Joel Whitburn

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Joel Carver Whitburn (born November 29, 1939 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) is an American author and music historian.

Whitburn founded Record Research Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1970. He put together a team of researchers to examine in detail all of Billboard's music and video charts. Record Research publishes reference books based on data from the various popular music charts and to date has published 86 books, 40 of which are currently in the Billboard catalog.

Based on various sources and publications, Whitburn formulated music charts for the era pre-dating the Billboard charts (1890 to 1940) and published the data in his 1986 book Pop Memories 1890-1954 (ISBN 0-89820-083-0). Whitburn's deductive and somewhat speculative chart methodology for the pre-rock era has been critiqued and criticized.

Whitburn is an also an avid collector of phonograph records with one of the world's largest collections. His collection includes a copy of nearly every 78 rpm record, 45 rpm single, LP, and compact disc to appear on the Billboard charts.

In collaboration with Rhino Records, Whitburn has produced over 100 CD compilations of various music styles.