The Legacy of Joel Whitburn, Pop Music’s Top Researcher

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Joel Whitburn's name and the many books bearing his name may have been best known by music industry professionals, trivia buffs and select others of a certain mindset.

But from the low-profile location of his Menomonee Falls home, the man that music trade publication Billboard calls “one of the pre-eminent chart historians of the last 50-plus years” made an indelible contribution to the business for which he had a lifelong passion. Whitburn died June 14 at 82 years old of “complications from congestive heart failure, a condition he had for about three years,” says Paul Haney, longtime Whitburn friend, protege and employee of the late record sales and radio play chart statistician's Record Research publishing firm. 

Whitburn kept track of the weekly rankings of singles on Billboard's Hot 100 pop tally since his youth (he was impressed by early rock 'n' roll’s Big E's—Elvis, The Everly Brothers and Duane Eddy). He turned his interest into a career, launching Record Research with the 1970 publication of his first based on Billboard charts. 

Many updated and more detailed editions of that first book have followed, as have many other tomes based on other charts and those of other trade periodicals. Though Record Research's first venture was a rogue endeavor for which Whitburn didn’t have the imprimatur of the source he cited throughout it, Billboard's blessing came soon enough.

Inventing Chart Research

“Joel was literally the man who invented music chart research,” Haney notes of his former boss' significance. “Even the publisher of Billboard, Hal Cook, told Joel that they could never figure out what to do with their chart history. Joel’s accuracy and attention to detail gave legitimacy to an industry that often suffered from hype.” And Whitburn kept working kept working until his physical condition prevented it. “Before he passed, Joel had finished his part of our upcoming book, Top Pop Singles Volume 2 (1990-2022), which will be released later this year,” recollects Haney. 

Whitburn's legacy continues after his passing, as his only child, Kim Bloxdorf, has been named Record Research’s president. Haney says of her involvement and the company's continuing operation, “She will continue her work maintaining the company’s website and will oversee the rest of the staff, pay the bills, etc. I will continue to do the bulk of the work of actually putting the books together. Office/shipping manager Brent Olynick will continue to oversee the order department and working on the photos for the upcoming publications. All of us have been with Joel for decades. Basically, the customers will see no change in the final product.”

Nothing significant may be changing at the company, but the way music is obtained and consumed since Whitburn's boyhood days of buying 45s certainly has. Those changes have, of course, changed the way charts are compiled. “We talked about this quite often,” Haney remembers, adding, “Joel missed the days of actually going to a record store and purchasing the hot new records. However, he also realized that the world had changed and that most music fans were purchasing either digital downloads or steaming the new product.  He said that the medium may change, but the bottom line is that people want to hear the music." 

Whitburn kept copies of all the releases whose chart histories he chronicled, with digital-only releases on hard drive, in a climate-controlled vault in his house’s basement. Shopping for more vinyl at local retailers such as Thiensville’s Stardust Records is but one way this man with a very particular sort of notoriety stayed grounded. “Joel lived in Menomonee Falls year-round, so his connection was never disconnected,” Haney says. “He didn’t get out much the past few years, but he did attend Brewers and Bucks games when he could.”

Whitburn's induction as a voting member for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is among the honors of which he was most proud. For all his laurels and success, though, he was humble about the stature he earned.

Haney offers that Record Research's founder was “a hard-working, yet fun-loving person. He often marveled how a small-town Wisconsin boy could make such an impact on the music industry.”