1943 : #1 Billboard Pop Hit: Harry James Orchestra’s – “I’ve Heard That Song Before”

1958 : The Recording Industry Association of America introduced its awards for record sales, (RIAA). The Beatles hold the record for being awarded the most with 76 platinum certifications.

1960 : Johnny Preston was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Running Bear’, also No.1 in the US.

1964 : Billboard reported that sales of Beatles singles currently accounted for 60 percent of the US singles market and The Beatles album Meet the Beatles had reached a record 3.5 million copies sold.

1965 : Eric Clapton quit The Yardbirds due to musical differences with the other band members. Clapton wanted to continue in a blues type vein, while the rest of the band preferred the more commercial style of their first hit, ‘For Your Love’.

1965 : The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Eight Days A Week’, the group’s 7th US No.1. Paul McCartney would later say the name of the song came from a chauffeur who drove him one day. “I said, ‘How’ve you been?’. ‘Oh working hard,’ he said, ‘Working eight days a week.'”

1966 : Rod Stewart left the British blues band Steampacket to work as a solo artist. Arguably, the UK’s first “supergroup” Steampacket was formed in 1965 by Long John Baldry and also featured singer Julie Driscoll, organist Brian Auger and guitarist Vic Briggs.

1966 : Pink Floyd appeared for the first time at The The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London, England. The Marquee became the most important venue for the emerging British scene and witnessed the rise of some of the most important artists in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Manfred Mann, The Who, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Genesis.

1967 : Working at Abbey Road studios in London, six members of Sounds, Inc. recorded the horn parts for The Beatles song ‘Good Morning Good Morning’ (three saxophones, two trombones, and one french horn).

1968 : The Byrds’ Greatest Hits is certified gold.

1971 : Brewer and Shipley entered the US singles chart with ‘One Toke Over The Line’. The song, which featured The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia on steel guitar, peaked at No.10 despite being banned by radio stations for its drug references. Brewer and Shipley maintained that the word “toke” meant “token” as in ticket, hence the line “waitin’ downtown at the railway station, one toke over the line.”

1973 : David Cassidy appeared at Bell Vue Kings Hall in Manchester, the first of 10 sold out UK shows. The saucer-like arena was capable of seating 7,000 people. Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones, 10cc, Supertramp, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton and Led Zeppelin all appeared here during the 60’s and 70’s.

1976 : #1 Billboard Album: Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)

1976 : The Four Seasons started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘December 1963, (Oh What A Night)’, the group’s 5th US No.1, also their only UK No.1.

1977 : Iggy Pop and David Bowie kicked off a the North American leg of The Idiot World Tour at Le Plateau Theatre, Montreal, Canada with Blondie as the opening act.

1980 : Pink Floyd’s The Wall is certified platinum.

1985 : Bob Geldof and Midge Ure received the Best Selling A Side award at the 30th Ivor Novello Awards for Do They Know It’s Christmas?

1987 : Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1993 : Eric Clapton started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Unplugged.’

1993 : Lenny Kravitz started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way.’

2006 : The Sex Pistols refused to attend their own induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Blondie, Herb Alpert and Black Sabbath were all inducted but the Pistols posted a handwritten note on their website, calling the institution “urine in wine”, adding “We’re not your monkeys, we’re not coming. You’re not paying attention”.

2006 : Black Sabbath is inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Metallica performs “Hole in the Sky” and “Iron Man” at the ceremony. Tony Iommi almost wasn’t able to take his award back to England because airport security said it could have been used as a weapon. Ironically the band had NOT played “Paranoid” at that ceremony.

2006 : The Kinks came out the top earners for music used in TV adverts in the US, earning them £6m a year. The sixties group were enjoying a resurgence with their music being used to sell washing powder, computers and medicines. Led Zeppelin came in second place with £4m and The Rolling Stones third with £2.3m.

2008 : Michael Jackson refinanced his Neverland ranch to save it from being auctioned off, after being told that if he failed to pay $25m  he owed on the California property, it would be auctioned within a week. Jackson bought Neverland in 1987 intending to create a fantasy land for children naming it after an island in the story Peter Pan, where children never grow up.

2013 : Jimi Hendrix scored his highest chart debut since 1969 when his new studio album, People, Hell & Angels, consisting of unreleased tracks recorded with a variety of musicians between 1968 and 1970, sold 72,000 copies in the US on the week of release and made its debut at No.2 on the charts.