🏆 Billboard Chart Week of February 10, 1968
🎵 #1 Song: “Love Is Blue (L’amour Est Bleu)” by Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra
⏱ Week at #1: Week 1 of 5
⚡ What Happened This Week
The Billboard Hot 100 took an unexpected turn during the week of February 10, 1968, as an instrumental recording climbed all the way to #1.
“Love Is Blue (L’amour Est Bleu)” by Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra became one of the most unusual chart-toppers of the decade. In an era increasingly dominated by psychedelic rock and soul music, a soft orchestral instrumental suddenly became the biggest song in America.
At the same time, psychedelic hits and soul classics continued filling the rest of the Top 5.
🎂 What Was the #1 Song on Your Birthday?
If you were born during the week ending February 10, 1968, this was your birthday song:
🎵 Love Is Blue by Paul Mauriat
▶ Watch and experience this song →
🎂 Try your own birthday:
📊 Billboard Hot 100 – Top 5 Songs (February 10, 1968)
“Love Is Blue (L’amour Est Bleu)” – Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra
“Green Tambourine” – The Lemon Pipers
“Spooky” – Classics IV
“Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)” – John Fred And The Playboys
“Chain Of Fools” – Aretha Franklin
⬅️ Previous Week | Next Week ➡️
🎻 An Instrumental Reaches #1
“Love Is Blue” rose from #7 to #1 in a huge jump.
The song featured:
- lush orchestral arrangements,
- soft melodies,
- and a calm, romantic atmosphere.
Instrumental hits were becoming less common by the late 1960s, which made the song’s success even more surprising.
Paul Mauriat’s version transformed a European melody into one of the defining easy-listening hits of the decade.
🥁 “Green Tambourine” Slips To #2
After reaching #1 the previous week, “Green Tambourine” moved down to second place.
The Lemon Pipers still remained one of the leading psychedelic pop acts on American radio.
The song’s dreamy sound effects and experimental production perfectly reflected the psychedelic movement that was influencing popular music in 1968.
👻 “Spooky” Continues Climbing
Classics IV climbed another spot to #3 with “Spooky.”
Its relaxed groove and jazzy atmosphere gave the record a very different sound from many louder rock songs of the era.
The song became one of the smoothest crossover hits of early 1968.
👓 “Judy In Disguise” Begins Falling
After its time at #1, “Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)” slipped to #4.
John Fred And The Playboys had scored one of the surprise hits of the year with the playful psychedelic single.
Even as it began falling down the chart, the song remained one of the most recognizable novelty-pop records of the late 1960s.
👑 Aretha Franklin Keeps Soul Strong
“Chain Of Fools” dropped to #5 but continued proving the power of soul music on the Billboard charts.
Aretha Franklin’s emotionally powerful vocals helped elevate the song into one of the defining recordings of her legendary career.
By early 1968, she had firmly established herself as one of the most important voices in American music.
🎶 The Charts Show Incredible Variety
The February 10, 1968 chart showed just how wide-open popular music had become.
The Top 5 featured:
- orchestral instrumental music,
- psychedelic pop,
- soul,
- jazz-influenced rock,
- and novelty psychedelia.
Few periods in music history produced charts this stylistically diverse.
Listeners were embracing completely different sounds at the same time — something that helped make the late 1960s such a creative era for music.
🔥 Final Thoughts
The Billboard chart week of February 10, 1968 proved that unexpected songs could still rise to the top of the Hot 100.
“Love Is Blue” brought orchestral instrumental music back to #1 while psychedelic pop and soul music continued reshaping the sound of American radio.