📰 Pop 30 Charts – Charts: Mar. 1973

Melody Maker’s official singles and albums rankings for the week ending March 3, 1973 — a snapshot of glam, folk, soul, and MOR pop colliding on both sides of the Atlantic.

Strawbs, Sweet, and Faces lead the UK singles chart, while Elton John and Carly Simon dominate the albums — with Bowie, Slade, and Alice Cooper climbing fast.

📰 Key Highlights

• Published in Melody Maker, March 3, 1973

• UK Singles #1: “Part of the Union” – Strawbs

• UK Albums #1: Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player – Elton John

• U.S. Albums #1: Hot August Night – Neil Diamond

• U.S. Singles #1: “Dueling Banjos” – Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell

• Notable climbers: Alice Cooper, Detroit Emeralds, Vicki Lawrence, David Bowie

• Includes full publisher, composer, and producer credits

📰 Overview

The March 3, 1973 Pop 30 charts reflect a transitional moment in popular music — glam rock surging, folk‑pop holding strong, and soul making inroads on both sides of the Atlantic. Melody Maker’s chart layout includes four categories: UK Singles, UK Albums, U.S. Albums, and U.S. Singles, each ranked with label credits and movement indicators.

📰 Source Details

Publication / Venue: Melody Maker

Date: March 3, 1973

Issue / Format: Chart page

Provenance Notes: Sourced from original print scan.

📰 The Story

At the top of the UK singles chart is “Part of the Union” by Strawbs (A&M), a politically charged folk‑rock anthem that captured the mood of the moment. Sweet’s glam juggernaut “Blockbuster” (RCA) holds steady at #2, while Faces’ “Cindy Incidentally” (Warner Bros) rounds out the top three.

Other notable singles include “Whisky in the Jar” by Thin Lizzy (#6), “Daniel” by Elton John (#8), and “Hello Hurray” by Alice Cooper (#13), which was climbing fast. Detroit Emeralds appear twice with “Take Me Girl” (#19) and “Feel the Need” (#20), while Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” (#21) begins its ascent.

On the UK albums chart, Elton John’s Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player holds #1, followed by Carly Simon’s No Secrets and Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Back to Front. Slade’s Slayed and Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust remain strong, while Rick Wakeman’s Six Wives of Henry VIII and Deep Purple’s Who Do We Think We Are represent the prog and hard rock sectors.

The U.S. charts show Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night at #1 for albums, with War’s The World Is a Ghetto and Elton John’s Don’t Shoot Me close behind. On the singles side, “Dueling Banjos” leads, followed by Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly,” Edward Bear’s “Last Song,” and Deodato’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”

David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” re‑enters the U.S. singles chart at #19, while Alice Cooper’s “Hello Hurray” appears at #26 — a sign of growing transatlantic momentum.

The chart page also includes full publisher, composer, and producer credits, offering a detailed snapshot of the industry’s creative and commercial machinery.

📰 Visual Archive

Melody Maker’s Pop 30 chart page from March 3, 1973, listing singles and albums across the UK and U.S.

📰 Related Material

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📰 Closing Notes

This chart page captures the pulse of March 1973 — a moment when glam rock, folk, soul, and MOR pop all vied for dominance, and artists like Bowie, Cooper, and Elton John were reshaping the global pop landscape.

🏷️ Hashtags (Archive Tags)

#MelodyMaker1973 #Pop30 #UKCharts #USCharts #GlamRock #EltonJohn #MarcBolan #DavidBowie

📰 Sources

• Melody Maker, March 3, 1973

• UK and U.S. chart archives

• Label and publishing documentation

📝 Copyright Notice

All magazine scans, photographs, and original text excerpts referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non‑commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.