Joel Whitburn, a chart researcher who compiled dozens of references books considered indispensable by radio hosts, journalists and other music obsessives, died Tuesday. He was 82. Paul Haney — a longtime friend and co-worker at Record Research, the company Whitburn founded in 1970 — posted on Facebook that Whitburn “passed away peacefully overnight” on Tuesday.
Record Research published its first book, Top Pop Singles, in 1970 and eventually expanded to genre-specific Billboard charts, including country music, and then to charts in publications like Cashbox and Record World.
“Billboard could not have asked for a better representative to document the history of our charts than Joel Whitburn,” said Billboard SVP of Charts & Data Development Silvio Pietroluongo.