The Greatest Instrumentals of the 60’s
Have you ever wondered what where the best instrumentals of the 1960’s were? You have come to the right place as we share with you the rankings of the top 100 instrumentals of the 1960’s. They should bring back some memories. Only nine of the hits reached the #1 position on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart. For a song in this decade to make this chart it had to peak at the #22 position as ranked by Billboard. All of these songs are top 40 hits which you probably heard when listening to the radio in those days.
Some of these songs were commercials we heard on TV. This decade also had the most instrumentals released and make the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The artist with the most hits on the chart is Bill Black’s Combo with 6. The top ten hits take up the first 55 positions on the chart.
You can check out all of the charts by clicking on the following link: music charts.
The breakdown of the songs by year are as follows:
1960 = 17, 1961 = 20, 1962 = 15, 1963 = 12, 1964 = 6, 1965 = 6, 1966 = 7, 1967 = 4, 1968 = 6, 1969 = 7.
Rank/ Title/ Artist / Year/ Peak Position #/ Weeks at Peak Position ()
1 . Theme From A Summer Place / Percy Faith 1960 #1 (9)
2. Love Is Blue / Paul Mauriat 1968 #1 (5)
3. Wonderland By Night / Bert Kaempfert 1961 #1 (3)
4. Telstar / The Tornadoes 1962 #1 (3)
5. Calcutta / Lawrence Welk 1961 #1 (2)
6. Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet / Henry Mancini 1969 #1 (2)
7. Grazing In The Grass / Hugh Masekela 1968 #1 (2)
8. Stranger On The Shore / Mr. Acker Bilk 1962 #1 (1)
9. The Stripper / David Rose 1962 #1 (1)
10. Last Date / Floyd Cramer 1960 #2 (4)
11. The Horse / Cliff Nobles & Co. 1968 #2 (3)
12. Classical Gas / Mason Williams 1968 #2 (2)
13. Apache / Jorgen Ingmann 1961 #2 (2)
14. Exodus / Ferrante & Teicher 1961 #2 (1)
15. Walk Don’t Run / The Ventures 1960 #2 (1)
16. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly / Hugo Montenegro 1968 #2 (1)
17. Midnight In Moscow / Kenny Ball 1962 #2 (1)
18. Washington Square / The Village Stompers 1963 #2 (1)
19. Wipe Out / The Surfaris 1963 #2 (1)
20. Wheels / The String-A-Longs 1961 #3 (2)
21. Last Night / Mar-Keys 1961 #3 (2)
22. Out Of Limits / The Marketts 1964 #3 (2)
23. Green Onions / Booker T & The MG’s 1962 #3 (1)
24. No Matter What Shape / The T-Bones 1966 #3 (1)
25. Soulful Strut / Young-Holt Unlimited 1969 #3 (1)
26. Pipeline / Chantay’s 1963 #4 (2)
27. Because There Young / Duane Eddy 1960 #4 (2)
28. Java / Al Hurt 1964 #4 (1)
29. On The Rebound / Floyd Cramer 1961 #4 (1)
30. Yellow Bird / Arthur Lyman Group 1961 #4 (1)
31. Hawaii Five-O / The Ventures 1969 #4 (1)
32. The “In” Crowd / Ramsey Lewis Trio 1965 #5 (1)
33. Memphis / Lonnie Mack 1963 #5 (1)
34. Time Is Tight / Booker T & The MG’s 1969 #6 (2)
35. Maria Elena / Los Indios Tabajaras 1963 #6 (1)
36. The Lonely Bull / Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass 1962 #6 (1)
37. Taste Of Honey / Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass 1965 #7 (2)
38. Alley Cat / Bent Fabric 1962 #7 (1)
39. Let There Be Drums / Sandy Nelson 1961 #7 (1)
40. Mexico / Bob Moore 1961 #7 (1)
41. One Mint Julep / Ray Charles 1961 #8 (2)
42. Walk Don’t Run ’64 / The Ventures 1964 #8 (2)
43. More / Kai Winding 1963 #8 (1)
44. Wild Weekend / The Rebels 1963 #8 (1)
45. Asia Minor / Kokomo 1961 #8 (1)
46. Tonight / Ferrante & Teicher 1961 #8 (1)
47. San Antonio Rose / Floyd Cramer 1961 #8 (1)
48. Hang ‘Em High / Booker T & The MG’s 1969 #9 (2)
49. White Silver Sands / Bill Black’s Combo 1960 #9 (1)
50. Our Winter Love / Bill Pursell 1963 #9 (1)
51. Theme From The Apartment / Ferrante & Teicher 1960 #10 (3)
52. Watermelon Man / Mongo Santamaria 1963 #10 (2)
53. Cast Your Fate To The Wind / Sounds Orchestral 1965 #10 (1)
54. Rinky Dink / Baby Cortez 1962 #10 (1)
55. Percolator Twist / Billy Joe & The Checkmates 1961 #10 (1)
56. Don’t Be Cruel / Bill Black’s Combo 1960 #11 (2)
57. Red Roses For A Blue Lady / Bert Kaempfert 1965 #11 (2)
58. Zorba The Greek / Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass 1966 #11 (1)
59. A Walk In The Black Forest / Horst Jankowski 1965 #12 (1)
60. Quentin’s Theme / The Charles Randolph Grean Sounde 1969 #13 (2)
61. Tracy’s Theme / Spencer Ross 1960 #13 (1)
62. A Swingin’ Sarfari / Billy Vaughn 1962 #13 (1)
63. Twine Time / Alvin Cash & The Crawlers1965 #14 (2)
64. Fly Me To The Moon / 1963 #14 (1)
65. Shangri-La / Robert Maxwe 1964 #15 (3)
66. Desafinado / Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd 1962 #15 (2)
67. Wonderland By Night / Louis Prima 1961 #15 (2)
68. Cotton Candy / Al Hurt 1964 #15 (2)
69. Perfidia / The Ventures 1960 #15 (1)
70. Beatnik Fly / Johnny & The Hurricanes 1960 #15 (1)
71. Music To Watch Girls By / Bob Crew Generation 1867 #15 (1)
72. Keem O-Sabe / The Electric Indian 1969 #16 (2)
73. Baby Scratch My Back / Slim Harpo 1966 #16 (2)
74. Wipe Out / The Surfaris 1966 #16 (1)
75. Blue Tango / Bill Black’s Combo 1960 #16 (1)
76. Tuff / Ace Cannon 1962 #17 (2)
77. Smokie Part 2 / Bill Black’s Combo 1960 #17 (2)
78. Batman Theme / The Marketts 1966 #17 (1)
79. Soul Finger / Bar-Kays 1967 #17 (1)
80. Soul-Limbo / Booker T & The MG’s 1968 #17 (1)
81. Soul Twist / King Curtis & The Noble Knights 1962 #18 (2)
82. The Work Song / Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass 1966 #18 (2)
83. Josephine / Bill Black’s Combo 1960 #18 (1)
84. “Pepe” / Duane Eddy 1961 #18 (1)
85. Penetration / The Pyramids 1964 #18 (1)
86. Wade In The Water / Ramsey Lewis 1966 #19 (2)
87. Never On Sunday / Don Costa 1960 #19 (1)
88. Let’s Go / The Routers 1962 #19 (1)
89. Look For A Star / Billy Vaughn 1960 #19 (1)
90. Bonanza / Al Caiola 1961 #19 (1)
91. I’ve Got A Women Part 1 / Jimmy McGriff 1962 #20 (1)
92. I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman / Whistling Jack Smith 1967 #20 (1)
93. Hearts Of Stone / Bill Black’s Combo 1961 #20 (1)
94. Groovin’ / Booker T & The MG’s 1967 #21 (3)
95. Mr. Lucky / Henry Mancini 1960 #21 (1)
96. Walk On The Wildside / Jimmy Smith 1962 #21 (1)
97. Bumble Boogie / B. Bumble & The Stingers 1961 #21 (1)
98. Last Date / Lawrence Welk 1960 #21 (1)
99. Wiggle Wobble / Les Cooper 1963 #22 (1)
100. Cast Your Fate To The Wind / Vince Guaraldi Trio 1963 #22 (1)
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