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early 1950s pop market was completely dominated by a handful of major recording companies:
Evidence of the Majors' control over the Music Industry in the 50s:
1954—of the 50 top-selling records, 42 were produced by the majors!!
though primarily pop-oriented, the majors also produced classical, jazz, & some C&W
In contrast, between January 1955 & December 1960, there were 109 #1 hits; only 17 of these were by the major artists discussed in Chapters 3 & 4 of your text!! ... 15 of these hits were by Presley!!!! The other two? ... Bill Haley & the Comets reached #1 in May of 1955 with "Rock Around the Clock" and Buddy Holly's Crickets hit #1 in August of 1957 with "That'll Be the Day."
See the next page ("Rise of the Independent Labels") to learn more.
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