The Chart Book Weekly Issue 1 26 March 1949 Compiled by Lonnie Readioff Introduction Hello and welcome to the first issue of TheChartBookWeekly, a magazine which looks, each week, at a different date in chart history. This issue focuses on 26 March 1949 and so has no UK data at all (as the UK charts don’t begin until 1952). Our 1949 charts, therefore, come from the USA, with the largest being a Top 30 (Best Sellers In Stores). When Billboard began their Best Sellers In Stores chart in 1940, they did not list any information about how it was compiled. By 1949 however, with the focus on popular music increasing within the magazine, they did. 4970 dealers “in all sections of the country” were responsible for sending data to compile the chart which sounds a lot, but when you calculate that America had a population of 142.2 million in 1949, that’s one dealer per 28,611 people. The chart is dated week ending 18 March, published 29 March. Billboard has always (up until 2018 anyway) published their chart 10 days after compilation, so sales for printing date 29 March are actually from 12 -18 March. This explains why many Christmas songs gain chart peaks in the first new chart week of the next year (See the example to the right dated 8 Jan 1949, with chart compiled to week ending 31 December 1948). The charts show in this magazine show the majority of the charts Billboard had to offer in this period. By 2019, Billboard offers over 100 charts covering every kind of genre imaginable, but in 1949 the charts featured where: Honor Roll Of Hits A Top 10 listing of song popularity with each recording combined to show the placing Best Selling Sheet Music A Top 15 showing the best selling sheet music in the country England’s Top Twenty A Top 20 sheet music chart for the UK Canada’s Top Tunes A Top 15 sheet music chart Records Most Played By Disc Jockeys 1,200 disc jockeys contributed and this was an early form of radio airplay chart, although this tallied how many times the song was played rather than audience figures Best Selling Popular Retail Records A Top 30 sales chart Best Selling Children’s Records A Top 15 chart combining Singles, EP’s and LP’s Best Selling Record’s By Classical A Top 5 Singles chart Artists Best Selling Record Albums By A Top 5 LP chart Classical Artists Best Selling Popular Record Albums A Top 10 LP chart of all types Most Played Juke Box Records 1558 operators of Juke Boxes supplied data for a chart listing plays of records on those machines. Best Selling Retail Race Records A Top 15, as the Best Sellers chart, but for “Race” records – the term used at the time to describe what is currently called R&B records. Most Played Juke Box Race Records A Top 15, as the Most Played Juke Box chart but focusing on the R&B market. Most Played Juke Box Folk Records A Top 15, as the Most Played Juke Box chart but focusing on the Country market. Best Selling Folk Records A Top 15, as the Best Sellers chart, but for Country music records, as they would be described today. Not all of the above charts are researched in my own database, from which the data used to compile each issue of this publication is drawn. Over time, more older charts will be added, but some of the records are now, sadly, rather obscure in terms of locating the correct details for them. I pride myself on accuracy here, and so I want to make something which is as accurate as possible to the correct record information. As such, any errors which do creep in will incur the finder an additional issue on their subscription free of charge. For now though, sit back and enjoy the wealth of data contained in the next few pages. And, if you so wish, feel free to suggest new features or things you would like to see in future issues. Lonnie Readioff [email protected] The Charts Eight individual charts are shown in this issue of TheChartBookWeekly, all for America, and all singles charts – except one. The chart title is shown at the top of the page, and all charts follow the following pattern • Chart analysis presented • Chart history presented • Full listing of the numBer ones from the first chart up to and including the year shown in this issue A key is presented at the top of the page showing the information presented, But a screen shot is annotated Below for ease of use. Chart Positions Section (Both Singles and Albums) Last three weekly positions. If not on the chart a If appropriate, the numBer 1 numBer (with 1 dash is shown. If a record is a RE, then last week being the first number 1 record on the chart) is Weeks on chart so far positions are shown thus or with the shown after the title. text RE if the track did not chart in the preceding three weeks. NEW is shown for new entries. LaBel and catalogue numBer (of Artist credit, as shown on the record. this charting version) Twk position. Red for number 1, bold otherwise. Full title as shown on the record. Shows change of position and Chart run for the record, consisting of entry date of this run, peak, weeks for this run and then the full set of positions. A set of how many positions changed. square Brackets is shown around the current position for ease of identification in long chart runs (notably album chart runs). Notes are sometimes displayed Below the entry thus Singles Chart History Below each artist is a section showcasing their full chart history from the start of this chart to the current week. Any records chart run which includes the current week is shown in full, But any information pertaining to entries (or re-entries) after the current week are not shown here. Artist credit used to identify the artist. Always the name of the artist removing any Entry date, number of hit records (re-entries not counted), Peak of the artist extraneous entries (such as ‘and his orchestra’ ‘quartet’, etc. Exceptions are made for and weeks on chart for the artist. All of this is calculated from the chart history artists with only one hit or artists using a single credit for their entire chart career. shown Below for the artist concerned. B-side for the record Record title, followed By full names of the composers who wrote the song. LaBel and Catalogue numBer Re-entries are indented slightly. A-side Duration (For DouBle A-Sides this is the duration of the first listed side) Full artist credit (if different to the main credit shown above) Total weeks on chart for this records chart run Notes, showcasing interesting information or chart anomalies (such as a record listed as a douBle A-Side one week, then not for suBsequent weeks), are Records peak. Green for shown Below the title, in light Blue italic text. number 1, red for Top 10 and normal otherwise. Records entry date on the chart Albums Chart History The Albums Chart history sections shares many of the features of the singles chart section, but with two notable differences over previous publications. The full track listing is shown for all charted records in the order they appear on the record and the full duration of the record is shown. Some records do not show a duration and this is either because the record cannot be located to time, or because sources differ on the correct timings. This is particularly true of the early albums charts, as some albums where not standard, as they are today, across versions on sale at the same time. One example of this is Spike Jones 1949 album ‘Musical Depreciation’, containing a random sampling of his current singles. Album duration Label and Catalogue number. The number of Full track listing, in order. In addition, the full artist credit of each track is shown, if that discs is shown after the catalogue number, if differs from the main album credit – thus more than 1. Between 1945-1955 it was usual for Silent Night, Holy Night (Bing Crosby With John Scott Trotter And His Orchestra). many discs to be shown as the album was made For some Original Cast or Soundtrack albums it has not always bene possible to identify up of numerous 78 RPM records, incapable of who is on the recording, and so the credit always uses the printed back of the album having more than one song per side. cover for this part, unless it has bene proved to be in error. Track listings are not shown for re-entries, as doing so makes the history section unwieldly to follow. Composer credits are not shown for Albums, but are for EP’s, as they follow the singles section properties more closely. 'Billboard Best Sellers In Stores' For The Week Ending 26 March 1949 3wks 2wks lwk Twk Title (Number 1 number for this chart if appropriate) - Artist Label (Catalogue Number) Weeks on chart so far. Notes and full Track Listing (for EP’s and Albums) is shown below the entry, depending on the record. Below this, the full chart run is shown, comprising Entry Date, Peak, Weeks and then the full run, with [] around the position the record has achieved this week. The full artist history is shown for records that entered the chart from the first chart date to the current chart date of 26/3/1949, by date of entry order.