The Fab 40 (or Fab Forty) was the playlist for the station Wonderful Radio London. Also known as Big L, Wonderful Radio London was a pirate radio station that operated from the MV Galaxy about three-and-a-half miles out from the coast of Frinton-on-Sea, Essex. It was founded by American Don Pierson with a backing of around £500,000, and first "BROADCAST" shortly before Christmas 1964. The station is credited with introducing to Britain the contemporary hit radio style seen in the United States and the Fab 40 chart is said by Music Week to have been "influential". During its tenure, it had disc jockeys such as John Peel, Tony Blackburn and Kenny Everett. Based on airplay (not physical music sales) the chart was broadcast on Sunday afternoons. The station closed on 14 August 1967 when the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 came into effect, with the last Fab 40 chart show presented the previous week by Tommy Vance. Later, when an official chart had been established, rival charts would factor airplay into their charts.
The Fab 40 had a significantly higher turnover of singles than the Record Retailer chart; it had 118 different singles top the chart between 23 January 1965 and 12 August 1967 (by comparison Record Retailer had 53). Additionally, only one single spent three weeks at number one – The Beatles double A-side "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" – while on the Record Retailer chart, 23 singles spent at least three weeks at the top of the chart in the same period. On the Fab 40, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones each had eight number-ones and the Hollies had seven (six of which did not top the Retailer chart).
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Number-one singles
Key
– The song did not reach number one on the Record Retailer chart which is considered by The Official Charts Company as the canonical source until 15 February 1969. – The song spent a week at number one where it shared the top spot with another song.
ArtistSingleReachednumber oneDate is week-ending date of the Sunday – Saturday chart weekWeeks atnumber oneRefs "Go Now" 2 "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" 1 "Come Tomorrow" † 1 "Tired of Waiting for You" 1 "I'll Never Find Another You" 1 "It's Not Unusual" 1 Herman's Hermits "Silhouettes" † 1 "" 2 Unit 4 + 2 "Concrete and Clay" 1 10 "For Your Love" † 1 11 "Ticket to Ride" 2 12 "King of the Road" 1 13 "Bring It On Home to Me" † 1 14 "Subterranean Homesick Blues" † 1 15 Herman's Hermits "Wonderful World" † 1 16 "Long Live Love" 1 17 "Poor Man's Son" † 1 18 "" † 1 19 "I'm Alive" 1 20 "Looking Thru The Eyes Of Love" † 1 21 † 1 22 Peter and Gordon "To Know Him Is to Love Him" † 1 23 "Mr. Tambourine Man" † 1 24 "Heart Full of Soul" † 1 25 "Help!" 2 26 "We've Gotta Get out of This Place" † 1 27 "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" † 1 28 Sonny & Cher "I Got You Babe" 1 29 "" 2 30 "Like a Rolling Stone" † 1 31 "Look Through Any Window" † 1 32 "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" † 2 33 "Message Understood" † 1 34 Hedgehoppers Anonymous "It's Good News Week" † 1 35 "Yesterday Man" † 1 36 "Get Off of My Cloud" 2 37 "1–2–3" † 1 38 "My Generation" † 2 39 "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" 3 40 "Keep On Running" 1 41 Herman's Hermits "" † 1 42 "Till the End of the Day" † 1 43 Pinkerton's Assorted Colours "Mirror Mirror" † 1 44 "Michelle" 2 45 "Like a Baby" † 1 46 "19th Nervous Breakdown" / "As Tears Go By" † 2 47 Small Faces "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" † 1 48 "I Can't Let Go" † 1 49 "Shapes of Things" † 2 50 "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" † 1 51 "Somebody Help Me" 2 52 "I Put a Spell on You" † 1 53 "Daydream" † 1 54 "Pretty Flamingo" 1 55 "Sloop John B" † 1 56 "Wild Thing" † 1 57 "Paint It, Black" 1 58 "Monday, Monday" † 1 59 "Don't Bring Me Down" † 1 60 "Paperback Writer" 1 61 "Sunny Afternoon" † 1 62 "River Deep – Mountain High" † 1 63 "Bus Stop" † 1 64 and the Blue Flames "Getaway" 1 65 "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" † 1 66 Los Bravos "Black Is Black" † 1 67 "With a Girl Like You" 1 68 "Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby" 2 69 Small Faces "All or Nothing" 1 70 "Too Soon to Know" † 1 71 "Got to Get You into My Life" † 1 72 "Distant Drums" 1 73 "You Can't Hurry Love" † 1 74 Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich "Bend It" † 1 75 "I'm a Boy" † 1 76 "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" † 1 77 "Winchester Cathedral" † 1 78 Four Tops "Reach Out I'll Be There" 1 79 "Stop! Stop! Stop!" † 1 80 "Good Vibrations" 1 81 "Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James" † 1 82 "Gimme Some Lovin'" † 1 83 "Green, Green Grass of Home" 1 84 "My Mind's Eye" † 1 85 "Morningtown Ride" † 1 86 Donovan "Sunshine Superman" † 1 87 "Happy Jack" † 1 88 Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich "Save Me" † 1 89 and The Shadows "In the Country" † 1 90 "I'm a Believer" 1 91 "Matthew and Son" † 1 92 "Let's Spend the Night Together" / "Ruby Tuesday" † 1 93 "This Is My Song" 1 94 "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" † 2 95 "On a Carousel" † 1 96 "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" † 1 97 "I'll Try Anything" † 1 98 "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" † 1 99 and Frank Sinatra "Somethin' Stupid" 1 100 "Puppet on a String" / "Tell the Boys" 1 101 "" † 1 102 "Ha! Ha! Said the Clown" † 1 103 Warm Sounds "Birds and Bees" † 1 104 Lulu "" † 1 105 "Pictures of Lily" † 1 106 "Silence Is Golden" 1.001 107 "Waterloo Sunset" † 1.52 108 Procol Harum "" 1 109 "There Goes My Everything" † 1 110 "" † 1 111 "Carrie Anne" † 1 112 "She'd Rather Be With Me" † 1 113 "All You Need Is Love" / "Baby, You're a Rich Man" 2 114 "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" 1 115 "Pleasant Valley Sunday" † 1 116 "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" † 1 117 "Heroes and Villains" † 1.01 118 "Even the Bad Times Are Good" † 1.01
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