The Bilboard Book Of TOP 40 ALBUMS by Joel Whitburn (330 pages of listing and photo's 1955-1986) USA 1987 1st print. Book: VG++ (excellent)

Based on the Billboard charts, this new compilation of facts and fascinating trivia lists every album to reach the Top 40 of Billboard's Album Chart from 1955 to the present. 150 black-and-white illustrations.

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  • Joel Whitburn, one of the pre-eminent chart historians of the last 50-plus years, has died. The news was first shared on Facebook by Whitburn’s protégé, longtime friend and Record Research co-worker Paul Haney, who wrote that the legendary industry figure “passed away peacefully overnight” on Tuesday (June 14). “He had been having some serious health issues recently, but his passing still comes as a shock,” Haney continued. Whitburn was 82.

    After founding the Record Research Inc. company in 1970, Whitburn became one of the leading authors of reference books on the Billboard charts, releasing over 100 total entries of series like Top Pop Singles, Top 40 Hits, Top 40 Albums and Top 40 Country Hits. Particularly in the time before the internet made archival chart information widely available, his books proved invaluable in providing the whole industry with reliable chart stats and records, becoming fixtures on the bookshelves for DJs, execs, writers and artists alike. (His accurate reporting also made it more difficult for publicists and labels to credibly fudge the chart achievements of their artists, a notoriously common practice in the early ’70s.)