Dave Watson is the proud owner of 1,404 chart-toppers. He looks back on three decades of tracking down obscure vinyl records – and reveals how he copes in the digital era
For 70 years, the UK singles chart has been a constant in our lives: a weekly countdown humming along in print, on TV and the radio. But to Dave Watson, it’s more than just background noise: it’s a lifestyle. The 55-year-old has been collecting copies of UK No 1 hits since the late 1980s; today, he owns all 1,404 UK No 1 singles, reaching back to the birth of the charts in 1952. He believes it’s the only complete collection of its kind.
Watson’s devotion to the charts began when he was given a Guinness Book of Hit Singles one Christmas. Starting a collection made sense: with a mother who had worked in a record store, he grew up in a musical household and he enjoyed collecting things. “I just looked at the list at the back of the book and thought: ooh, it might be quite a good idea!” he says, speaking from his home in Dunstable.
