The Number Ones is a new column where I’ll review every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. ...

This week in 1959, two U.S. soldiers were killed by Communist guerrillas in Bienhoa, South Vietnam; U.S. unemployment was up by 1.4 million from mid-May; 500,000 steelworkers went on strike for a new ...

“Heartaches By The Number” is a jaunty song about despair, which is to say that it’s a country song. It’s a weird gift that the Nashville machine has: to put together a song about soul-ripping sadness ...