RPM

The RPM database includes all music industry charts published in the weekly trade magazine RPM from 1964 to 2000. Over 10,000 charts were digitized in their entirety, and are searchable by keyword, date and chart type, from country hits to top singles.​

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The RPM story
Stan and Walt remember

About RPM magazine

The magazine debuted on February 24, 1964, as a four-page newsletter born out of Walt Grealis' dream to create and promote a dynamic Canadian music industry. Critics initially dismissed the publication, geared towards radio programmers and industry insiders, saying that it was not likely to last more than a couple of issues. Over the next 36 years Walt Grealis, and later his partner Stan Klees, helped shape the face of Canadian music. They helped establish Canadian content regulations and created the Maple Leaf Awards - renamed the Junos - and the Canadian Country Music Awards. By the end of its successful run in 2000, RPM had not only evolved into a full-size glossy, it had made an indelible impact on Canada's music history.

Search help

You can search the database with these variables:

  • Keyword
    Enter an artist's name or title of a song as a search term
  • Year
    Only one year can be chosen at a time or choose the default "All"
  • Month
    Only one month can be chosen at a time or choose the default "All"
  • Day
    Only one day can be chosen at a time or choose the default "All"
  • Chart
    This field allows you to restrict your search by selecting a type of chart:
    • All (default)
    • Adult Contemporary
    • Annual
    • Canadian Content (Cancon)
    • Country Albums/CDs
    • Country OTHER
    • Country singles
    • Dance/Urban
    • French
    • Retail Sales
    • Rock/Alternative
    • Top Albums/CDs
    • Top Singles
    • Video

Each search will provide you with the following information:

  • Item Number
  • Display Chart type
  • Volume Number
  • Edition Number
  • Date

To view the image, select the link in the first column you wish to consult or scroll to the bottom of the page and choose "Next" to retrieve more pages. Select the image to zoom in or download the PDF to print.

Acknowledgements

Library and Archives Canada gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada (AV Trust) in the development of this project.

Special thanks to Stan Klees for generously sharing his time, his memories and his personal photographs, and to the late Walt Grealis, for his boundless enthusiasm and unerring belief in Canadian music.

We also gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM). Established in 1978, CIHM is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and providing access to early Canadian publications, first on microfiche and now online. CIHM provided quality control and optical character recognition (OCR) services for the RPM charts. For more information about CIHM, visit Early Canadiana Online.

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