Ask “Mr. Music”
Jerry Osborne



FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 11, 2018

DEAR JERRY: I once read that Atlantic had more No. 1 R&B hits than any other label. That's easy to believe, but there was no mention about any other labels in that regard.

Specifically, I would like to see all of the labels, and how many Billboard R&B chart toppers each had. Fortunately, I am only asking for this info from the beginning of that chart (1942) through 1969.
—Kirk Baldwin, Germantown, Tenn.

DEAR KIRK: Only 28 years, uh? Okay, I can do that.

For this purpose, I will treat subsidiary labels separately, rather than lump Tamla, Gordy, and Soul all under Motown. Same goes for Atco (Atlantic); Federal (King); Brunswick (Decca); etc.

More than one label with the same number of No. 1 records are listed alphabetically:

46: ATLANTIC

38: DECCA

29: KING

28: VICTOR/RCA VICTOR

19: MERCURY

15: ABC-PARAMOUNT/ABC; TAMLA

13: CAPITOL; GORDY

12: MOTOWN

10: IMPERIAL

9: ALADDIN; DUKE; SPECIALTY; VEE-JAY

8: CHESS

7: SAVOY

6: BRUNSWICK

5: ATCO; FEDERAL; RPM; STAX

4: MODERN; SOUL; UNITED

3: APOLLO; BLUEBIRD; CHECKER; DELUXE; DIAL; HERALD; JUBILEE; M-G-M; MIRACLE

2: BELTONE; CADENCE; CADET; DUKE; EPIC; FIRE; FURY; GEE; HI; JOB; MONEY; SCEPTER; SWING TIME

1: A.F.O.; ACE; ALTON; APT; BACK BEAT; BULLET; CAMEO; CHALLENGE; CLASS; COLPIX; CURTOM; DAKAR; DIMENSION; DOT; EMBER; ENJOY; EPIC; EXCELLO; EXCLUSIVE; 4 STAR; GALAXY; GAMBLE; GILT-EDGE; GROOVE; IMPULSE; JAMIE; KAPP; KEEN; LAURIE; LIBERTY; LOVE; MANOR; MINIT; OKEH; PARKWAY; PAR-LO; PEACOCK; PHILIPS; PHILLIPS INTERNATIONAL; REGAL; ROULETTE; S.P.Q.R.; SHOUT; SOUND STAGE 7; SUN; SUPREME; T-NECK; UNI; UNITED ARTISTS; VOLT; WAND; WARNER BROS.


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