1972: Don McLean: American Pie

Don McLean: American Pie

• American Pie was Don McLean's first significant chart entry on both sides of the Atlantic, lifted from the album of the same name.
• The track peaked at Number 2 in the UK for three weeks in February/March 1972, held off the top of the charts by both Chicory Tip's Son of My Father and Nilsson's Without You.
• In the States, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in early 1972, repeating the feat in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
• The single (Parts I & II) remains the longest - at 8:37 - to hit Number 1 in America.
• American Pie has returned to the British charts on two further occasions to date: 1991 (No.12) and 2012 (No.78).
• Madonna recorded a shortened dance version for her album The Next Best Thing (Soundtrack, 1991) and released it as a single which climbed to Number 1 in the UK and other European territories. Although not released in the US, it managed a chart placing (No.29) on airplay alone.
• The song is now considered a classic of American pop culture detailing "the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation as symbolized by the plane crash which claimed the lives of three of its heroes" - Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. (Reference)
• In April 2015, the 16-page original manuscript for the song, along with detailed notes, drafts and alternate verses, was sold at Christie’s in New York for $1.2 million.
• In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant". (Reference)