Richard Rodgers: Top 50 Songs

First posted 12/7/2019.

Musical theater songwriter Richard Rodgers was born 100 years ago today – on 6/28/1902 – in New York City, New York. He composed over 900 songs and 43 Broadway musicals. He worked with lyricist Lorenz Hart in the 1920s and ‘30s and Oscar Hammerstein II in the ‘40s and ‘50s. He was the first person to win the four top American entertainment awards – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. He also won a Pulitzer Prize, making him and Marvin Hamlisch the only two people to do so. He died 12/30/1979.

His works South Pacific (cast album: 1949; soundtrack: 1958) and The Sound of Music (cast album: 1959; soundtrack: 1965) are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of All Time. “Blue Moon” and “Some Enchanted Evening” are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953.

For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

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Top 50 Songs

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Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Many of these songs have been recorded multiple times. Only the highest-ranked version in Dave’s Music Database is included in this list. There are also some songs not identified as being by any particular artist. Additionally, songs which hit #1 on any of the following charts are noted: United States’ pop charts (US), Hit Parade (HP), U.S. R&B charts (RB), Australian pop charts (AU).

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Blue Moon (Glen Gray with Kenny Sargent, 1935) #1 US
2. Some Enchanted Evening (Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1949) #1 US, HP
3. Manhattan (Ben Selvin, 1925) #1 US
4. Lover (Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton, 1933)
5. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Bill Snyder, 1950) #1 HP, CB
6. People Will Say We’re in Love (Bing Crosby with Trudy Erwin & the Sportsmen Glee Club, 1943) #1 HP
7. Where or When (Hal Kemp with Bob Allen, 1937) #1 US
8. It Might As Well Be Spring (Dick Haymes & the Victor Young Orchestra, 1945) #1 HP
9. If I Loved You (Perry Como with Russell Case’s Orchestra, 1945)

DMDB Top 5%:

10. Oh, What a Beautiful Morning (Bing Crosby with Trudy Erwin & the Sportsmen Glee Club, 1943)
11. With a Song in My Heart (Leo Reisman with Ran Weeks, 1929)
12. My Funny Valentine (Hal McIntyre with Ruth Gaylor, 1945)
13. Ten Cents a Dance (Ruth Etting, 1930)
14. My Heart Stood Still (Paul Whiteman with Al Rinker, Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, & Austin Young; 1930)
15. The Blue Room (The Revelers, 1926)
16. Thou Swell (Ben Selvin’s Orchestra as the Broadway Nitelites, 1928)
17. Soon (Bing Crosby with George Stoll’s Orchestra, 1935) #1 US, HP
18. This Can’t Be Love (Benny Goodman with Martha Tilton, 1938)
19. There’s a Small Hotel (Hal Kemp with Maxine Grey, 1936) #1 US
20. You Took Advantage of Me (Paul Whiteman with Bing Crosby, Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord & Austin Young; 1928)

21. It’s Easy to Remember (Bing Crosby with George Stoll’s Orchestra, 1935) #1 US
22. Mimi (Maurice Chevalier with Nat Finston’s Orchestra, 1932)
23. You’ll Never Walk Alone (Frank Sinatra, 1945)
24. Mountain Greenery (Roger Wolfe Kahn, 1926)
25. My Romance (Paul Whiteman, 1926)
26. Dancing on the Ceiling (Jack Hylton, 1932)
27. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (Benny Goodman with Louise Tobin, 1939)
28. I’ve Got Five Dollars (Emil Coleman, 1931)
29. No Other Love (Perry Como with Henri Rene’s Orchestra, 1953) #1 US, HP, CB
30. My Favorite Things (John Coltrane, 1961)

31. The Lady Is a Tramp (Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard, 1937)
32. That’s for Me (Jo Stafford, 1945)
33. Bali Ha’i (Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1949)

DMDB Top 10%:

34. Hello Young Lovers (Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1951)
35. Falling in Love with Love (Frances Langford with Harry Sosnik’s Orchestra, 1939)
36. Little Girl Blue (Janis Joplin, 1969)
37. The Sound of Music (Julie Andrews, 1965)
38. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Tony Bennett, 1959)
39. Glad to Be Unhappy (The Mamas & the Papas, 1967)
40. Oklahoma! (Alfred Drake & the Oklahoma Cast, 1943)
41. It Never Entered My Mind (Shirley Ross, 1940)
42. Isn’t It Romantic? (Maurice Chevalier with Jeannette MacDonald, 1932)
43. Spring Is Here (Buddy Clark, 1938)
44. Johnny One-Note (Hal Kemp with Skinnay Ennis, 1937)
45. Where’s That Rainbow? (George Olsen, 1927)
46. I Married an Angel (Larry Clinton with Bea Wain, 1938)

DMDB Top 20%:

47. The Gentleman Is a Dope (Jo Stafford, 1947)
48. I Could Write a Book (Dinah Washington, 1940)
49. Surrey with the Fringe on Top (Alfred Drake with Jay Blackton’s Orchestra, 1943)
50. Younger Than Springtime (Billy Tabbert, 1949)

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Awards:

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Today in Music (1925): Ben Selvin’s “Manhattan” hit #1

Manhattan Ben Selvin

Writer(s): Richard Rodgers (music), Lorenz Hart (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 24, 1925 Peak: 14 PM, 5 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.02 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 1925, a revue called The Garrick Gaieties was staged at the Garrick Theater that featured seven songs written by the new songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The two “were opposities in personality, temperament, outlook, living and working habits, but their collaboration carried them to the pinnacle of Broadway.” TY2 They wrote such classics as “My Funny Valentine,” “”The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Bewitched.” The song, however, that introduced the public to Rodgers and Hart was “Manhattan.” It was performed in The Garrick Gaieties by June Cochrane and Sterling Holloway DJ “and generated 10 curtian calls when first sung in public.” LW “Its urbane lyrics have made it a favorite song about New York.” DJ The song references major New York landmarks, including the zoo, the subway, Greenwich Village, Coney Island, and Central Park. TY2 In 1925, Ben Selvin and his Knickerbockers took the song to #1 and Paul Whiteman hit #3. PM Selvin made more than 2000 records; no other bandleader made more. PM He charted more than 100 hits from 1919 to 1934, reaching #1 eight times. PM Mickey Rooney performed the song in 1948’s Words and Music, a “rather fictitious movie biography”about Rodgers and Hart. It also showed up in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Beau James (1957), The Rat Race (1960), and Mighty Aphrodite (1995). TY2 Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 129. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 51. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 139-40. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 379-82 and 547. Related Links: First posted 5/14/2025.

CBGB Club opened.

CBGB’s was a famous club that opened on 315 Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village in 1973. The site had previously been home to a biker bar and, before that, a dive bar. As far back as the 19th century, the site was a former saloon on the first floor of the Palace Lodging House. Hilly Kristal founded the club, giving it the full name of CBGB & OMFUG, which stood for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and other Music for uplifting Gourmandizers.” The intent was to showcase music from all kinds of genres, but it became the landing place for the American punk and new wave scene. The club is credited with launching the careers of the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, and Patti Smith. A storefront next to the club became a record shop and café known as the CBGB Record Canteen. It was replaced in the late ‘80s with a second performance space and art gallery. The club closed after a final concert from Patti Smith on October 15, 2006. A retail store opened at the CBGB venue, operating there until the close of the month and then moving to 19-23 St. Mark’s Place on November 1. It stayed open until the summer of 2008. CBGB Radio was started in 2010 on the iheartradio platform and, two years later, the CBGB festival was launched. The latter was the largest music festival in New York City, producing free concerts in Times Square and Central Park and premiering rock movies in Manhattan theaters. In 2013, the former home of the CBGB club was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Bowery Historic District. That same year, the movie CBGB was released starring Alan Rickman as Kristal. Resources and Related Links: CBGB.com Dave’s Music Database: “History Index” for more important dates in music history Dave’s Music Database: “Music Makers’ Birthdays” Wikipedia.org: “CBGB” First posted 12/6/2023.