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Songs from the Year 1939
This page lists the top songs of 1939 in the source charts. The way that the various charts are combined to reach this final list is described on the in the site generation page. Between 1920 and 1940 there are few available charts (at least that we can find). These results should be treated with some caution since, with few exceptions, they are based on fairly subjective charts and biased towards the USA. During this era music was dominated by a number of "Big Bands" and songs could be attributed to the band leader, the band name, the lead singer or a combination of the them. It is common, for example, to see the same song listed with three different artists. And, just to stop us from getting bored, the success of a song was tied to the sales of sheet music, so a popular song would often be perfomed by many different combinations of singers and bands and the contemporary charts would list the song, without clarifying whose version was the major hit. Where we have found such issues we have attempted to consolidate the entries using the most widely accepted value for the artist in each case.
The comments here are from the the MusicID impact site site. This version is not able to accept comments yet Previous Comments (newest first) 17 Jan 2021 song what +song +was no.1 +on +july +24,1939 7 Sep 2019 WHERE'S EVERYTHING STOPS FOR TEA?! one of the best songs ever dosen't get a mention :( 11 Nov 2018 April 22 1939 Is it possible to know what song was number one on April 22, 1939? 3 Feb 2016 #84 - Orig. Soundtrack - Wishing Per Wikipedia & YouTube title should be 'Wishing (Will Make It So). Same SongTitle as Glenn Miller & Russ Morgan versions. Irene Dunne had a version of this song but she didn't sing it in the movie 'Love Affair' so I'm not sure who should be credited. Data fixed, thanks 26 Nov 2014 1939? Daddy let we wear the mink Doesn't matter what the neighbours think 4 Sep 2014 Carmen Miranda O Que & Que a Bahiana Tem (#31) was also selected for Library of Congress (NRR) in 2008. You are correct the entry has been added, thanks 29 Aug 2014 And the Angels sing by Martha Tilton is in fact the same recording as the Benny Goodman single (not in the list of 60 tracks, but it appears in the artist list). Tilton sung on the Goodman hit. The Billboard list has two distinct entries, one mentions Martha Tilton while the other doesn't. However the label number is the same for both entries, so that suggests that the 1944 one is a reentry. We've changed the title to "And the Angels Sing (1944)" for the reentry. Thanks for the suggestion 2 Aug 2014 1937 & 1939 What was the popular song for Nov. 1937 & Feb. 1939. +Thank you, +Nola That is an impossible question to answer. See the "Number Ones" listing to see why 13 Jul 2014 Solomon linda Do you mean "Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds" who sang "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (which was copied by The Weavers and called "Wimoweh" because they misheard the lyrics) Because that was 1939 not 1950 14 May 2014 song Need lyrics of the song that goes: May the good Lord bless and keep you, wether near or far away.may your days be filled with gladness..... (I don't know the singer or what year, please help!) 27 Jul 2013 feb 3,1939 no one hit that day There were no regular charts before 1940 24 Jul 2013 Shirley Temple songs The other day a song popped into my mind from many years ago. I wanted to sing it to my grandchildren but I can't remember after the first verse or the title. I think it was from one of Shirley Temple's movies. It goes," I don't want to play in your yard, I don't like you anymore. You'll be sorry when you see me Sliding down my cellar door......" then it talks about a "rain barrel" and not wanting them to come to their house. It was a catchy and cute little song. I used to sing all those catchy little funny songs such as "Doing what comes naturally." Fuedin', a fightin' and a fussin', and all the songs from Shirley Temple movies. Those were happy days! 18 Jun 2013 Bing crosby 1939 There is a similar issue on this page for bing being at fifth place while on the actual 1939 page he is at fourth. Can you clarify these conflicting datas please? Thanks :) There are two different issues, one is that some of the pages are based on the most recent version of the data and others on older sets. "The worlds greatest song chart act" page was based on the 2.1.044 data (as it says on the page). The other issue is that we apply a number of different algorithms and parameters values to get as many different ways to view the results as possible. Obviously as we correct issues with the source data, or add extra sources, these positions change. We'd be happy to say that Glenn Miller was the top artist of 1939 (he is top in most of the calculated lists), and that Bing Crosby is one of the top 5 artists of that year (again he is in all the lists), but we would be unsure if Bing should be number 4 or 5 (that depends much more on the details of how you calculate) 26 May 2013 Could you tell me what was number one on 17th november 1939? We know of no good weekly charts from before 1940 10 May 2013 "I long to belong to you" Can you please tell me who the writer(s) were on "I Long To Belong To You" performed by Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights. Thanks, Eddie 17 Apr 2013 Do you have Billy Holiday songs? 7 Mar 2013 Songs that defined the era At a high school reunion for a class from the mid-forties, we were asked to name the songs we best remembered. Oddly enough, the two that won were actually popular before we were in high school --"Moonlight Serenade" and "In the Mood". On second thought, that may not be so strange as those two songs more than any others better define the World War II era. Would you agree? ("Sentimental Journey" finished third, by the way) We suspect that here in the UK the song "We'll meet again" (by Vera Lynn) would be the definitive one. 28 Dec 2012 Martha Tilton - When the Angels Sing I like to believe that When the Angels Sing by Martha Tilton (number 8) was infact a song recorded by Benny Goodman with Tilton on vocals. So it would be correct to credit Benny Goodman as well. Always difficult to point out wether a song should credit the band leader of the vocalist. After 1942 (the famous US musicians strike) songs credited the vocalist instead of the orchestra. Before then, it was more or leass the other way round. For the songs of the 1930s and 1940s this is always a difficult decision. We have tried (and continue to try) to be consistent but as your comment hints there is no way to do that in every case. See the comments on Benny Goodman's page. 18 Jun 2012 Denny Farrell , I think your site is wonderful I have been doing a radio show that covers all the great music of the 20's 30's and 40's for over 40 years now. We have listeners from the early teens up to 100 who tune in every week. Music was a big part of everyones life long before 1940. It did matter. Big Band Hall of Fame Inductee, Denny Farrell 11 Jun 2012 X Marks The Spot I have been looking for a song that was recorded on a Recordio disc off the radio. One side had Kate Smith singing "Tradewinds",and the other side had a male vocalist with what sounds like "X Marks The Spot". I don't know who recorded it;"X marks the spot,where my heart did reside,untill you came along,and took it for a one way ride,Once it used to be,mine exclusively,now what have I got?,ooh ooh darlin you,x marks the spot". I assume it was from 1940,the same year as Kate Smith recorded "Tradewinds". 6 May 2012 The Ink Spots - Who Wouldn't Love You Never a hit in Billboard, we have it as 1942 (see The Ink Spots page) 4 Apr 2012 a lost memory can you remember the title of a song that had the words "who couldn't love you, who couldn't care?" PLEASE HELP ! 5 Jan 2012 1939 was outstanding! Love this site; 1939 was outstanding. To three: Somewhere over the Rainbow; Moonlight Serenade; and God Bless America. 29 Nov 2011 Use of the Chart to Help Score a Film Hello! How wonderful to discover your site and this chart. I'm the Creative Director of feature film about the life of Vivien Leigh. Our script begins in 1938. We are beginning to talk about the music direction, have a theme concept, and are identifying potential movie supervisors/editors. Your charts will be very useful to us. Happy days! 3 Nov 2011 # 32 We'll Meet Again Kay Kyser, Guy Lombardo and Benny Goodman all hat hits of this song in the early 40s. But since Vera Lynn's Recording dates from 1954, it seams that it should properly listed under that yoar. There are two different reasons for not listing Vera Lynn's version under 1954. First of all the most popular version of this British song in the first years of WWII was that by Vera Lynn, she went on to star in a 1943 British film of the same name. It wasn't just a hit of the early war in the UK, if you ask most British people for the song that characterises the early 1940s this would be it. That's why it was in "Dr Strangelove", "The Singing Detective" and "The Wall". The fact that she released a US version in 1954 is somewhat peripheral. But, more importantly, we don't "assign" songs to years. The year a song is allocated to is set by the rules of the site. In this case there are two European charts that suggest 1939 as the year and one US one that suggests 1954. That's why the year is 1939. As administrators here we get to select the approach but that is applied without any "adjustment" from us. In this case, as in most cases, the result turns out to be right. Of course the problem here, as it mentions at the top of the page, is that there is little evidence for this period which is not US based. But those are the restrictions we have to live with. 21 Aug 2011 6 And the Angels Sing Thanks for the correction. My only issue with how you have it listed, is that it should prperly be credited to Benny Goodman. He is the featured artist on the record label. Martha Tilton is listed as 'vocal refrain'. 14 Aug 2011 Confused I love the charts, but I wonder why removing the duplicate entry for "And The Angels Sing" can drop the previously #24 entry "Artie Shaw's Jeepers Creepers" completely off the charts? ...I meant Al Donahue not Artie Shaw The answer is that it didn't, it was a completely different change that affected it. The list of Oscars was expanded from just the songs that won to all those nominated, previously "Jeepers Creepers" had three entries: US Billboard 1 from Dec 1938; US BB 11 of 1939; and POP 11 of 1939. This assigned it a year of 1939. The way we work out the year is to select the median of all the years suggested by charts, having been released in December 1938 this song is on the borderline. With two "votes" for 1939 and one for 1938 the song had been placed in 1939. When we added the fact that it was nominated for an Oscar in 1938, that changed its assigned year to 1938. The song is still in the chart (at position 17 no less) but its in the chart for 1938 rather than for 1939. 20 Jul 2011 10 & 48 And the Angels Sing These two entries are the same recording - Benny Goodman with Martha Tilton doing the vocal. You are correct, the data has been fixed. Thanks for the suggestion 30 Dec 2010 This is a great way for me to show my grandchildren what music was like when I was a kid. It brings back memories... 29 Sep 2010 tell me more I'm so interested in Indian summer, its like totaly my fave song homie!!! 5 Sep 2010 song Who was the lady who sang "We'll meet again" in the early 1900s. The most famous song with that title was written in 1939 (by Ross Parker & Hughie Charles) and was a hit for many including the Ink Spots, Guy Lombardo, Peggy Lee and (of course) Vera Lynn We don't have any record of a hit from before 1939 with that title.
22 Aug 2010 Index Hello, This is a fascinating site. I wanted to make sure I was reading the index correctly. Did Dorothy Lamour fail to chart any singles whatsoever? It seems that way in the index, but when I was looking at the comments included for the year 1939 it looks like she had a single that charted but did not make the cut for the top 60 songs of that year. This site does not list all the entries of all charts, for one thing that would make the lists too long to be easily navigated. However more importantantly we focus on showing the songs that were hits in multiple charts, that provides an insight that is not avaliable elsewhere. In addition it does not infringe on the copyright holders of each chart. Dorothy Lamour is a case in point, in fact she had 5 hits in the Billboard charts "Swing High Swing Low" and "Moonlight & Shadows" in 1937, "Lovelight in the Starlight" in 1938 and "I Go for That" and "Strange Enchantment" in 1939. However she didn't appear in any other charts. The best way to investigate her career is to examine the Billboard chart, either by visiting their site or by following the link we have to the Bullfrog data. The page http://the MusicID impact site.info/music/faq_missing_data.htm explains why some artists, songs and titles are not listed. 2 Apr 2010 Waht was the #1 song in June of 1939 First question would be "Number 1 where?" Second question would be "according to who?" Starting in mid 1941 Billboard's number 1 records can be found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number-one_hits_of_1940_(United_States) There really is no "Number 1" from June of 1939 2 Feb 2010 What was the #1 song on December 26 1939 The first question is "where?", the number one song would vary from one country to the next. We assume, since you have not specified a location you mean the number 1 song in the USA. So the next question would be "according to who?", there were no official charts published in the 1930s, the closest would be some occasional charts published by Billboard magazine. Billboard produced a variety of different charts starting in 1936 these were finally consolidated in 1958 into the "Hot 100" which has been published ever since (although the way they are calculated has changed of course). Unfortunately before July 1940 all we have access to are annual summaries of the Billboard charts, they tell us for example, that "Beer Barrel Polka" by Will Glahe & His Orchestra was in the Billboard charts for 21 weeks in 1939 and reached number 1 but they don't tell us which months it was released. 19 Dec 2009 "_____for That" The song is "I Go for That" which had three entries in the Billboard chart in 1939. Red Norvo & His Orchestra got to number 20, Dorothy Lamour got to number 15 with two weeks in the charts, Eddy Duchin got to number 15 with 5 weeks in the charts. None of the versions did well enough to be in the 40 biggest hits of the year. 15 Sep 2009 cool |