Tuesday, August 1, 2000

Edward Foote Gardner’s Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Songs of the Year, 1900-1949

Edward Foote Gardner

Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Songs of the Year, 1900-1949

Edward Foote Gardner’s book, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century, 1900-1949 tackled the task of crafting charts for the popular songs of the pre-rock era. He developed a top 20 chart for each month of every year from 1900-1949. These are the top songs for each year based on that book.

Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.

  • 1900: George J. Gaskin “When You Were Sweet Sixteen
  • 1901: Big Four Quartet “Goodbye Dolly Gray”
  • 1902: J.W. Myers “On a Sunday Afternoon
  • 1903: Bryon G. Harlan “Always in the Way”
  • 1904: Bryon G. Harlan with Frank Stanley “Blue Bell”
  • 1905: Henry Burr (as Irving Gillette) “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree
  • 1906: Henry Burr “Love Me and the World Is Mine
  • 1907: Bryon G. Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)
  • 1908: Haydn Quartet “Sunbonnet Sue”
  • 1909: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon

  • 1910: Henry Burr “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland”
  • 1911: Arthur Collins and Bryon G. Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band
  • 1912: Heidelberg Quintet “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee”
  • 1913: Al Jolson “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)
  • 1914: Billy Murray “He’d Have to Get Under, Get Out and Get Under, to Fix Up His Automobile”
  • 1915: George MacFarlane “A Little Bit of Heaven (Shure, They Call It Ireland)”
  • 1916: Billy Murray “Pretty Baby”
  • 1917: American Quartet “Over There
  • 1918: Joseph C. Smith & Harry MacDonough “Smiles”
  • 1919: Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again

  • 1920: Paul Whiteman “Whispering
  • 1921: Ted Lewis “All by Myself”
  • 1922: Paul Whiteman “Three O’Clock in the Morning”
  • 1923: Billy Murray with Ed Smalle “That Old Gang of Mine”
  • 1924: Paul Whiteman “What’ll I Do?”
  • 1925: Al Jolson “All Alone”
  • 1926: George Olsen with Fran Frey, Bob Rice, & Edward Joyce “Always
  • 1927: Guy Lombardo with Weston Vaughan “Charmaine”
  • 1928: Gene Austin “Ramona”
  • 1929: Leo Reisman with Lew Conrad “The Wedding of the Painted Doll”

  • 1930: Ben Selvin “When It’s Springtime in the Rockies”
  • 1931: Kate Smith “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain”
  • 1932: Ted Lewis “In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town”
  • 1933: Joe Green’s Novelty Orchestra “In the Valley of the Moon”
  • 1934: Ray Noble with Al Bowlly “The Old Spinning Wheel”
  • 1935: Glen Gray with Kenny Sargent “When I Grow Too Old to Dream”
  • 1936: Shep Fields “In the Chapel in the Moonlight”
  • 1937: Guy Lombardo “When My Dream Boat Comes Home”
  • 1938: Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “My Reverie”
  • 1939: Will Glahe “Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)”

  • 1940: Glenn Miller with Marion Hutton “The Woodpecker Song”
  • 1941: Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly “Maria Elena”
  • 1942: Vaughn Monroe “When the Lights Go on Again All Over the World”
  • 1943: The Mills Brothers “Paper Doll
  • 1944: Dinah Shore “I’ll Walk Alone”
  • 1945: Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey
  • 1946: The Ink Spots “The Gypsy
  • 1947: The Harmonicats “Peg O’ My Heart
  • 1948: Jon Steele & Sandra “My Happiness”
  • 1949: Perry Como “Some Enchanted Evening

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First posted 4/6/2019; last updated 12/22/2022.

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