(Credits: Far Out / NASA / Uwe Conrad)
Sun 14 December 2025 15:00, UK
1964. Four lads from Liverpool are on a plane heading over to the United States, about to start one of the biggest goddamn musical movements of all time. Meanwhile, America is waiting for the arrival of The Beatles.
“There was no real future for a British band before The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. That was the turning point, after which there was an avalanche,” said Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, “It totally transformed the possibilities, and as usual, The Beatles were the frontrunners. In music, there is The Beatles, and then there is everybody else.”
Why am I bringing this up? Well, it’s because many people consider the ‘60s the biggest decade for music of all time, and they might have a point. It was a decade that was filled with musical innovation as artists continued to find new ways to make, record, market and distribute their music. While it’s up for debate, The Beatles’ rise to popularity in America was one of the first moments when people realised that this was a moment in music that was open to innovation.
While we can celebrate the ‘60s for everything it delivered in regards to innovation within music, all of these musicians had to be inspired by those who came before. While there are some artists from the ‘50s who are considered legends, you have a lot of other musicians whose influence has fallen by the wayside. Without a lot of the dominating voices of the ‘50s, the artists who went on to make genre-defining music in the ‘60s wouldn’t have had anywhere to draw their inspiration from.
There was a lot of beautiful music floating around in the ‘50s, especially towards the back end of the decade. A lot of these songs are still considered classics to this day, as they have been covered by plenty of bands since, as artists reimagine them in their own image.
This begs the question: In 1958, which track managed to climb to the top spot of the charts for the longest period of time?
So, which song was number one for the longest in 1958?
There were plenty of great songs that celebrated chart success in 1958. Connie Francis released ‘Stupid Cupid/Carolina Moon’, a double-sided hit that spent an incredibly healthy six weeks at the top of the charts. Equally, you had The Everly Brothers ‘All I Have to Do Is Dream’ which was number one for seven weeks. You also had Elvis Presley, arguably the biggest artist to come out of the ‘50s, who had a number one with ‘Jailhouse Rock’; however, none of these takes the top spot.
Perry Como spent the longest amount of time at the top of the charts in 1958 with his song ‘Magic Moments’. It’s not massively surprising, given the song remains instantly recognisable despite nearly being released some 70 years ago.
Perry Como was a huge star when this song was released, and his gorgeous song here showed people why he was considered such a star. ‘Magic Moments’ was at the top of the charts for eight weeks and is still in people’s hearts today.
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