Joel Whitburn, popularly known for being one of the pre-eminent chart historians of the last five decades, passed away at 82.
According to Billboard, the tragic news was confirmed by his longtime friend and co-worker at Record Research, Paul Haney, on Facebook.
He noted that the historian died "peacefully overnight" on Tuesday. He also revealed that Whitburn had been suffering from "some serious health issues recently."
The protégé did not specifically reveal the reference book author's exact medical condition.
Per the outlet, Whitburn founded the Record Research Inc. company in 1970. Ever since, he has contributed a lot after writing several reference books on the Billboard charts.
He released over 100 total entries of series like Top 40 Albums, Hits, Pop Singles, and many more.
Since the internet didn't exist in the past, his works were a big help in the music industry as they provided accurate chart information regarding stats and records.
Whitburn's projects were commonly read by record label executives, DJs, and artists.
His works were so accurate that publicists and labels had a hard time fudging the chart achievements of their artists since it was a common thing to do during the 70s.
Born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in 1939, the famed researcher was obsessed with sports and music growing up.
He later became devoted to Billboard after seeing the magazine for the first time during a trip with his mother.
In an interview with the outlet, he said he didn't know what the magazine was.
"I grabbed it and started paging through it, and saw all these big, full-page ads for all these artists I had listened to on the radio... And then, all these charts," he recalled.
Since he was so fascinated by his discovery, he begged his father to pay $10 every year to be a subscriber to the magazine.
"It was October 1953 when I first subscribed, and I don't think I've missed an issue through today," he offered. "I look forward to it every week. I can't go a week without reading my Billboard," he added.
He first became a record distributor for RCA in the mid-60s, but he decided to quit his job and fully utilize his time to do research.
Aside from being a devoted Billboard Magazine fan, he was also known for having an extensive collection of records. He previously told former editor Larry LeBlack in 2013 that he had 200,000 45 rpm singles and every album that has ever charted on Billboard.
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