USA: #1 Pop Songs, 1890-1899

USA’s #1 Pop Songs: 1890-1899

These are the #1 pop songs in the history of the United States pop charts from 1890 to 1899. These songs topped the pre-Hot 100 pop charts, which ran from 1890-1955. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of weeks at #1. Click here to access a full list of #1 songs from 1890 to present. See other chart-based lists here. 1890: 8/2: U.S. Marine Band “Semper Fidelis” (2 weeks) 9/13: U.S. Marine Band “The Washington Post March” (6) 10/25: U.S. Marine Band “The Thunderer” (4) 1891: 3/7: Len Spencer “Little ‘Liza Loves You” (4) 4/4: George Washington Johnson “The Laughing Song” (10) 6/13: Russell Hunting “Michael Casey As a Physician” (4) 7;11: George Washington Johnson “The Whistling Coon” (5) 8/22: John Yorke Atlee “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)” (6) 9/19: Dan Kelly “Pat Kelly As a Police Justice” (4) 10/17: Billy Golden “Turkey in the Straw” (7) 12/5: George J. Gaskin “Drill, Ye Terriers, Drill” (5) 1892: 1/9: George J. Gaskin “Slide Kelly Slide” (3) 1/30: Len Spencer “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” (8) 3/26: Manhansett Quartette “The Picture Turned to the Wall” (6) 5/7: Manhansett Quartette “Sally in Our Alley” (3) 5/28: Joe Natus “The Song That Reached My Heart” (3) 6/18: Charles Marsh “Throw Him Down, McCloskey” (3) 7/9: Russell Hunting “Michael Casey at the Telephone” (5) 8/13: Len Spencer “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)” (6) 9/24: Will Denny “The Pretty Red Rose” (2) 10/8: Russell Hunting “Michael Casey Taking the Census” (6) 11/19: Len Spencer “Near It” (2) 12/3: Thomas Bott “Love’s Old Sweet Song” (4) 12/31: Dan Quinn “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow Wow” (4) 1893: 1/28: Dan Quinn “The Bowery” (5) 3/4: George J. Gaskin “Oh Promise Me” (8) 4/29: George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” (10) 7/8: Jules Levy “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” (3) 7/29: Len Spencer “Mamie Come and Kiss Your Honey Boy” (3) 8/19: J.W. Myers “Two Little Girls in Blue” (4) 9/16: Dan Quinn “Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two)” (9) 11/18: George J. Gaskin “The Fatal Wedding” (8) 1894: 1/13: Russell Hunting “Casey As Insurance Agent” (3) 2/3: George J. Gaskin “Sweet Marie” (5) 3/10: U.S. Marine Band “The Liberty Bell” (5) 4/14: Edward M. Favor “Say Au Revoir, But Not Goodbye” (7) 6/2: Vess Ossman “Yankee Doodle” (4) 6/30: Silas Leachman “Dem Golden Slippers” (4) 7/28: George J. Gaskin “We Were Sweethearts, Nell and I” (3) 8/18: Dan Quinn “Lindley, Does You Love Me?” (3) 10/6: Dan Quinn “My Pearl Is a Bowery Girl” (4) 11/3: Russell Hunting “Casey at Denny Murphy’s Wake” (3) 11/24: Dan Quinn “And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back” (6) 1895: 1/5: Len Spencer “Little Alabama Coon” (5) 2/9: Dan Quinn “The Sidewalks of New York” (9) 3/21: Edward M. Favor “My Best Girl’s a New Yorker” (5) 4/13: J.W. Myers “The Sidewalks of New York” (4) 4/25: Len Spencer “The Bully (aka ‘Dat New Bully’)” (5) 5/30: Vess Ossman “Cocoanut Dance” (3) 6/15: Sousa’s Band “El Capitan March” (7) 8/1: J.W. Myers “Just Tell Them That You Saw Me” (6) 8/3: Sousa’s Band “The Washington Post March” (3) 8/24: Dan Quinn “The Band Played On” (10) 11/2: Dan Quinn “Little Lost Child” (5) 1896: 1/4: George J. Gaskin “The Sunshine of Paradise Alley” (6) 2/15: George J. Gaskin “She May Have Seen Better Days” (5) 6/20: Len Spencer with Vess Ossman “A Hot Time on the Levee” (3) 9/12: George J. Gaskin “Down in Poverty Roy” (4) 10/10: George J. Gaskin “On the Benches in the Park” (4) 11/7: Dan Quinn “In the Baggage Coach Ahead” (5) 12/12: Dan Quinn “A Hot Time in the Old Town” (7) 1897: 1/30: Len Spencer “A Hot Time in the Old Town” (3) 2/20: Len Spencer “Oh, Mr. Johnson, Turn Me Loose” (4) 3/20: Len Spencer “My Gal Is a Highborn Lady” (4) 4/17: Dan Quinn “My Mother Was a Lady” (5) 5/22: George J. Gaskin “Sweet Rosie O’Grady” (8) 7/17: Sousa’s Band “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (8) 9/11: Dan Quinn “There’s a Little Star Shining for You” (4) 11/6: George J. Gaskin “On the Banks of the Wabash” (10) 1898: 1/15: Steve Porter “On the Banks of the Wabash” (4) 2/12: Edison Male Quartette “My Old Kentucky Home” (3) 4/2: George J. Gaskin “Break the News to Mother” (7) 5/21: Cal Stewart “Uncle Josh’s Arriva in New York” (5) 6/25: Len Spencer “I Don’t Like No Cheap Man” (3) 7/16: George J. Gaskin “She Was Bred in Old Kentucky” (6) 8/27: Steve Porter “She’s More to Be Pitied Than Censured” (4) 9/24: Cal Stewart “I’m Old But I’m Awfully Tough (Laughing Song)” (3) 10/15: Dan Quinn “She Was Happy Till She Met You” (4) 11/12: Dan Quinn “At a Georgia Camp Meeting” (4) 12/10: George J. Gaskin “My Old New Hampshire Home” (10) 1899: 2/18: Arthur Collins “Kiss Me, Honey, Do” (4) 3/18: Arthur Collins “When you Ain’t Go No More Money, Well, You Needn’t Come Around” (2) 4/1: Arthur Collins “I Guess I’ll Have to Telegraph My Baby” (4) 4/29: Arthur Collins “Hello, Ma Baby” (4) 5/27: Len Spencer “Hello! Ma Baby” (6) 7/8: George J. Gaskin “My Wild Irish Rose” (3) 7/29: George J. Gaskin “My Wild Irish Rose” (6) 9/9: William F. Hooley “Gypsy Love Song” (5) 10/14: Steve Porter “A Picture No Artist Can Paint” (2) 10/28: Dan Quinn “Curse of the Dreamer” (7) 12/16: Arthur Collins “I’d Leave My Happy Home for You” (7) Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “USA: #1 Pop Songs, 1890-Present” Dave’s Music Database: “United States: Biggest #1 Songs” Dave’s Music Database: “Top 100 Songs for Each Decade” Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Pages 642-657. First posted 2/24/2021; last updated 12/1/2022.

100 years ago: “Hiawatha” hit #1

Hiawatha (His Song to Minnehaha) Harry MacDonough

Writer(s): Neal Moret (music), James O’Dea (lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 1, 1903 Peak: 14 US, 13 GA, 16 SM (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Originally subtitled “A Summer Idyll,” “Hiawatha” was written by Charles N. Daniels under the pseudonym of Neil Moret SM and published in 1901. It was an instrumental tribute to Hiawatha, Kansas. SM Moret had lived in Kansas City and dated a girl from Hiawatha. TY2 The melody came to him one day when he was headed to visit her. TY2 John Philip Sousa introduced the song, adding it to his band’s repertoire. TY2 James O’Dea wrote lyrics for it a few years later which changed the song into one about a man who falls for an Indian princess. The subtitle changed to “His Song to Minnehaha,” a reference to a fictional character in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha.” SM The song started a trend of Indian songs, DJ including Fred Hager’s “Laughing Water,” Kerry Mills’ “Red Wing,” Egbert Van Alstyne’s “Navajo” and “Seminole,” and Percy Wenrich’s “Silver Bell.” TY2 Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan recorded a parody version called “Parody on Hiawatha.” TY The first chart version of the song was by the Columbia Orchestra in April 1903, reaching #3. Harry MacDonough followed with the most popular version of the song, going all the way to #1. Dan Quinn also had a hit with it that year, hitting #3. Sousa recorded the song as “Hiawatha Two-Step,” and it was also a #3 hit. At the time, it was common to record songs on cylinders, which had a limited run time. However, “Hiawatha” was recorded on a 78 rpm flat disc to allow for a longer, three minute + run time. SM Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 75. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 20. Related Links: Last updated 12/15/2022.

 

100 years ago: Arthur Collins hit #1 with “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home”

Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home Arthur Collins

Writer(s): Hughie Cannon, Johnnie Queen (see lyrics here) First Charted: July 12, 1902 Peak: 18 US, 11 GA, 4 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home Dan Quinn

First Charted: September 1902 Peak: 2 US, 11 GA, 11 SM (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (Collins): Click on award for more details. Awards (Quinn):

About the Song: Several people have claimed to be the original Bill Bailey, JA but according to Tin Pan Alley folklore, RCG the Detroit-born “song-and-dance man” Hughie Cannon wrote the song while working as a bar pianist at a saloon in Michigan. A regular customer named Willard “Bill” Bailey lamented about the poor state of his marriage to Sarah. SM She threw the African American vaudeville singer named Bill Bailey whose wife had thrown him out of the house because she’d had it with his late-night partying. PS Bailey also said the song “Ain’t That a Shame,” written by Walter Wilson and John Queen, wrote their song about him and how he’d walked out on his wife. When it was raining and he was cold and raining, he tried to apologize since he had nowhere else to go, but she’d already found a new man. SM Cannon was inspired to write a rags-to-riches song about what would happen if Bailey suddenly became rich. TY2 He wrote about a wife hanging laundry and singing about her hopes that her husband would soon come home. She confesses that she drove him away with “nothing but a fine tooth comb,” but Bailey returns with a fancy car. RCG It became an“early ragtime classic,” RCG “favorite of Dixie jazz bands,” DJ and a “sing-along standard” RCG thanks to the ease with which it could be adapted to jazz or played on honky-tonk piano or banjo. RCG John Queen, a minstrel and songwriter who was friends with Cannon, introduced the song at New York City’s Newburgh Theater. TY2 Arthur Collins, Dan Quinn, and Silas Leachman each took the song to the top 5 in 1902, but Collins’ version was the biggest. PM He was no stranger to the top, having landed there seven times before. This, however, was his biggest hit yet. Over the years, the song was recorded by a number of other big-name artists. Jimmy Durante and his sidekick Eddie Jackson often used it in their act. JA Bobby Darin took it to number 19 in 1960. Others who recorded the song included Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Della Reese. PS The song also spawned numerous parodies, including Tom Lehrer’s “(Won’t You Come Home) Disraeli?” JA As with many “coon songs”, as such racially deragotory songs from the early 20th century have come to be known, later recordings were often “sanitized.” PS The song’s popularity led to spin-off tunes “I Wonder Why Bill Bailey Won’t Come Home” and “Since Bill Bailey Came Back Home.” PS Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 22. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) PS ParlorSongs.com RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 17. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954 (1986). Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 477. Related Links: Last updated 12/16/2022.

Today in Music (1898): “At a Georgia Camp Meeting” hit #1

At a Georgia Camp Meeting Dan Quinn

Writer(s): Kerry Mills (lyrics), F.A. Mills (music) (see lyrics here) Published: 1897 First Charted: November 5, 1898 Peak: 14 PM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 million (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.004 video, -- streaming

Awards (Dan Quinn): Click on award for more details. Awards (Vess Ossman): Awards (John Philip Sousa):

About the Song: Marches were played in strict time while cakewalks were played half a beat off. They began as “a backward-leaning, strutting ‘walk’ that rural Southern blacks used…to parody the high manners of white folks.” SS A “cake walk” was often performed as the last song at a dance and the best couple was awarded a cake. AH “Cake walks” became a staple in minstrel shows, emerging as early as 1876. SS It wasn’t until 1895 that the dance translated to song when Kerry Mills’ “Rastus on Parade” became a hit. He was a New Yorker who wored as a violinist, music teacher, orchestra leader, and publisher in New York, EW most famously writing “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” in 1904. Mills reportedly did a cakewalk song as a way to protest against the racial stereotypes of “coon” songs. SS The follow-up, “At a Georgia Camp Meeting,” published in 1897, was “perhaps the biggest hit song built around ‘cakewalk’ synopcation.” SS The song has been referred to as “the biggest instrumental composition of the era” SS and even referred to as possibly “the first major hit of the ragtime era.” EW The cover of the sheet music describes the song as “a characteristic march which can be used effectively as a two-step, polka, or cake walk.” AH It shows images of Blacks at a dignified party. AH Dan Quinn first charted with the song on November 5, 1898, reaching #1 for four weeks. On December 10, banjoist Vess Ossman charted with an instrumental version of the song that peaked at #3. John Philip Sousa recorded the song at least six times between 1899 and 1908. SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Dan Quinn DMDB encyclopedia entry for Vess Ossman DMDB encyclopedia entry for John Philip Sousa AH AmericanHistory.si.edu SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 432-3. EW ElijahWald.com (12/13/2017) PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 473. First posted 6/26/2024.