Some time back, I mentioned that Billboard began publishing their charts in July 1940. That’s correct, but it’s not really complete.
You see, Billboard did have charts back to the first of 1940. Many sources don’t really consider them official, because of the change made to the process in July 1940, which created the “Best Selling Retail Records” chart, which was the primary chart. Despite that, Billboard did publish charts prior to July 1940.
Another thing I want to mention is that for many months now, I’ve been featuring the Billboard number one songs from that era, in order, on Tuesday nights. The exceptions are when I had previously featured a song that hit number one in a different context. I simply skipped them, and picked up with the next song that hit number one, that we haven’t previously featured during a nightly Open Thread post.
Also, I want to mention that I had used a secondary source for my information regarding what songs topped the charts, when, and for how long. I recently found some errors in my secondary source and decided to go directly to the primary source. I now have all of the Billboard pop charts for the 1940s, directly from the recognized authority, Joel Whitburn’s Record Research. I’ve used Whitburn’s data for over 40 years, but didn’t have any data prior to 1955. After my cheap secondary source proved unreliable, I did what I should have done years ago and went directly to the true authority.
As a result, I’m going back and filling in the blanks. I’m going to be listing number one songs from the 1940s, beginning in January 1940, that were not previously shared. I’ll include a little bit of info for trivia buffs. I may be the only one that really cares, but I’m the one putting up the night Open Thread posts, and will fill in some stuff that’s on my mind — the top songs from the Big Band era — accordingly. So, until Oppo, Walruskkkch, or someone else beats me to the keyboard, I’ll be doing this on Tuesday’s for a bit.
The first Billboard number one song of the 1940s was by Frankie Masters and his Orchestra.
This song spent a total of six weeks atop the chart, including the last two weeks of 1939 (no, I don’t have those charts … yet).
Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s our nightly Open Thread, and you have the floor.
The chart information is from Billboard magazine, as compiled by Record Research. Chart data is copyright 1939-1954, BPI Communications.
