Anyone interested in statistics on popular music will find this book fascinating. This fourth edition tracks the hit songs from 1935 to 1958 and from 1958 to1994. It also has chapters on Singles Hits; Album Hits; Hits in Special Categories; and Holiday, Seasonal and Patriotic Hits. There are three indexes: weekly charts from 1935-1994 and charts by performer and song.

For jazz standards researchers who would like to know how a song did on the radio and the later television show, “Your Hit Parade,” Bruce Elrod’s book has the information, but it can be hard to find and expensive.

Bruce Elrod wrote the liner notes for the release on CD of the V Discs recorded during WWII and sent overseas to entertain troops.