The only song to rule the year without ever hitting number one

Entertainment · Published 20 October 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1965, a song dominated the American airwaves so thoroughly it became the year's biggest hit, despite never reaching the top spot on a weekly chart. This statistical anomaly defined a musical era, fueled by a performer who traded classical studies for a velvet-curtained hearse and a turban.

Domingo Samudio, known professionally as Sam the Sham, achieved a unique chart distinction with the 1965 hit "Wooly Bully." While the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, it remained the most-played single of the calendar year. It holds the rare distinction of being the first Billboard "Number One Record of the Year" to never actually top a weekly chart—a feat that stood alone for 35 years until the turn of the millennium.

The road to this success was unconventional. Samudio was a multi-faceted artist who studied classical voice at Arlington State College by day while playing rock and roll at night. After a stint in the Navy and a period living in Panama, he eventually became a "carny" before finding his footing in the Louisiana music scene. It was there, while performing as a house band at The Congo Club, that he adopted the moniker "Sam the Sham" as a joke regarding his vocal abilities.

The group's aesthetic was heavily influenced by cinema; the name "the Pharaohs" was inspired by Yul Brynner’s costumes in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments. Despite the massive success of "Wooly Bully," which sold three million copies and earned a gold disc, the band faced internal friction. A financial dispute led to the departure of the original lineup in late 1965, forcing Samudio to recruit a new group of musicians to continue the run of novelty hits that kept them on the charts through 1967.

Samudio's career eventually transcended the rock and roll era. After a brief acting role in the 1967 Western comedy "The Fastest Guitar Alive" alongside Roy Orbison, he moved into solo work. In 1971, he released the album "Sam, Hard and Heavy," which won a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1972. Today, he balances his musical legacy with a Christian outreach ministry in Memphis, Tennessee.

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