Listener supported WNYC Studios.

Brian Lairer on WNYC Studios. And now back to our WNYC centennial series, 100 years of 100 things. We did 100

100 years of the New Yorker earlier in the show. And now ahead of the Grammy Awards, which

will be presented Sunday night, it's thing number 64, 100 years of the Billboard music charts. According to the Library

of Congress, it was exactly 100 years ago, 1925, that electrical recording was successfully implemented

and introduced by both Columbia and Victor Records. And in 1926, in the era that became known as the Jazz Age, there were things like

this, Red Hot Peppers by Jelly Roll Morton.

Just a little taste of a red hot pepper by Jelly Roll Morton from 1926.

We'll sample from each decade in this 100-year segment should be a lot of fun.

And actually, in those days, the Billboard music charts were sheet music charts,

not yet rankings of recorded music sales. So let's talk about

this history. We're very happy to have as our guide and as our guest, Gary Trust, Billboards,

New York-based managing director of charts and data operations. Gary, thanks a lot for coming on with

us. Welcome to WNYC. Thank you so much, Brian. I'm honored to be here.

And listeners, we'll try to make this some participatory fun, too.

We'll take your oral history calls in a few chronological chunks on this question.

What do you remember as the biggest hit song from when you were in high school?

We'll take calls first from anyone who went to high school in the 1950s or earlier. 212-433 W-N-YC. Again,

what do you remember as the biggest hit song from when you were in high school? We'll take calls first from anyone who went to high school in the 1950s or

earlier. 212-433 W-N-YC, 212-433-9692. Everyone else wait up, you'll get your turn. You don't

even have to have liked the song. Maybe you hated the biggest hit you remember being saturated with

and you couldn't escape from high school. That's okay. Just what was the biggest hit that sticks

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