Talk:List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1973

Tie a Yellow Ribbon... - the artist credit
User:Lord Laitinen has made an edit twice to this entry in the table, contending the artist entry should read Tony Orlando and Dawn, rather than Dawn featuring Tony Orlando. Their edit summary for the latter edit reads "Tony Orlando was not a part of Dawn. Whether or not the alternative title is in mainstream use or in the source is irrelevant; it is not grammatically correct or better than the common name. Unintelligent and ridiculous to use a lesser alternative." At this point, I don't fully understand that edit summary, and it would be better for Lord Laitinen to fully explain their position. What I do understand is that content in Wikipedia is supposed to be based on what reliable sources say, not the opinions of Wikipedia editors, unless they can back their claims/statements/changes with other reliable sources.

Here is what Billboard says about the song on their Hot 100 chart the first week it was at #1 on their website (April 21, 1973), which reads Dawn featuring Tony Orlando for the artist credit. In fact, all four weeks the song was #1 show the same artist credit. Going further, I looked at the print editions of the Billboard Hot 100 (courtesy of Google Books) for April 28, 1973 ; May 5, 1973 ; and May 12, 1973 : three of the weeks the song was at #1. Note that before May 12, 1973, Tony Orlando wasn't even listed in the artist credit at all, but on May 12 (and subsequent weeks), he is listed as featured on the song (i.e., Dawn featuring Tony Orlando). In some cases, we may go against how Billboard reports entries on their charts, like how a song's title or an artist's name is formatted or shown, but I don't believe this to be one of those times.

I will also note that this song's artist credit has been similarly changed before by an IP almost two years ago with no edit summary, and the edit was reverted. MPFitz1968 (talk) 15:59, 6 August 2016 (UTC)


 * I didn't mean that they didn't perform together. I meant that Tony Orlando is a musician and Dawn is the band with which he plays.  Until just now, I had never seen that wording "Dawn featuring Tony Orlando," and found it to be quite odd.  Any time I saw a musical credit, it read "Tony Orlando and Dawn."  I have since discovered that it is a common, yet misleading alternative.  I don't wish to start a big hullabaloo over something this minor.  If the community really likes the alternative better than the original wording, I will bow out gracefully.  If not, I'm glad I was bold enough to fix something I found to appear odd.  Thank you!   ~Lord Laitinen~ (talk)  23:11, 6 August 2016 (UTC)
 * The artist credit should read as it was listed in Billboard at the time. Like many groups, the first few singles/albums they charted were credited just as "Dawn".  Orlando was then moved to "featured" then they were listed 'and'.  It's the same type of scenario many groups/record labels did, e.g. "Supremes" became "Diana Ross & the Supremes", "Miami Sound Machine" became "Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine", etc. - eo (talk) 13:38, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2020 which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:06, 5 August 2020 (UTC)