Big Band Swing is all but extinct but the record biz prospers and ’20s superstar Al Jolson is cool again as a nostalgia wave sweeps the nation and the year’s top hit is a record from 1933! A recently-unemployed bandleader’s B-side sells millions, studio gimmickry becomes a thing, and upstart indies do an end run around the big-4’s monopoly on Tin Pan Alley’s A-list “plug songs” with under-the-radar “material hits” like the breakthrough smash by a trailblazing emotive Crooner.

#1 Song of the Year   The top song according to our Chartcrush ranking of all songs that earned the majority of their chart ranking points in the year

Artists of the Year   The top three artists based on all charted songs that spent most of their chart runs in the year

1. Eddy Howard & His Orchestra
2. Ted Weems & His Orchestra
3. Frankie Laine

Artist with Most Charting Songs   Artist(s) with the most charting songs during the year (song count in parentheses)

• Frank Sinatra (8)

Average #1 Artist Age   The average of how old artists who scored #1 hits during the year were when their songs first reached #1

• 37.2

#1 Songs   List of #1 songs that earned the majority of their chart ranking points in the year, and (in parentheses), the month the song first hit #1 and the total number of weeks it was #1

1. Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye, vocal Billy Williams – The Old Lamp-Lighter (December ’46, 8 wks)
2. Eddy Howard & His Orchestra, vocal Eddy Howard – (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons (February, 1 wk)
3. Count Basie & His Orchestra, vocal Harry Edison & Bill Johnson – Open the Door, Richard! (February, 1 wk)
4. Freddy Martin & His Orchestra, vocal Stuart Wade – Managua, Nicaragua (March, 1 wk)
5. Ted Weems & His Orchestra, whistling Elmo Tanner – Heartaches (March, 15 wks)
6. The Harmonicats – Peg o’ My Heart (June, 6 wks)
7. Eddy Howard & His Orchestra, vocal Eddy Howard – I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder (July, 3 wks)
8. Tex Williams & His Western Caravan, vocal Tex Williams & Trio – Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) (August, 8 wks)
9. Francis Craig & His Orchestra, vocal Bob Lamm – Near You (September, 13 wks)