“Rock Around The Clock” (1968 reissue) #118 6/15/1968

In Joel Whitburn’s invaluable first book about the Billboard Top 40 charts, he said there are two records in rock history that clearly divide everything that came before them from everything that came after. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is one; this is the other. The original from 1955 by Bill Haley and His Comets (who were originally a country group) was reissued for some mysterious reason, what with everything else that was going on in 1968. But it only “bubbled under” this time around.