Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 281,553 playable programmes from the BBC

Paul Gambaccini with America's Greatest Hits

15/11/2014

Duration: 1 hour, 57 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 2Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 2

Paul Gambaccini presents tracks from this week's US charts and hits from the last six decades.

Each week, songs are played by artists who have been inducted into 'The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame'. Working alphabetically through the list of inductees, tonight Paul plays 'Blue Moon Of Kentucky' by Elvis Presley as an example of the bass playing of Bill Black who was inducted in the 'Sideman' category. We hear 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath, who are also in 'The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame'.

In 'A Matter Of Life And Death' Paul celebrates the birthday of Alexander O'Neal by playing his R&B Number One 'Fake'. We pay tribute to Tim Hauser of Manhattan Transfer, who has recently died, by playing the group's hit 'Operator'. 'It's Not The Same Old Song' highlights 'Happy' by The Sunshine Company and a recent song with the same title by Pharrell Williams. In a new feature called 'Beyond The Sea', Paul plays tracks from the biggest selling albums by UK artists in America. Tonight, we hear songs by The Beatles and Adele. Another new feature called 'The Other Number Ones' highlights records that reached number one in the 'Cashbox' American chart but not in the 'Billboard' Hot 100. Tonight's examples are by Roy Orbison and Bette Midler.

Our R&B number ones are from 1976 and this week by Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. and Sam Smith. We hear Country number ones from 1957 and now by The Everly Brothers and Jason Aldean. This week's featured past and present Rock number ones are by 3 Doors Down and Hozier. The number one album in America is '1989' by Taylor Swift and she also has the best selling song of the week - 'Blank Space'. Show less

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More