When Bill Haley's song "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" hit number one on Billboard magazine's chart of best-selling single records in the US on July 9, 1955, the rock era began. For each of the 860 number one hits from July 1955, through October 1997, the author provides an interpretive history and a black-and-white photograph of the performers, and lists the writers, producers, record label and number, and the songs that filled the number 2 through 5 spots. Includes artist, title, and label indexes, and appends statistics regarding the charts. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR