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Chart Rewind: In 1964, Louis Armstrong Halted Beatlemania Atop the Hot 100
“Hello, Dolly!” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated May 9, 1964. Said Armstrong, “It’s awful nice to be there among all them Beatles.”
Per Riccardi, Arvell Shaw, who played bass with Armstrong, told documentarian Ken Burns, “Three or four months [after “Hello, Dolly!” was recorded], we were out on the road [in early 1964] doing one-nighters in Nebraska and Iowa, way, way out. As for the acts then occupying the Hot 100’s upper reaches, added Armstrong (whom Ed Sullivan praised in a May 15, 1964, New York Daily News column for “that famous gravel-velvet voice”), “It’s awful nice to be there among all them Beatles.” Plus, by dethroning The Beatles after 14 weeks atop the Hot 100, Armstrong put a stop to the longest continuous command for an act in the chart’s history to that point, one that stood solely until 1993, when Whitney Houston tied it, via “I Will Always Love You.” Boyz II Men surpassed the mark with a 16-week No.
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