Elvis Presley ‘s "Love Me Tender" took over the number one spot on the Billboard Top 100, knocking his double sided scored "Don’t Be Cruel" / "Hound Dog" to number two. That made him the first artist to ever push himself out of the number one position. Jim Lowe staged down #3 with "Green Door", Johnnie Ray was at #4 with "Just Walkin’ In The Rain" and Bill Doggett’s "Honky Tonk" was #5.

Sam Cooke appears on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing "You Send Me", but is cut off before he can finish the number when the show ran out of time. He is invited to come back next month to make up for it.

Sun Records issued "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis . The single peaked at #2 in the United States, #1 in Britain, and moved more than five million copies globally. This incredible commercial success made it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Private First Class Elvis Presley is deployed on field maneuvers for the first time with the U.S. Army’s 32nd Armor Regiment. This cold-weather training exercise pulled his tank battalion out of Ray Barracks and sent them to the rugged Grafenwohr training grounds situated near the heavily fortified Czechoslovakian border.

A song called "He’s A Rebel" rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, credited to The Crystals . In reality, the song was cut by a trio known as The Blossoms, featuring lead singer Darlene Love . Phil Spector had hastily put the song together while The Crystals were out of town and put their name on the label because they had already had two top twenty hits with "There’s No Other (Like My Baby)" (#20) and "Uptown" (#13).

Coming in at #83, The Kingsmen ‘s version of "Louie Louie" enters the Billboard Hot 100 where it would peak at #2 during a sixteen week run. Costing just $50 to record in one take, the effort would go on to sell over a million copies and be ranked by Rolling Stone magazine at #54 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. In 1999 it would be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame and 2018 was added to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The Beatles gathered at EMI Studios in London to record the song "Michelle" for their upcoming album, "Rubber Soul". The track was not issued as a single in the US or the UK, but was pressed as a 45 in several European countries. It would top the charts in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Italy and France.

Pink Floyd launched their disastrous inaugural United States tour with a live debut at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The highly anticipated promotional run was quickly cut short due to frontman Syd Barrett’s worsening psychological state and uncooperative behavior on national television. During these infamous TV appearances, Barrett left host Dick Clark baffled on American Bandstand by offering only mute, terse responses during a live interview, and he later completely refused to lip-sync his vocals on The Pat Boone Show , staring blankly at the camera until bandmate Roger Waters was forced to mime the lyrics for him.

James Taylor and Carly Simon are wed by a judge in Simon’s Manhattan apartment, beginning their eleven year relationship. That evening she joined him on stage at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and announces their union to a cheering audience.

Country / Rock band Firefall is awarded a Gold record for sales of 500,000 of their self-titled debut album, which includes the #9 US scored single, "You Are the Woman".

During a concert at the Empire Pool in London, Elton John stuns the crowd by announcing that he would not tour anymore. True to his word, he would stay retired for fifteen months, but on February 5, 1979, he would resume touring with a concert at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden.

British musician Robin Scott, using the pseudonym M , rose to the top of the US singles chart with a Techno-Pop, dance tune called "Pop Muzik". The record had climbed to number two in England the previous May.

Eagles ‘ sixth studio album, "The Long Run" tops the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for the first of nine consecutive weeks. It would go on to sell over eight million copies and gave rise to three scored singles, "Heartache Tonight" (US #1, UK #40), "The Long Run" (US #8, UK #66) and "I Can’t Tell You Why" (US #8).

ABBA releases their seventh studio album, "Super Trouper". Backed by the global hits "The Winner Takes It All" and the title track, the LP would reach the Top Ten in fifteen countries and turned into the best-selling record of the year in the United Kingdom. It rose to #17 on the Billboard chart.

Billy Ocean started a two week run at #1 on the Billboard singles chart with "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)". The song was cut under different titles for different parts of the world, resulting in versions such as "European Queen" and "African Queen".

The Righteous Brothers ‘ rendition of "Unchained Melody" rose to #1 on the UK singles chart twenty-five years after it had first been issued. The track had recently been featured in the film Ghost , starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.

Nearly twenty years after their first US chart appearances, two former teen heart-throbs returned to Billboard’s Top 40. The Partridge Family’s David Cassidy would peak at number 27 with his single "Lyin’ to Myself", while Donny Osmond ‘s "My Love Is A Fire" would climb to number 21.

A free concert in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco was staged to honor the memory of promoter Bill Graham, who was killed in a helicopter crash the week before. Journey , Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young , The Grateful Dead and Joan Baez were the featured acts.

The Grateful Dead officially said they would skip their traditional New Year’s Eve concert in San Francisco, permanently halting a legendary musical marathon that had anchored 16 consecutive holiday seasons. This hiatus allowed the band to recuperate following a stressful year defined by the loss of promoter Bill Graham and a severe health crisis for Jerry Garcia. Instead of the massive year-end show, the group pivoted to a shorter arena run earlier in December.

Columbia Records releases Bob Dylan’s twenty-eighth studio album, "Good as I Been to You". Comprised entirely of traditional Folk songs and covers, it returned Dylan to his acoustic roots, featuring only his vocals, guitar, and harmonica. The LP met its modest expectations, peaking at #18 in the UK and #51 in the US.

Hootie And the Blowfish finalized an out-of-court settlement with Bob Dylan over unauthorized lyric use in their scored single "Only Wanna Be with You". The track featured a verse lifted from Dylan’s 1975 song "Idiot Wind" and explicitly referenced "Tangled Up in Blue".

Santana rose to the top of the Billboard album chart with "Shaman", their fourth US #1 album. It would later be certified Double Platinum by the RIAA on the strength of the singles "The Game of Love" (#5) and "Why Don’t You & I" (#8).

The king of Skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, passed away at the age of 71, midway through a UK tour. One of the most successful recording artists of the pre-Beatles era, Donegan had three number one hits and numerous Top 10 entries on the UK chart. In the US he was best known for the Top Ten hits, "Rock Island Line" (#8 in 1956) and "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Over Night" (#5 in 1961).

Rock legend Eric Clapton was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace.

Paul Mauriat, the French orchestra leader most often remembered for his 1968, Billboard #1 instrumental scored, "Love Is Blue", passed away at the age of 81.

Record label EMI sued the US website BlueBeat.com for copyright infringement after the platform began selling unauthorized Beatles downloads. Because the band’s catalog was not yet legally available digitally, the website caused an uproar by offering tracks for just 25 cents each. The court rejected the site’s defense, shut down the downloads, and ultimately ordered BlueBeat to pay nearly $1 million in damages.

Former Partridge Family heartthrob David Cassidy was charged with driving under the influence by The Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers reportedly found a half-empty bottle of bourbon in the back seat of Cassidy’s car. David would plead no contest and while he avoided jail time, he was sentenced to one year of probation, 50 hours of community service, and lost his driving privileges for six months.

Bette Midler said that she would tour America for the first time in ten years. The twenty-three date jaunt would be in support of her latest album, "It’s The Girls", her first release since 2006. That LP would reach #3 in the US and #6 in the UK.

A lock of John Lennon’s hair was one of 350 items put up for auction on the website Julien’s Live. Other items up for grabs included a long-lost acoustic guitar that belonged to Lennon, a drumhead from the Beatles’ 1964 visit to The Ed Sullivan Show , Elvis Presley’s 24 karat gold leaf grand piano, and several items from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.

During an interview on the television show Piers Morgan Uncensored , Priscilla Presley confirmed she wanted to be buried next to Elvis at his Graceland mansion when she dies. Under the terms of a court-approved agreement, Priscilla was later formally granted permission to be laid to rest in Graceland’s historic Meditation Garden.

Quincy Jones, the legendary, multi Grammy Award-winning music producer and composer, passed away at his home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles at the age of 91. Along with producing hits by Lesley Gore, George Benson, Chaka Khan and Patti Austin, he also scored six Billboard Top 40 hits of his own, including "Just Once" (#17 in 1981), and "One Hundred Ways" (#14 in 1982). During the 1980s, he helped turn Michael Jackson into a superstar by producing his albums "Thriller", "Bad" and "Off The Wall". It was he who convinced the who’s who of the music industry to record the 1985, Billboard #1 scored, "We Are the World" to raise money for the victims of famine in Ethiopia.

According to Forbes’ annual list of the Highest Earning Dead Celebrities, the estates of Pink Floyd members Syd Barrett and Richard Wright each earned $81 million in 2025 as a result of the band selling their catalog and name, image and likeness rights to Sony for $400 million. That put them in a tie for third place on the list, behind Michael Jackson ($105 million) and children’s author Dr. Seuss ($85 million). Trumpeter Miles Davis was #6 ($21 million), Elvis Presley was #7 ($17 million), Jimmy Buffett came in at #8 ($14 million), Bob Marley was 9th ($13 million) and John Lennon finished at #10 ($12 million). — Home Page — Next Day –>