#5 | “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” by Ssgt. Barry Sadler
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Debuted #87 week-ending February 5, 1966, “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” peaks at #1 (5 weeks) on the Hot 100, week-ending, March 5, 1966. Having charted 13 weeks overall — on its final week on Billboard, the single drops out at #20 for the week-ending, April 30, 1966.
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Source: The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts [1966]
BILLBOARD HOT 100 TOP FIVE: WEEK-ENDING MARCH 6, 1966 (click on image 2x for detailed view)
NUMBER 1 IN AMERICA ’66 * SSgt. Barry Sadler * WEEK OF 02/27/66 – 04/02/1966___
THIRTEEN WEEKS on the singles chart, “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” by SSgt. Barry Sadler peaked this week at No. 01 (5 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100, week-ending February 27 through April 2, 1966. (source: Billboard)
MCRFB Link: For the previous No. 1 record in the U.S.A. 1966 GO HERE.
From the MCRFB news archives: 1966
NEW YORK — “The Green Berets,” a top-selling book by Robin Moore of the Vietnam war, is serving as the inspiration for one of the most extensive record campaigns in RCA Victor’s history.
The campaign is pegged on Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, a member of the U. S. Army Special Forces’ Green Berets and veteran of Vietnam, whose face appears on the cover of over 1,500,000 paperback editions published by Avon. Sadler, who is also a composer-singer, has recorded an album of his own
compositions about his tour of duty in Vietnam. The LP, “Ballads of the Green Berets,” will be on the market by the end of this month. A single, “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” backed with “Letter from Viet Nam,” was released last week.
The recording sessions, with Andy Wiswell as producer and Sid Bass as arranger, were held on Dec. 18 with key Victor executives in attendance. Top level conferences were held during the following week to map advertising, promotion and press strategy.
First on the agenda was a “teaser” mailing and trade advertising campaign. A promotion kit which includes a biography, pictures, album information and a brochure on the U. S. Army Special Forces is being mailed to radio stations,
press outlets, one-stop dealers and coin machine operators. A full-scale trade and consumer advertising program commenced on Jan. 17.
Avon has arranged that a picture of the RCA Victor album and credit line be included in all future printings of the book. In return, a mention of the Avon book is made on the liner of the album. In addition, Victor is supplying extra quantities of mounted album covers to Avon, which will ship them direct to book stores and outlets.
Sadler is scheduled to make his first national TV appearance Jan. 30 on Ed Sullivan’s CBS-TV show. A promotional tour will be arranged as soon as Sadler can be temporarily freed from his duties at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; January 22, 1966)
“LETTER FROM VIETNAM” * Ssgt. Barry Sadler
From the MCRFB news archive: 1966
NEW YORK — Sales are continuing to escalate for S /Sgt. Barry Sadler’s “Green Berets” in its single and LP version. The single, ‘Ballad of the Green Berets’ has sold more than 2 million copies, and the album, “Ballads of the Green Berets” has passed the million mark in copies sold.
“Both the album and the single are still gaining momentum,” a spokesman for RCA Victor said, “Our estimates or guesses, even at what we sell are the most optimistic, just haven’t lived up to the fantastic rate the single and album are selling. We give a projection, and virtually by the time we hang up the phone, both album and single are a couple of hundred thousand copies beyond it.”
The album has been in release since Jan. 19. and achieved its million-sale status in less than five weeks. The single was released a week earlier. END
(Information and news source; Billboard; March 5, 1966)
