Monday, September 6, 2021

Billboard: Biggest #1 Pop Songs, 1890-1958

Billboard’s Biggest #1 Pop Songs:

1890-1958

The Billboard Hot 100 chart was launched on August 4, 1958. It has become the industry standard for tracking the biggest pop hits in the United States. However, prior to 1958, Billboard had been doing charts as far back as 1890 which tracked pop hits in terms of sheet music sales, radio airplay, in-store sales, and jukebox plays. These are the biggest #1 songs according to Billboard from 1890 until the inception of the Hot 100 chart. All songs which spent eight weeks or more are listed here. Ties are broken by songs’ overall Dave’s Music Database points.

See other chart-based lists here.

17 weeks:

Francis Craig with Bob Lamm “Near You” (1947)
14 weeks:
Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers “White Christmas” (1942)

13 weeks:
Glenn Miller “In the Mood”
Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven”
Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz” (1950)
Ben Selvin “Dardanella” (1920)
Artie Shaw “Frenesi” (1940)
The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra “Goodnight Irene” (1950)
Harry James with Helen Forrest “I’ve Heard That Song Before” (1943)
The Ink Spots “The Gypsy” (1946)
Ted Weems with Elmo Tanner “Heartaches” (1947)

12 weeks:
Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra & the Pied Pipers “I’ll Never Smile Again” (1940)
The Mills Brothers “Paper Doll” (1943)
Vernon Dalhart “The Prisoner’s Song” (1925)
Vaughn Monroe “Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)” (1949)
Jo Stafford “You Belong to Me” (1952)
Al Jolson “Sonny Boy” (1928)

11 weeks:
Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” (1956) /
Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” (1956)
Leo Reisman & His Orchestra with Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers “Cheek to Cheek” (1935)
Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra “Whispering” (1920)
Al Jolson “April Showers” (1922)
Byron Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (1907)
American Quartet with Billy Murray “Casey Jones” (1910)
Haydn Quartet “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet” (1909)
Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads “Cry” (1951)
Arthur Collins “The Preacher and the Bear” (1905)
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Franklyn Baur “Valencia (A Song of Spain)” (1926)
Les Paul with Mary Ford “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)” (1953)
Henry Burr “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight (For Her Daddy Over There)” (1918)
Anton Karas “The Third Man Theme” (1950)
Frankie Carle & Marjorie Hughes “Oh What It Seemed to Be” (1946)
Len Spencer “Arkansaw Traveler” (1902)
Guy Lombardo “The Third Man Theme” (1950)

10 weeks:
Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
Leo Reisman’s Orchestra with Fred Astaire “Night and Day” (1932)
Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” (1906)
Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)
Haydn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (1904)
Bing Crosby with George Stoll’s Orchestra “Pennies from Heaven” (1936)
George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” (1893)
Dinah Shore & Her Harper Valley Boys “Buttons and Bows” (1948)
Byron Harlan “My Gal Sal” (1907)
Nick Lucas “Tip-Toe Thru the Tulips with Me” (1929)
The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen’s Orchestra “Rum and Coca-Cola” (1945)
Bing Crosby with Lani McIntire & His Hawaiians “Sweet Leilani” (1937)
Perry Como “Till the End of Time” (1945)
Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees “Stein Song (University of Maine)” (1930)
Ted Lewis & His Band “In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town” (1932)
Guy Mitchell “Singing the Blues” (1956)
Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)” (1941)
George J. Gaskin “On the Banks of the Wabash” (1897)
Dan Quinn “The Band Played On” (1895)
Vaughn Monroe’s Orchestra “Ballerina” (1947)
Percy Faith with Felicia Sanders “Where Is Your Heart (Song from “Moulin Rouge”)” (1953)
The McGuire Sisters “Sincerely” (1955)
Tonny Bennett with Percy Faith’s Orchestra “Because of You” (1951)
Perez “Prez” Prado “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” (1955)
Glenn Miller Orchestra with Ray Eberle & The Modernaires “Moonlight Cocktail” (1942)
Kay Starr “Wheel of Fortune” (1952)
George W. Johnson “The Laughing Song” (1891)
George J. Gaskin “My Old New Hampshire Home” (1898)
Eileen Barton “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake” (1950)
Patti Page “I Went to Your Wedding” (1952)
9 weeks:
American Quartet “Over There” (1917)
Al Jolson “Swanee” (1920)
Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & the Four Modernaires “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (1941)
Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” (1945)
Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (1910)
Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Shine on, Harvest Moon” (1909)
Billy Murray “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904)
Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “Deep Purple” (1939)
Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again” (1919)
Bing Crosby with John Scottt Trotter’s Orchestra “Swinging on a Star” (1944)
Byron Harlan “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (1906)
Les Paul & Mary Ford “How High the Moon” (1951)
Glenn Miller “Tuxedo Junction” (1940)
George Olsen with Joe Morrison “The Last Round-Up” (1933)
Billy Murray “Harrigan” (1907)
Dan Quinn “Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)” (1893)
Bert Williams “Nobody” (1906)
Henry Burr “Beautiful Ohio” (1919)
Dan Quinn “The Sidewalks of New York” (1895)
Kitty Kallen with Jack Pleis’ Orchestra “Little Things Mean a Lot” (1954)
Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour’s Orchestra “Manana Is Soon Enough for Me” (1948)
Vera Lynn with Ronald Shaw’s Orchestra “Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart” (1952)
Andrews Sisters with Vic Shoen’s Orchestra “Shoo-Shoo Baby” (1943)
Bing Corsby “Only Forever” (1940)
The Crew-Cuts “Sh-Boom” (1954) Frankie Carle with Marjorie Hughes “Rumors Are Flying” (1946)
8 weeks:
Bill Haley & the Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” (1954)
Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956)
Elvis Presley “All Shook Up” (1957)
Billy Murray “Yankee Doodle Boy” (1905)
Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” (1902)
American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” (1912)
Pee Wee Hunt “Twelfth Street Rag” (1948)
Al Jolson “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (1918)
The Harmonicats “Peg O’ My Heart” (1947)
Nat “King” Cole “Mona Lisa” (1950)
John McCormack “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (1915)
Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” (1955)
Henry Burr “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (1909)
Nat “King” Cole with Frank DeVol’s Orchestra “Nature Boy” (1948)
Paul Whiteman “Three O’Clock in the Morning” (1922)
John Philip Sousa “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (1897)
Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters “Don’t Fence Me In” (1944)
Len Spencer “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” (1892)
Jo Mercer with the Pied Pipers “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” (1945)
Gene Austin with Nat Shilkret’s Orchestra “Ramona” (1928)
Al Dexter & His Troops “Pistol Packin’ Mama” (1943)
George J. Gaskin “When You Were Sweet Sixteen” (1900)
Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt & Julie Conway “Jingle Jangle Jingle” (1942)
Frankie Laine with Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires “That Lucky Old Sun” (1949)
Patti Page “The Doggie in the Window” (1953)
Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “My Reverie” (1938)
Sammy Kaye “Daddy” (1941)
Eddy Howard “To Each His Own” (1946)
Rudy Vallee “Honey” (1929)
Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton “In a Little Spanish Town ('Twas on a Night Like This)” (1927)
George J. Gaskin “Oh Promise Me” (1893)
Perry Como with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestar “Wanted” (1954)
Red Foley “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” (1950)
Frankie Masters “Scatter-Brain” (1939)
Gogi Grant “The Wayward Wind” (1956)
George J. Gaskin “Sweet Rosie O’Grady” (1897)
Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “O Mein Papa (Oh My Papa)” (1953)
George J. Gaskin “The Fatal Wedding” (1893)
Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres Orchestra “If (They Made Me a King)” (1951)
Leo Reisman & Harold Arlen “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1933)
Eddy Howard “Sin (It’s No Sin)” (1951)
Tony Bennett with Percy Faith’s Orchestra “Rags to Riches” (1953)
Freddy Martin with Jack Fina “Piano Concerto in B Flat” (1941)
The Ames Brothers with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “You You You” (1953)
Rosemary Clooney “Come on-a My House” (1951)
Frank Sinatra “Oh What It Seemed to Be” (1946)
Dinah Shore “The Gypsy” (1946)