from looking back at the charts. One is that some songs do not stand the test of time as well as others. Another is that the ones that do stand the test of time were not always the top hits in their day.

Let's do a little informal survey. I picked these things purely at random, so this isn't scientific.

• AC/DC's Top 40 Hits : 3 (Highest - "Moneytalks", which peaked at #23)
  
• Air Supply's Top 40 Hits : 11 (Highest - "The One That You Love", which peaked at #1 for a week)
  
• Winner In A Streetfight : Do You Need To Ask?
  

• Rush's Top 40 Hits : 1 ("New World Man", which peaked at #21)
  
• Triumph's Top 40 Hits : 2 (Highest - "Somebody's Out There", which peaked at #27)
  
• Person This Makes Very Angry : My brother in battle Lewis Smith
  

• Pink Floyd's Top 40 Hits : 2 (Highest - "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)", which peaked at #1 for 4 weeks)
  
• The Alan Parsons Project's Top 40 Hits : 8 (Highest - "Eye In The Sky", which peaked at #3)
  
• Number Of You Who Can Name Another Alan Parsons Project Song : ????
  

• The Grateful Dead's Top 40 Hits : 1 ("Touch of Grey", which peaked at #9)
  
• Pablo Cruise's Top 40 : 5 (Highest - "Whatcha Gonna Do?" & "Love Will Find a Way", which both peaked at #6)
  
• Cosmic Injustice Factor Of This Figure : Off The Scale
  

• The Ramones' Top 40 Hits : 0 (not even "Rock 'N' Roll High School")
  
• The Partridge's Family's Top 40 Hits : 7 (Highest - "I Think I Love You", which peaked at #1 for 3 weeks)
  
• Probability of Me Screaming "I Wanna Be Sedated!" If Forced To Listen To The Partridge Family : 87%
  

• Black Sabbath's Top 40 Hits : 0 (nope, not even "Iron Man" or "Paranoid")
  
• Stallion's Top 40 Hits : 1 ("Old Fashioned Boy (You're The One)", which peaked at #37)
  
• People Wondering "Who The Hell Is Stallion?" : ALL OF YOU(including me)
  

• Squeeze's Top 40 Hits : 2 ("Hourglass", which peaked at #15, and "853-5937", which peaked at #32)
  
• Number Of Top 40 Hits With Paul Carrack's Lead Vocals : 9 (Highest - Mike + The Mechanics song "The Living Years", which peaked at #1 for 1 week)
  
• Surprise Factor That Neither Of Those Stats Includes The Song "Tempted" : 151%
  

• Combined Number 1 Hits Of Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival & The Who : 0
  
• Number 1 Hits Of Barry Manilow : 3 ("Mandy" for 1 week, "I Write The Songs" for 1 week, & "Looks Like We Made It" for 1 week)
  
• Does This Prove Something? : I Really Don't Want To Think About It