CILLA BLACK 'TOP SELLING FEMALE STAR OF THE SIXTIES'
01
June 2010
New research
published by BBC Radio 2 shows Cilla Black was the biggest
selling female chart star of the 1960s.
According to a
newly compiled chart which brings together sales data from the
era Cilla's second UK single 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' was the 27th
biggest selling single of the entire decade. The single was
penned by Burt Bacharach & Hal David and produced by Sir George
Martin at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
The 'Top 60'
chart which was counted down by BBC Radio 2 on Monday, 31 May
2010 was unsurprisingly very much a male dominated place with
Cilla's pals The Beatles making up nearly a third of it.
Singer and
television presenter Black scored a string of Top 10 hits
throughout the '60s, including her signature tune 'Alfie'
and #1 seller 'You're My World' but the biggest of them
was 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' which was released by
Parlophone/EMI on the 31 January 1964. The single sold a 100,000
copies a day soon rocketing up to the number one top spot. It
then stayed in the British 'Top 75' for 17 weeks.
Sales data
compiled by The Official Charts Company shows that it also
outsold massive hits by Frank Sinatra — 'My Way', Gerry &
The Pacemakers — 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and Elvis Presley
— 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' . The only other female
solo artist to appear in the 'Top 60' chart was Mary Hopkin — 'Those Where The Days'.
The #1 record of
the 1960s was 'She Loves You' by The Beatles with the
entire top five taken by Liverpudlian acts.
The Radio 2
programme, presented by Tony Blackburn, used data collated from
sales between January 1 1960 and December 31 1969.
In late 2009,
Cilla collaborated with the club label Almighty when she
released a club remix of 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' which is
available now on her remixes album 'Cilla All Mixed Up'.
