May 1971

 Time for the next in my ongoing series of reviewing the Top 40 songs from 50 years ago.  I've been doing this version of the review for over a year now, plan to continue indefinitely.  

  So what was May 1971 like?

There were 5 weeks of April 1971, and there were 61 songs that spent time in the Top 40. As usual, lots of great stuff.  

Despite 5 weeks in the month, only 2 songs made it to #1.  Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World topped the charts for the first 4 weeks of the month, finishing an impressive run of 6 weeks at the top.  The Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar took over for the last week of the month.

Here's the top 10 songs of the month, ranked by average chart position over the 4 weeks of the month:

• Joy To The World - Three Dog Night - 1.2
• Never Can Say Goodbye - Jackson 5 - 2.4
• Put Your Hand In The Hand - Ocean - 3.6
• If - Bread - 7.4
• Bridge Over Troubled Water - Aretha Franklin - 8.2
• Me And You And A Dog Named Boo - Lobo - 9
• Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It) - Daddy Dewdrop - 9.8
• Stay Awhile - The Bells - 10.2
• Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones  - 2.6
• Love Her Madly - The Doors - 13

Twenty-two (22) songs made their Top 40 debut, a couple of pretty notable songs.  Here they are (listed by entering position):

• Rainy Days And Mondays - Carpenters - 20
• Sweet And Innocent - Donny Osmond - 22
• It Don't Come Easy - Ringo Starr - 24
• Superstar - Murray Head - 27
• Battle Hymn Of Lt. Calley - C Company - 27
• I Don't Know How To Love Him - Helen Reddy - 28
• (For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People - The Chi-lites - 28
• Treat Her Like A Lady - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose - 30
• Reach Out I'll Be There - Diana Ross - 31
• Want Ads - The Honey Cone - 32
• Don't Knock My Love - Pt. 1 - Wilson Pickett - 32
• When You're Hot, You're Hot - Jerry Reed - 32
• I'll Meet You Halfway - The Partridge Family - 33
• Right On The Tip Of My Tongue - Brenda & The Tabulations - 33
• I Don't Know How To Love Him - Yvonne Elliman - 37
• It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move - Carole King - 38
• Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian) - The Raiders - 38
• Me And My Arrow - Nilsson - 39
• Double Lovin' - The Osmonds - 39
• Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones  - 40
• Nathan Jones - The Supremes - 40
• Lowdown - Chicago - 40