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: “In the Good Old Summertime” hit #1 – for the second of three times

In the Good Old Summertime J.W. Myers

Writer(s): Ren Shields, George Evans (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 25, 1902 Peak: 17 US, 12 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 (sheet music sales) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

In the Good Old Summertime Haydn Quartet

First Charted: February 28, 1903 Peak: 16 US, 12 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 (sheet music sales) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.31 video, 0.01 streaming

In the Good Old Summertime Sousa’s Band with Harry MacDonough and S.H. Dudley

First Charted: March 28, 1903 Peak: 14 US, 12 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 (sheet music sales) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (J.W. Myers): Click on award for more details. Awards (Haydn Quartet): Awards (John Philip Sousa): Awards (MacDonough):

About the Song: Comedian Ren Shields and black-faced minstrel George “Honey Boy” Evans wrote what has been called “the signature song for summer.” PS The song grew out of a Sunday trip to the beach with singer-actress Blanche Ring. While the three dined at the Brighton Beach Hotel in Brooklyn, TY2 Evans remarked that he liked “the good old summertime.” Shields said it would make a great song title. He worked up lyrics and Evans improvised a basic melody. Ring assisted in writing it down and arranging it for piano since Evans couldn’t write a note of music. RA Shields and Evans shopped the song to several music publishers, but none wanted a song doomed to a three-month lifespan. However, it started getting played in vaudeville shows and then Ring offered to perform it in her Broadway musical comedy The Defender. RA As the character Millie Canvass, she sings “the happy bouncy waltz to open the third act.” SM The show opened in the Herald Square Theater on July 3, 1902 PS and closed in less than two months. However, thanks to its “happy, singable melody with easy to remember lyrics” PS “Summertime” proved to have a much longer life than publishers speculated, becoming “a perennial seasonal favorite.” JA Audiences liked the lyrics about “holding hands while strolling through shady lanes…playing hooky from school to go swimming, playing ‘ring-a-rosie,’ and stealing cherries.” TY2 J.W. Myer included the song in his vaudeville act RCG and took it to #1. His was one of five versions to hit the top three of the U.S. pop charts in 1902 and 1903. Redmond charted first (#3), followed by Myers, Harry MacDonough (#2), the Haydn Quartet (#1), and Sousa’s Band (#1). The Haydn Quartet’s version showed the most endurance, ranking as Billboard’s song of the year in 1903. CPM The three chart-topping versions of the song spent a total of 17 weeks at #1 in 1902 and 1903. It should also be noted, however, that MacDonough appears on three of the versions – his solo version, as a member of the Haydn Quartet, and as a guest on Sousa’s rendition. Interestingly, the Haydn Quartet’s version is the only one to use both verses of the song. SM The song was connected to a 1927 film In the Good Old Summertime and revived for the 1948 Judy Garland movie of the same name. PS In 1952, Les Paul and Mary Ford charted with a #15 version of the song. It has also been tapped numerous times for “Broadway shows and Hollywood films whenever a ‘summer song,’ has been needed.” RCG Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for J.W. Myers DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Les Paul DMDB Encyclopedia entry for John Phillip Sousa DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 101. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) PS ParlorSongs.com RA Theodore Raph (1964). The Songs We Sang: A Treasury of American Popular Music. A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc.: New York. Page 276. RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 17-8. CPM Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Related Links: First posted 3/28/2014; last updated 9/6/2023.