First off, we must define what a single is. Some would interpret it as a hit song that would have been released as a single, so should the double A-sides such as The Next Time/Bachelor Boy or Baby You're Dynamite/Ocean Deep be counted twice? Or should they be counted only once because it was only one physical single that happened to have two hits? Then there is the four song single to consider from the 1973 to consider, which featured both Help It Along and Tomorrow Rising together on the A-side. Most discographies and the most reasonable assumption that lends credence to The Best Of Me as the 100th single only considers the physical single so The Next Time/Bachelor Boy and Help It Along/Tomorrow Rising singles are only counted once each.

Steve Turner's biography enumerates 126 singles up to Somethin' Is Goin' On, with The Best Of Me listed at number 100, which seems like a reasonable first proposal. But comparing this list to the A-sides on the tracklisting on The Singles Collection, Steve's is missing What'd I Say and adds the two singles with Hank, Throw Down A Line and The Joy Of Living. So the implication from The Singles Collection is that Cliff's 100th single was I Just Don't Have The Heart, and The Best Of Me was #99.

If we surmise that Steve doesn't count What'd I Say because it was an export single, then we have to wonder why it does include Gee Whizz It's You and Angel both of which were also export singles. Gee Whizz It's You is different from the other two export singles in that when people began to import quantities of it and it suddenly showed up in the charts, EMI began to promote it as a regular single and it was played on the radio. What'd I Say and Angel got no known UK promotion or airplay. Curiously, if this is the criteria, then neither What'd I Say nor Angel should not be included. Even more curious is that The Singles Collection includes all three foreign singles.

Both The Singles Collection and Steve's list exclude This Was My Special Day. Although only sold at the Palladium, for all intents and purposes this was a normal release in 1964 with a normal catalogue number (DB 7435). Interestingly if it is a normal release then this is the one that takes the honours for Cliff's first chart miss, rather than A Brand New Song nearly a decade later. But by most authorities, the way it was promoted, sold and its exclusivity excludes it. It was also billed as the show's cast with Cliff Richard, so that may be a reason to exclude it as well.

There is also the issue of the non-solo singles: Throw Down A Line and The Joy Of Living with Hank, Suddenly with Olivia Newton-John, She Means Nothing To Me with Phil Everly, Drifting with Sheila Walsh, Two To The Power with Janet Jackson, Living Doll with the Young Ones and Hank, All I Ask Of You with Sarah Brightman, Slow Rivers with Elton John and Whenever God Shines His Light with Van Morrison. Some of these were quite big hits, and it is interesting to ponder the implications of not counting Living Doll with The Young Ones and Hank as one of Cliff's first 100 singles while still including it in his 14 number ones. Also, Throw Down A Line and Joy Of Living were not initially regarded as duets. It wasn't until The Singles Collection that EMI started to treat them as such and excluded them.

Reports at the time regarded Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha as Cliff's 50th single release and Cliff has gone on record stating as such. In order to achieve that count, Gee Whizz It's You is included, the other two export singles and This Was My Special Day are excluded, and the two singles with Hank are included.

To get to the count of The Best Of Me as the 100th single, the non-solo singles must be excluded, but then why should the singles be included that are credited to Cliff Richard and The Shadows, or the Norrie Paramor Orchestra or the Bernard Ebbinghouse Orchrestra, etc.? These latter singles are surely included because they are Cliff on lead vocals, not duets proper, but that also brings up the question of why EMI is treating the Throw Down A Line and The Joy Of Living differently.

Below is a table that attempts to show the ranking for different ways to count the singles. The first column, "All singles", lists everything, regardless of whether it is a duet, export single, etc. All other columns intentionally exclude This Was My Special Day because all known single counts exclude this song and it likely should not be counted at all. By most authorities, the most accurate count excludes all the duets except for the two Hank Marvin duets, excludes the three foreign singles except for Gee Whizz It's You, and excludes the This Was My Special Day single. This scenario is shown in the next to last column and curiously indicates that I Just Don't Have The Heart is actually Cliff's 100th single with The Best Of Me at #99. The only known way to get to The Best Of Me as the 100th single is to add an additional single to the count. But which one? Steve Turner's book mentions Angel in the discography, but not What'd I Say. The last columns shows the ranking with a guess of Angel as the additional single, but that remains simply a guess in order to achieve The Best Of Me as the 100th single.

Seq.	All singles	Excluding This Was My Special Day	Excluding duets and This Was My Special Day	Excluding foreign singles and This Was My Special Day	Excluding duets, foreign singles and This Was My Special Day	Excluding duets, foreign singles and This Was My Special Day, but including Hank duets	Excluding duets, foreign singles and This Was My Special Day, but including Hank duets and Gee Whizz It's You	Excluding duets and This Was My Special Day, but including Hank duets. Also including Gee Whizz It's You and Angel, but excluding What'd I Say
91	She Mean's Nothing To Me (with Phil Everly)	Never Say Die (Give A Little Bit More)	Heart User	Two To The Power (with Janet Jackson)	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	She's So Beautiful	Heart User	Shooting From The Heart
92	Never Say Die (Give A Little Bit More)	Please Don't Fall In Love	She's So Beautiful	Shooting From The Heart	My Pretty One	It's In Every One Of Us	She's So Beautiful	Heart User
93	Please Don't Fall In Love	Baby You're Dynamite	It's In Every One Of Us	Living Doll (with The Young Ones and Hank Marvin)	Some People	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	It's In Every One Of Us	She's So Beautiful
94	Baby You're Dynamite	Two To The Power (with Janet Jackson)	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	Heart User	Remember Me	My Pretty One	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	It's In Every One Of Us
95	Two To The Power (with Janet Jackson)	Shooting From The Heart	My Pretty One	All I Ask Of You (with Sarah Brightman)	Two Hearts	Some People	My Pretty One	Born To Rock 'N' Roll
96	Shooting From The Heart	Living Doll (with The Young Ones and Hank Marvin)	Some People	Slow Rivers (with Elton John)	The Best Of Me	Remember Me	Some People	My Pretty One
97	Living Doll (with The Young Ones and Hank Marvin)	Heart User	Remember Me	She's So Beautiful	I Just Don't Have The Heart	Two Hearts	Remember Me	Some People
98	Heart User	All I Ask Of You (with Sarah Brightman)	Two Hearts	It's In Every One Of Us	Lean On You	The Best Of Me	Two Hearts	Remember Me
99	All I Ask Of You (with Sarah Brightman)	Slow Rivers (with Elton John)	The Best Of Me	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	Stronger Than That	I Just Don't Have The Heart	The Best Of Me	Two Hearts
100	Slow Rivers (with Elton John)	She's So Beautiful	I Just Don't Have The Heart	My Pretty One	Silhouettes	Lean On You	I Just Don't Have The Heart	The Best Of Me
101	She's So Beautiful	It's In Every One Of Us	Lean On You	Some People	Saviour's Day	Stronger Than That	Lean On You	I Just Don't Have The Heart
102	It's In Every One Of Us	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	Stronger Than That	Remember Me	From A Distance	Silhouettes	Stronger Than That	Lean On You
103	Born To Rock 'N' Roll	My Pretty One	Silhouettes	Two Hearts	More To Life	Saviour's Day	Silhouettes	Stronger Than That
104	My Pretty One	Some People	Saviour's Day	The Best Of Me	We Should Be Together	From A Distance	Saviour's Day	Silhouettes
105	Some People	Remember Me	From A Distance	I Just Don't Have The Heart	This New Year	More To Life	From A Distance	Saviour's Day
106	Remember Me	Two Hearts	More To Life	Lean On You	I Still Believe In You	We Should Be Together	More To Life	From A Distance
107	Two Hearts	The Best Of Me	We Should Be Together	Whenever God Shines His Light (with Van Morrison)	Peace In Our Time	This New Year	We Should Be Together	More To Life
108	The Best Of Me	I Just Don't Have The Heart	This New Year	Stronger Than That	Human Work Of Art	I Still Believe In You	This New Year	We Should Be Together
109	I Just Don't Have The Heart	Lean On You	I Still Believe In You	Silhouettes	Never Let Go	Peace In Our Time	I Still Believe In You	This New Year
110	Lean On You	Whenever God Shines His Light (with Van Morrison)	Peace In Our Time	Silhouettes	Healing Love	Human Work Of Art	Peace In Our Time	I Still Believe In You

There likely is no definitive answer to how The Best Of Me can be considered the 100th single. I'll leave it to the reader to decide how to interpret the evidence.

Robert Porter
September 2007