Anyone who cares about the history or the business of pop music is aware of the name Joel Whitburn, a researcher of the topic who has existed in the space for decades, has passed away at the age of 82. No cause of death has yet been stated, however, Whitburn was known to have ill health for awhile now. According to Variety.com, Whitburn had been publishing books on the Billboard charts starting back in 1970. Over the years he has amassed an amazing 122 books on the subject of Billboard charts. The topics he wrote about spanned back as far as the 1890’s, as shown in his book “Pop Memories: 1890-1954”. Although his most popular publishing was “Top Pop Singles” that covered the extensive history of Pop all the way back into the fifties. His love of music was obvious enough from his writings, however, back in 2013 while talking with former Billboard bureau chief in 2013, Whitburn made mention that he had somewhere in the realm of 200,000 45 rpm singles, and also claimed to have every pop album to ever be charted in the magazine. Quite an impressive library of music for even the most hardcore of Pop fans.
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