glupson,
I think the US and UK charts have always been a little bit different, end of year release dates could vary somewhat, especially for acts that weren't so well known outside their region.
Sometimes the US and UK charts would converge but then at other times they seemed to bear little resemblance. It obviously mattered more to UK acts whether they made it in America than it did to US acts whether they made it in the UK.
I used to follow the charts avidly between the late 70s til the late 90s and so many of those songs act as memory joggers.
It's good to have accurate song data as it also helps with playlist compilation and lately I'm increasingly becoming fond of playlists that help establish mood.
For example if I feel tired, then playing some hard rock can be just what the doctor ordered. Or if I'm feeling nostalgic I can hone in on one particular year.
I even once tried to put the songs into month order as opposed to merely years, but that didn't turn out so well. Besides the effort to do so would be enormous for well over a 1000 songs!
Some people like albums whilst others prefer to stick to singles and making their own compilations. I'm definitely in the latter group as there's hardly a dozen albums I'm happy to play start to finish. I played Dark Side of the Moon the other day and soon found my attention wandering...
Anyway, the great thing is you only need to do this once.