Best compilations of pop singles from each decade

I want some collections of unmissable stuff from mainstream radio, starting with, say, the 50s. Hopefully 1-2 discs per decade rather than huge box sets.

Recommendations?

'50s: American Graffiti.

American Graffiti has plenty of 50s music, but it was set in 1962 and also features music from the Beach Boys (one of them from 1964!), Booker T. & the M.G.'s and other early-'60s acts.

Ha--came on to mention American Graffiti too. As the previous post mentions, it doesn't align itself with one decade: the window's more like '57 to '63. It's great, though. I can't think of any '60s compilations offhand that aren't genre-oriented: Nuggets for garage, Atlantic or Motown compilations for R&B, the girl-group box, etc. Same with the '70s: K-Tel for early-'70s junk, Streets and I Wanna Buy a Bridge for punk, etc.

Yeah, good points about American Graffiti, though I'd still call it my favorite '50s compilation, even if it's not entirely '50s. (Though lately I've been playing this four-LP vinyl box, released in 1974, called The First Authentic 1950s Rock & Roll Collection -- "72 original hits on 4 boss albums as seen on TV" -- and it's pretty great in its own right.)

Was thinking of Nuggets for the '60s when I posted that above too, but since it's limited to just one genre, I didn't mention it. There are also real good Rhino compilations out there of girl group hits, bubblegum hits, most other genres you could name. But if you want a cross-genre overview, your best bet might just be to poke around dollar bins for compilations (of then-current hits or oldies) released locally by Top 40 stations at the time. Also, there's those old Cruisin' compilations -- one for each year, starting and ending I'm not sure when. I've only got the 1960 one (released in 1970), but it's extra cool in that it adds in crazed simulated DJ banter and ads, to recreate what it was theoretically like to actually listen to a Top 40 station at the time.

Wanna Buy A Bridge obviously isn't "pop singles," though some of those songs may well have charted in the U.K. I guess. (Have never even seen a copy of Streets, as far as I know; for punk I'd say Burning Ambitions, though again I wouldn't call those pop singles.) My real pick for '70s pop would be Rhino's Have A Nice Day: Super Hits Of The '70s, though that's way more than two volumes. (Not a box, though -- or at least, it wasn't originally released as one -- so you can pick and choose.) Here's a link to the review I wrote of it when it first came out.

http://www.superseventies.com/spsuperhits.html

And here's a thread I started (and continue to add to on occasion) about European K-Tel-type compilations, mostly '70s and '80s. Again, you can always pick and choose (there are probably even more American ones out there -- K-Tel, Ronco, Adam VIII's two indispensible Soul Train comp LPs, etc.)

I Have Never Heard Entire Albums By These Bands Who Have Excellent Songs On Late '70s/Early '80s European K-Tel-Style Compilations

American Graffiti...the window's more like '57 to '63

Is this true? I'm definitely seeing plenty of songs on there from well before 1957: Bill Haley, Orioles, couple by the Platters, etc. (Okay, maybe not that many. And I guess even most of the vocal-group/doo-wop stuff on there is late '50s; I'd actually never noticed that before! But then again, the whole point of the movie was that, even though it was set in 1962, there was an oldies weekend playing on the radio all through. Though, I guess if you really want to get technical, the two cover versions by Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids weren't recorded until the early '70s, right?)

I was just going by memory for American Graffiti--you're right, some stuff's earlier than '57. (Also realize there's one song later than '63: "All Summer Long," which appropriately ends the movie.) The Have a Nice Day series, although I don't have any of it myself, looked to be a really good summary of K-Tel; their companion Didn't I Blow Your Mind? compilations are a really good parallel series for early-'70s soul.