The_Virgin_Book_of_British_Hit_Singles
The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles
Music reference book
The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles is a charts reference book published in October 2008.[1] It replaces the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, after the Guinness World Records brand was sold to The Jim Pattison Group (owner of Ripley's Believe It or Not!), who decided that UK chart books were not a core part of their new global acquisition (especially as the contract was due to expire anyway). The last edition was published by Guinness World Records in 2006 and covered all chart hits between 1952-2005. Two years later Ebury Publishing/Random House took over the contract from The Official Charts Company to publish the re-branded version of the book under their Virgin Books brand. Published as The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles in November 2008 without the album charts information (as the Virgin/Official Hit Albums book was to follow in 2009),[2] but with the data pertaining to the EP chart (as featured in Record Retailer in separate listings to the standard singles chart), published between March 1960 and December 1967. The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles was last updated in 2010 with Volume 2 being edited by Dave McAleer, Andy Gregory and Matthew White.[3]