The Top 10 Hits That Took Over Summer 1960

It was the first summer of a new decade, and from late May until early September of 1960, a lot of the country was listening to the same songs. A handful of Top 10 hits and the smashes that took over the No. 1 spot for multiple weeks at a time served as the backing music for countless beach days, hangouts, road trips, bonfires, and other such warm-weather social gatherings and activities.

The kinds of music so strongly associated with the '60s — the British Invasion, Motown, psychedelic rock — wouldn't arrive and spread until later. What people wanted to hear on the radio and purchase on vinyl 45s at the dawn of the decade was relatively quaint and old-fashioned, much of it generated by 1950s stars who still held on to the sounds of that era. So although the summer is often the most exciting time of the year, what the young people were grooving to in 1960 was often tame and silly, and only occasionally edgy. Here are the songs of the summer of '60, as popularized by Brenda Lee, Elvis Presley, Connie Francis, the Everly Brothers, the Ventures, and more.

After school let out and temperatures were on the rise in mid-1960, the song that captivated America most was one delivered by a prematurely world-weary and regretful 15-year-old giving an overwrought apology to a lover she had wronged and rejected. That's "I'm Sorry," a drippy, strings-laden, slow-dance-ready ballad by teenage country-pop sensation Brenda Lee. By mid-July, "I'm Sorry" had been so widely accepted that it began a three-week residency in the No. 1 slot on the Hot 100.

On "It's Now or Never," Elvis Presley showed off his impressive vocal chops. A power ballad with little-known classical roots, the song was adapted from "O Sole Mio" (or "My Own Sun"), composed and initially performed in Italian in the 1890s. Presley barely toned down the operatic tones and grandeur of "O Sole Mio" on "It's Now or Never," and he reclaimed his status as the country's dominant rock performer. "It's Now or Never" was Presley's second of three No. 1 hits in 1960, spending the second half of August and much of September at the top of the chart.

A '60s musician we completely forgot about, Connie Francis was a near-constant presence on the pop chart in the first half of the decade. Americans couldn't get enough of Francis' sweet, understated takes on straightforward songs of romantic tumult, and she landed 24 singles in the Top 40 in the early '60s, including three No. 1s. Francis' first chart-topper was "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," a self-criticizing song written from the point of view of someone who's been dumped. It was an early contender for song of the summer of 1960, moving up to No. 1 in late June and remaining there for two weeks.

A classic rock song that's actually a solo track in disguise, "Alley-Oop" was recorded by singer Gary Paxton for Lute Records when he believed he was still signed to Brent Records, and so he assembled some guys to pose as a fake band called the Hollywood Argyles. The song itself is a comedic novelty about a comic strip: the largely forgotten "Alley Oop," regarding a top-hatted caveman and his dinosaur, Dinny. The gently rocking and hypnotic tune delighted Americans in the summer of 1960 as it took over the No. 1 position for a week in mid-July.

Two-piece bathing suits — bikinis — caused a stir when non-celebrity American women started wearing them to pools and beaches in the 1960s. Teen-idol type Brian Hyland sang a song that both cashed in on and made fun of what seemed like a fad with "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." Sing-songy and gently patronizing, the song appears to tell the tale of a woman who wore a too-small swimsuit to the beach and regrets it so much she doesn't want anyone to see it. This very much of-its-time song spent a week of early August as the No. 1 song in the United States.

It's so smooth, elegant, and beautifully sung by rock 'n' roll crooner Roy Orbison that one almost forgets that "Only the Lonely (Know How I Feel)" is a deeply sad breakup song. While we might think that the first rock 'n' roll adherents were all listening to upbeat dance songs, they were more likely to queue up this mournful, mid-tempo, piano-driven lament in the summer of 1960. It got as high as No. 2 at the end of July.

Summertime is surfing season, and the 1960s were awash in music that celebrated the sport and its culture. In 1960, the Ventures' "Walk, Don't Run" captured what '60s surf rock was all about. It's a cool, vaguely sinister, completely instrumental rock song, with crisp drums and impressive lead guitar that reminded listeners of meandering around the choppy ocean. Crafting a tiny beach trip in the theater of the mind, "Walk, Don't Run" walked up the Hot 100 in the hot months of 1960, wiping out at No. 2 at the end of August.

A bridge act from traditional pop to rock, the Everly Brothers delivered songs about new love, breakups, and other topics that resonated with the youth of the time, with some striking and enchanting harmonies to go along with their gentle guitar strumming. Phil and Don Everly's chart-busting period reached its peak with the brave-faced jilted-lover anthem "Cathy's Clown." The Everly Brothers' only No. 1 hit, it dominated the radio in the early weeks of the summer of 1960, spending five weeks as the top song in the land.

With his twangy, roaming, and buzzy electric guitar, Duane Eddy brought a lot of rock 'n' roll edge to the scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With his backing band the Rebels, Eddy had a string of hits, and the evocative and all-instrumental "Because They're Young" was by far the biggest. It reached its peak of No. 4 on the Fourth of July, strongly implying that it soundtracked a lot of wild, youthful parties in the summer of 1960.