It's A Record: Music Industry 'Firsts' Quiz

Answer: Poor Little Fool - Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, in May 1940. By the time he was eight, he was starring with his family in the radio show series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. It later transferred to television.

He also had a movie career, starring with John Wayne and Dean Martin in "Rio Bravo" in 1959. It was said the term "teen idol" was coined just for him.

"Poor Little Fool" spent two weeks at the top of the Hot 100. In his musical career he had more than 50 hits on the Hot 100 and its predecessor charts. He was to have only one more number one, "Travellin' Man" in 1961.

Answer: Perry Como

This was a three-times number one in the USA in just a couple of years.

Slim Willet and the Brush Cutters were first to record the song and took it to number one on the Billboard country charts in September 1952. Skeets McDonald also had a country number one with a swing version.

In early 1953, Perry Como with The Ramblers took the song to number one on the Billboard Best Selling Singles charts, and it was also a number one in the United Kingdom.

As an explanatory, Billboard had several classifications of charts before launching the Hot 100 in 1958.

Answer: Enrico Caruso

'Guinness World Records' notes that the first record to sell over a million copies was 'Vesti la giubba' from Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci". It was recorded in November 1902.

Enrico Caruso was an Italian tenor. The wrong answers were all French singers.

The clue in the question was that "un milione" is Italian for "one million".

Answer: "You Are Not Alone" - Michael Jackson

"You Are Not Alone" topped the charts in September 1995. Jackson was to have 13 Billboard number ones during his solo career.


When Olivia Rodrigo took "Drivers License" to the top in January 2021, it was the 48th song to go straight into the charts at number one. Ariana Grande, meanwhile scored her fifth with "Positions" in November 2020.

Answer: "Stranger On The Shore" - Mr Acker Bilk

"Stranger on the Shore" was an instrumental. Acker Bilk played clarinet on the track, which was also the theme music from a British TV show. It was number one for one week in May 1962.

The wrong answers, incidentally, were also Hot 100 number ones from British singers.

Answer: The Beatles

The Fab Four were to have 20 chart toppers before their break-up - all in an intense eight-year period.

For the record, those records (sorry) were: "Love Me Do" in 1962, "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1963, "Can't Buy Me Love," "A Hard Day's Night," and "I Feel Fine," in 1964, "Eight Days a Week," "Ticket to Ride," "Help!," "Yesterday," and "We Can Work It Out" in 1965, "Paperback Writer" in 1966, "Penny Lane" "All You Need Is Love," and "Hello, Goodbye" in 1967, "Hey Jude" in 1968, "Get Back" and "Something" in 1969, and "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" in 1970.

Answer: Elvis Presley

"Stuck on You" was number one for four weeks in April and May while "It's Now or Never" occupied the top spot for six weeks in August and September. "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was number one throughout December 1960.

Presley's number ones predated the Hot 100 -"Heartbreak Hotel", the first, took the top spot in the days when Billboard had several different classifications.

Presley had 18 songs that topped the charts, five of them in 1956 alone. (That was not the Hot 100.)

Answer: "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" - Domenico Modugno

Okay, so total red herring in that question, or should that be falsa pista since the language in question was Italian. The English translation is "In The Blue Painted Blue".

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, soon after it came into being. The song was number one for five non-consecutive weeks. It also won the inaugural Grammy 'Song of the Year' award.

"Dominique" - The Singing Nun was a number one in 1963; "La Bamba" - Los Lobos was a number one in 1987; "Rock Me Amadeus" - Falco was a number one in 1986. (Okay, pedants, it was in English and German.)

Answer: Tommy Edwards

With "It's All In The Game," Tommy Edwards became the first Black artist to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100, on September 29, 1958. It was also a number one in the UK, Australia and Canada and sold 3.5 million copies..

Edwards had seven Billboard top 30s before reaching the top. Five more top 30s followed.

Born in Virginia in 1922, Edwards had an early love of music and was a songwriter in New York's Tin Pan Alley for several years, before recording his first song "Up in the Alley" in 1949.

His songs were recorded by numerous artists, including Tony Bennett. In 1951 he had first chart entry with "The Morning Side of the Mountain".

Edwards recorded regularly -even if he was shamefully treated and denied royalties by some record companies - but his style did not move with the rock and roll times on the 1960s. He began to drink heavily, and died of cirrhosis of the liver in October 1969.

Answer: "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus" - Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin

In 1969, "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus" was banned because of its sexually suggestive nature.

Serge Gainsbourg wrote the song for his lover, the actress Brigitte Bardot, and she was to sing on the record. However her husband found out and she dropped the idea...along with Gainsbourg. Marianne Faithfull also turned down the chance to sing on the record, so it fell to Birkin, who had just come out of a marriage to composer John Barry.

"Relax" was also banned because of its suggestive nature, and went on to be a UK number one. "A Day In The Life" was banned because of drugs references. Although never released by The Beatles as a single, the song was to be included among lists of their best work. Some radio stations banned "Love To Love You" because of Donna Summer's "suggestive breathing".