Acronyms of the Billboard Hot 100 by NathanL

Champion(s):

Mudrak

Runner(s)-Up:

SorensonG

Quiz Description

Once I've downloaded a database of songs that hit the Billboard charts, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth...

Some songs that hit the top 40 cry out to be abbreviated, like Ray Stevens's 1961 hit "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green And Purple Pills" (which peaked at #35). But "JPPQFPGAPP" doesn't really roll of the tongue, does it? In contrast, the twelve songs below--all of which reached the top ten--have much catchier acronyms. Just identify the titles. For instance, if you saw "GRITS", you'd enter "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" (at least, if it hadn't only reached #52 in 1966, #30 in 1961, and #31 in 1980, under that title). Ignore punctuation, but not leading articles.

To help you out, the artists, in chronological order, are: The Turtles, The Zombies, Norman Greenbaum, Terry Jacks, Leo Sayer, Wings, Rickie Lee Jones, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, R.E.M., Whitney Houston, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. (Why thirteen artists? Because one of these acronyms represents two different #1 songs that charted five years apart.)

Incidentally, while I can't be reached in the LL forum because my membership has long since lapsed, you can reach me by email with username "tahnan" at domain "suberic.net" with any feedback, questions, or complaints.