Sixteen Tons – Frankie Laine With The Mellomen

Frankie Laine teamed up with the Mellomen in 1956 to take this track into the UK top 10 for one week.

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Sixty years ago this week, Sixteen tons by Frankie Laine with the Mellomen entered the UK top 10 at its highest position of number 10, having entered the top 20 the previous week at number 11. After just one week in the top 10, the song fell to number 13 for a final week in the chart.

Sixteen tons was released on the Philips record label and was the seventeenth of nineteen UK top 10 hits for Frankie Laine and the last of five for the Mellomen. The original version of the song was written and recorded by Merle Travis in 1946. A version by Tennessee Ernie Ford topped the UK chart for four weeks in 1956 and was also a US number 1.

More music from Frankie Laine and the Mellomen

 

UK singles chart for the week ending 28 January 1956

1. Sixteen tons – Tennessee Ernie Ford

2. The ballad of Davy Crockett – Bill Hayes

3. The ballad of Davy Crockett – Tennessee Ernie Ford

4. Love and marriage – Frank Sinatra

5. Love is a many-splendored thing – Four Aces

6. (Love is) the tender trap – Frank Sinatra

7. Rock-a-beatin’ boogie – Bill Haley and His Comets

8. Rock around the clock – Bill Haley and His Comets

9. Rock Island line – Lonnie Donegan

10. Sixteen tons – Frankie Laine with the Mellomen