Author’s Note: I wrote this summary in April 2021, as my second full-length project after my 2020 lists. It is my first pop year-end project, as well as my first retro year-end project. As I will mention below, I decided to do 1963 as a tribute to my parents, as well as the fact that no one had really taken a deep dive in the year in music.
As with my previous year-end project, the 1963 lists come across as a bit primitive to my standards now. But in retrospect, 1963 was a brave choice for a first retro year, since so few of the songs are well-remembered today.
When I initially wrote this list, “If You Wanna Be Happy” was #3 and “Still” was #4. I have since switched the rankings because I found the latter song worse in hindsight.
Thanks and on with the show!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my second full-length musical project.

After my 2020 year-end list for the best rock and alternative songs of the year, I decided that I wanted to do retro lists, similar to many YouTube music channels and online blogs.  You’re likely wondering why for the sixties, arguably the greatest pop music decade of all time, I didn’t start with one of the later years.  Say, like 1967… the year that is widely considered the greatest year in pop music history.  Or 1964, the year The Beatles broke through in America.  Or one of the other later years.  Why did I have to start with a year before The Beatles?  

Well, the first reason is because I want to get used to the pattern of going through every pop song that made the charts in a given year before I take on years like 1967, 1976, or 1983 (or 1994 when going through Rock and Alternative music).

The second reason is because this list is an ode to my family.

(It was either a reference to The Cranberries song, or the Vanilla Ice lyric “true to my family.”  Obvious to which reference was more appropriate.)

On February 11th, my mother was born in Rochester, New York.  Three months later, on May 20th, my father was born in Rochester, Pennsylvania.  As a result, 1963 is when my origin story begins.

So this list, and the best list I am working on after this list is complete, is for them.  Because oh boy, I am not doing this list for myself.

OK, so… 1963.  In world news, tensions in South Vietnam came to a head with dictator Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated in a military coup.  In national news, JFK was president, tens of thousands of African Americans converged on Washington, D.C. for Civil Rights, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech, and on November 22nd – just a week before the end of the Billboard year – Kennedy was tragically murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald during a parade in Dallas, only to be assassinated two days later by Jack Ruby.  In sports, the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees in the World Series, and the Green Bay Packers won the NFL Championship (again).  In film, Tom Jones won Best Picture, Alfred Hitchcock scared millions of people with The Birds, and the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton vehicle Cleopatra destroyed the historical epic, which is why now we have superhero movie after superhero movie after superhero movie.

So what happened in the world of music?

Well, as with every year before The Beatles made their mainstream impact, 1963 gets a pretty bad reputation as far as music is concerned.  A year where all there was were antiquated, boring ballads and rock and roll songs that no one can relate to today.  Well, this is a bit harsh.  We need to discuss this period in the nicer way – it is a lean period.

There have been several of these in music history that people are more familiar with.  The first period of note was from the summer of 1979 to 1982, when Disco died and we didn’t know what was going to replace it.  Then there is the period from 1987 to 1991, when New Wave collapsed and Hair Metal had become oversaturated.  Finally, there is 2005 to 2011, when Ringtone Rap and Club Pop dominated.  The first of these lean periods was from 1958, when Elvis Presley was drafted into the military, to February 1964, when The Beatles arrived in America.

And the worst music the year had to offer reflects that it was a lean period.  Some years it is fun to go over the worst music of the year, because it is varied and the bad songs are fun to laugh at, whether it is because the music and songwriting is baffling or the lyrics are laughably bad.  Most of the bad songs in 1963 do not reflect this.  Based on the songs that made the Billboard year-end list, music artists knew only two topics: love and relationships.  Worse, they didn’t sound like they knew how to handle breakups or adversity in relationships in a mature way.  If you recently went through a breakup or things between you and your significant other are not going well at the moment, I advise that you do not read this list.  Or at least, entries 7, 6, and 3, which is when I’ll be going over the breakup songs.

Before we get into the list, here are the house rules:

1. The song must have made the Billboard Hot 100 Year End list for 1963.  There were two lists released for 1963: One that was initially released in December 1963, and a corrected version released later.  Because the corrected version uses more accurate methodologies for Billboard, I’ll be using the corrected list.  So, apologies to “The Reverend Mr. Black” by The Kingston Trio, “Martian Hop” by The Ran-Dells, and the other 10 songs that were ineligible for this list.
2. The song must not have appeared on a previous year-end chart.  Fortunately, none of the songs on this list made the 1962 list, so all 100 songs are eligible.

I plan on extending my pop year-end retrospectives to the 1970s and 1980s after this list, while for the 1990s to the present I’ll be focusing on Rock and Alternative.  For the 1970s lists especially, I plan on expanding the list of eligible songs using the Cash Box charts and the American Radio Charts, to include several hit songs that weren’t featured on the Billboard Year End Hot 100.  But since this is a not well remembered year as far as music is concerned, I think we’re good just using the 100 songs that made the Billboard Year End this time out. 

And with that, let’s begin counting down…

THE TOP TEN WORST POP SONGS OF 1963

Today’s Transition Music: “It’s My Party” by Lesley Gore

It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry to if it happened to you

#10. “Deep Purple”

#9. “You’re The Reason I’m Living”

#8. “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer”

#7. “The End Of The World”

#6. “I Wanna Be Around”

#5. “I Can’t Stay Mad At You”

#4. “If You Wanna Be Happy”

#3. “Still”

#2. “Go Away Little Girl”

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

#1. The Worst Song of 1963

IMAGE SOURCES

I’ll Cry If I Want To, Blue Velvet, and Rhythm of the Rain album covers from Discogs

Image of John F. Kennedy from People