About

What’s the Bottom Five?

There’s a Hot 100, a Top Ten, and Your Hit Parade used to count down the top 15, but for whatever reason, #40 has become American pop music’s Mendoza Line separating hits from misses. The “40” value was an industry thing, but it became cemented in the mainstream consciousness with the radio program American Top 40, which debuted in syndication on July 4, 1970. 

So: this is a rundown of songs from that date in 1970 until the end of 1999, which managed to get into the Top 40, but peaked no higher than #36.