Motown Chartbusters

Tamla Motown logo
Motown logo
Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters; after this the title "Motown Chartbusters" was used.
Background.
Early Motown Records releases in Britain were not on the Motown label, but were issued on the London, Fontana, Oriole and Stateside labels. In 1964, Motown's first number 1 in Britain was "Baby Love" by the Supremes, released on EMI's Stateside label. "Where Did Our Love Go" by the Supremes, and "My Guy" by Mary Wells were amongst other big hits in the same year, also on Stateside. The first release on the Tamla Motown label was "Stop In The Name Of Love" by the Supremes, in March 1965.
By 1964, Motown had accumulated enough British hits for EMI to release a greatest hits album, "A Collection of Tamla Motown Big Hits". Over the next few years, several more compilations were released, including six in the series "16 Original Big Hits". In 1967, the label issued the first of the "Motown Chartbusters" series. Although the series comprised mainly hit singles by various Motown artists, the albums also included other recordings that had not been hits in Britain and many significant single hits were excluded from the series. Later albums in the series failed to include any of the top ten singles achieved by Stevie Wonder, or any of his releases. Minor hits were sometimes included in place of bigger hits, most notably for the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson. Because of Motown's policy of re-issuing tracks on single on a regular basis, there are some anomalies in the inclusion of tracks. Jimmy Ruffin's 'What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?' is included in both Volume 1 and Volume 9, as it was a UK hit single twice. Mary Wells' hit 'My Guy' features on Volume 7, released in 1972, after it had been a substantive reissue hit, despite being first released in 1964 and similarly 'Baby Love' is included on Volume 9, as it had been re-issued in 1974, ten years after it first charted in the UK for The Supremes.
The original albums were made by EMI under licence from Motown. EMI also made 8-track cartridge recordings of the early releases. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK, spanning 15 years from 1967 to 1982.
The first nine albums were Top 15 UK chart entries, whereas the later albums from 10-12 didn't chart at all. The second volume of British Motown Chartbusters rose to No. 8 in January 1970. In the same year, Volume 3 spent six weeks at the No. 2 position, eventually reaching No. 1. Volumes 4 and 5 also hit No. 1. In 1971 Volume 6 went to No. 2 and, in 1972 and 1973, both Volumes 7 and 8 went to No. 9.
The series was the most successful set of compilation albums in terms of sales until the release of the "Now That's What I Call Music" series began in the mid-1980s. A compilation album, "Now That's What I Call Motown", was released on the Universal Motown label.
The series was re-issued by the budget label Spectrum, starting in 1997. The clear differences between the two releases are the logos on the disc and cover: the original release has the Tamla Motown logo; the re-release has the Motown logo.
After its success in the UK, Motown went on to release variants of the compilation format in other counties such as the United States and Australia. There were also various releases on the same type of platform, such as "Motown Chartbusters", "150 Hits of Gold" and boxed sets.
"British Motown Chartbusters".
"Motown Chartbusters Volume 1".
First released in October 1967 as British Motown Chartbusters.
It was re-released on the Spectrum label, and renamed Motown Chartbusters Volume 1
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 2".
First released in November 1968 as British Motown Chartbusters Volume 2.
It was re-released on the Spectrum label, and renamed Motown Chartbusters Volume 2
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 3".
First released in November 1969.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 4".
First released in October 1970.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 5".
First released in April 1971.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 6".
First released in October 1971.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 7".
First released in November 1972.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 8".
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 9".
First released in October 1974.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 10".
First released in November 1979.
Some of the later releases were stamped in red vinyl.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 11".
First released in December 1980 as "Motown Chartbusters '80". Renamed for CD release later.
An album also called Motown Chartbusters '80 was released in the same year on the Astor label (6264 187) in Australia. It had the exact track listing as Motown Chartbusters Volume 11. The cover was almost identical, with just minor changes.
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"Motown Chartbusters Volume 12".
First released in July 1982.
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"United States Motown Chartbusters".
Three years later after the first release of British Motown Chartbusters, Motown released a series called “Motown Chartbusters" on the Motown label in the United States. This consisted of only five albums which had completely different track listings to the UK releases.
Another difference was the number of tracks per album, the UK version consisted of 16 to 18 tracks, whereas the US version only had 12 tracks.
"US - Motown Chartbusters Volume 1".
First released in December 1970.
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"US - Motown Chartbusters Volume 2".
First released in October 1970.
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"US - Motown Chartbusters Volume 3".
First released in May 1971.
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"US - Motown Chartbusters Volume 4".
First released in May 1971.
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"US - Motown Chartbusters Volume 5".
First released in December 1971.
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"Boxed sets".
"Motown Chartbusters 150 Hits of gold".
First released in 1985.
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Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
"Other Motown Chartbusters".
This version was released on the Telstar label in 1986; it is not part of the original series.
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