Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Billboard: Jukebox Hits, 1940-1957

Billboard’s Jukebox Hits:

1940-1957

Billboard magazine launched its jukebox hits chart on January 6, 1940. It only ran until July 20, 1940, but then resumed on November 6, 1943 and ran until June 17, 1957. It tracked which songs were played most in jukeboxes across the country. The chart ran until 1957. These were the biggest #1 songs on that chart. All songs which spent three weeks or more at #1 are listed here. Ties are broken by songs’ overall Dave’s Music Database points.

See other chart-based lists here and specific Billboard lists here.

13 weeks:

Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (1939)
Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz” (1950)
Francis Craig with Bob Lamm “Near You” (1947)
The Ink Spots “The Gypsy” (1946)
Ted Weems with Elmo Tanner “Heartaches” (1947)
12 weeks:
The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra “Goodnight Irene” (1950)
11 weeks:
Frankie Carle & Marjorie Hughes “Oh What It Seemed to Be” (1946)
Guy Lombardo “The Third Man Theme” (1950)
10 weeks:
Vaughn Monroe “Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)” (1949)
The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen’s Orchestra “Rum and Coca-Cola” (1945)
Guy Mitchell “Singing the Blues” (1956)
Tony Bennett with Percy Faith’s Orchestra “Because of You” (1951)
Kay Starr “Wheel of Fortune” (1952)
Patti Page “I Went to Your Wedding” (1952)
9 weeks:
Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” (1956) /
Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” (1956)
Elvis Presley “All Shook Up” (1957)
Dinah Shore & Her Harper Valley Boys “Buttons and Bows” (1948)
Les Paul & Mary Ford “How High the Moon” (1951)
Glenn Miller “Tuxedo Junction” (1940)
Perry Como “Till the End of Time” (1945)
Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads “Cry” (1951)
Les Paul with Mary Ford “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)” (1953)
Andrews Sisters with Vic Shoen’s Orchestra “Shoo-Shoo Baby” (1943)
8 weeks:
Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956)
Bing Crosby with John Scottt Trotter’s Orchestra “Swinging on a Star” (1944)
The Harmonicats “Peg O’ My Heart” (1947)
Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters “Don’t Fence Me In” (1944)
Johnny Mercer with the Pied Pipers “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” (1945)
Perez “Prez” Prado “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” (1955)
Perry Como with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “Wanted” (1954)
Red Foley “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” (1950)
The Crew-Cuts “Sh-Boom” (1954)
Frankie Carle with Marjorie Hughes “Rumors Are Flying” (1946)
Tony Bennett with Percy Faith’s Orchestra “Rags to Riches” (1953)
Rosemary Clooney “Come on-a My House” (1951)
7 weeks:
Bill Haley & the Comets “We’re Gonna Rock Around the Clock” (1954)
Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” (1945)
Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” (1955)
Vaughn Monroe’s Orchestra “Ballerina” (1947)
The McGuire Sisters “Sincerely” (1954)
Patti Page “The Doggie in the Window” (1953)
Kitty Kallen with Jack Pleis’ Orchestra “Little Things Mean a Lot” (1954)
Evelyn Knight & the Stardusters “A Little Bird Told Me” (1948)
Teresa Brewer with Jack Pleis’ Orchestra “Till I Waltz Again with You” (1952)
Les Brown with Doris Day “My Dreams Are Getting Bigger All the Time” (1945)
Sammy Kaye with Billy Williams “The Old Lamplighter” (1946)
Eddie Fisher with Sally Sweetland & Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “I'm Walking Behind You” (1953)
Jo Stafford “Make Love to Me!” (1954)
Ken Griffin “You Can’t Be True, Dear” (1948)
6 weeks:
Pee Wee Hunt “Twelfth Street Rag” (1948)
Mitch Miller “The Yellow Rose of Texas” (1955)
Percy Faith with Felicia Sanders “Where Is Your Heart (Song from “Moulin Rouge”)” (1953)
Harry James with Dick Haymes “I’ll Get by As Long As I Have You” (1941)
Eddy Howard “To Each His Own” (1946)
Frankie Laine & the Muleskinners “Mule Train” (1949)
Frankie Masters “Scatter-Brain” (1939)
Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “O Mein Papa (Oh My Papa)” (1953)
Kay Kyser with Gloria Wood “Woody Woodpecker” (1948)
Al Trace with Bob Vincent “You Call Everybody Darlin’” (1948)
Kay Starr with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “Rock and Roll Waltz” (1955)
Georgia Gibbs “Kiss of Fire” (1952)
The Ames Brothers with Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra “You You You” (1953)
Russ Morgan & the Skylarks “Cruising Down the River on a Sunday Afternoon” (1949)
Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters & Vic Shoen’s Orchestra “There'll Be a Hot Time in the Town of Berlin When the Yanks Go Marching In” (1944)
5 weeks:
Nat “King” Cole “Mona Lisa” (1950)
Vaughn Monroe “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (1945)
Perry Como “Some Enchanted Evening” (1949)
Art Mooney “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover” (1948)
Frankie Laine with Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires “That Lucky Old Sun” (1949)
Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour’s Orchestra “Manana Is Soon Enough for Me” (1948)
Glenn Miller with Marion Hutton “The Woodpecker Song” (1940)
Rosemary Clooney with Buddy Cole “Hey There” (1954)
THe Merry Macs “Mairzy Doats” (1944)
Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres Orchestra “If (They Made Me a King)” (1951)
Tab Hunter “Young Love” (1956)
Bing Crosby with Jon Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “San Fernando Valley” (1944)
4 weeks:
The Chordettes “Mr. Sandman” (1954)
Nat “King” Cole “Too Young” (1951)
Tex Williams “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)” (1947)
Vera Lynn with Ronald Shaw’s Orchestra “Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart” (1952)
Gogi Grant “The Wayward Wind” (1956)
Dean Martin “Memories Are Made of This” (1955)
Perry Como & the Ramblers with Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra “Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes” (1952)
Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “Sierra Sue” (1940)
Joan Weber “Let Me Go, Lover!” (1954)
Pat Boone “I Almost Lost My Mind” (1956)
Sammy Kaye with Troy Alamo “Harbor Lights” (1950)
3 weeks:
Blue Barron & His Orchestra “Crusing Down the River on a Sunday Afternoon” (1949)
The Four Aces “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” (1955)
Vic Damone “You’re Breaking My Heart” (1949)
Bill Hayes “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” (1955)
Bing Crosby “Now Is the Hour (Māori Farewell Song)” (1948)
The Andrews Sisters with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” (1949)
Frank Sinatra “Five Minutes More” (1946)
Margaret Whiting with Jimmy Wakely “Slipping Around” (1949)
Russ Morgan & the Skylarks “Forever and Ever” (1949)
Eileen Barton “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake” (1950)
Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys “Slow Poke” (1951)
Joni James with Lew Douglas’ Orchestra “Why Don’t You Believe Me” (1952)
Rosemary Clooney with Percy Faith’s Orchestra “Half As Much” (1952)
The Mills Brothers with Hal McIntyre “The Glow-Worm” (1952)
The Three Suns “Peg O’ My Heart” (1947)
Freddy Martin with Stuart Wade “Managua, Nicaragua” (1947)
Jim Lowe “The Green Door” (1956)
Rosemary Clooney “This Ole House” (1954)
Tony Bennett with Percy Faith’s Orchestra “Cold Cold Heart” (1951)
The Fontane Sisters with Billy Vaughn’s Orchestra “Hearts of Stone” (1954)
Georgia Gibbs “Dance with Me Henry (Wallflower)” (1955)