List of Most Played Juke Box Folk Records number ones of 1945

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Spade Cooley Billboard alt.jpg
Young lawrence welk.JPG
Spade Cooley (left) topped the chart with his song "Shame on You" in the spring. Later in the year, orchestra leader Lawrence Welk (right) and vocalist Red Foley took their recording of the song to number one.

From 1944 until 1957, Billboard magazine published a chart that ranked the top-performing country music songs in the United States, based on the number of times a song had been played in jukeboxes; until 1948 it was the magazine's only country music chart. In 1945, 14 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk Records, in 52 issues of the magazine. The term "country music" would not come into standard usage until the late 1940s and "folk music" was one of a number of terms used for the genre in earlier years. [1] The chart ranked "the most popular Folk records on automatic phonographs thruout [ sic ] the nation", based on "reports from all the country's leading operating centers", which were averaged to produce the final placings. This methodology allowed for the possibility of records tying for a position, and on several occasions during 1945 two or more songs tied for the number one spot, including the issue of Billboard dated November 24, when four songs tied for the number-one position. The Juke Box Folk chart is considered part of the lineage of the current Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958. [2]

Contents

At the start of the year, the song in the number one position was "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You" by Tex Ritter, which had been in the top spot since the issue of Billboard dated December 23, 1944; it remained at the top of the chart for four weeks in 1945. [3] Ritter achieved a second number one later in the year with "You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often", which spent 11 nonconsecutive weeks at number one (including two in which it shared the top spot with other songs), the most by any song during the year. Ritter's total of 15 weeks at number one in 1945 was the highest by any artist. The longest unbroken run at number one was six weeks, by Al Dexter's "I'm Losing My Mind Over You" in February and March. As the chart was still in its infancy, the majority of the acts to top the chart in 1945 did so for the first time. [3] One of the first-time chart-toppers was Jimmie Davis, who at the time of his number one success was combining his professional singing career with serving as the Governor of Louisiana. [4]

Ritter was one of the most successful singing cowboys, having starred in Western films since the mid-1930s. [5] Two other performers associated with such roles had number-one songs in 1945: Dick Thomas [6] and Gene Autry, who was the biggest star of the singing cowboy genre and a hugely successful performer across music, film and television from the 1930s until the 1950s. [7] The lyrics of Autry's chart-topper "At Mail Call Today" dealt with a soldier separated from his sweetheart, [8] one of several military-themed songs to top the chart in the latter days of World War II. Texan fiddler Bob Wills, hailed as the "King of Western swing", [9] topped the chart for the first time with the war-themed "Smoke on the Water", [10] and later returned to the top spot with the patriotic "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima". In December he topped the chart again with "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight", making him the only artist to achieve three number ones in 1945. "Smoke on the Water" had already been a number one for Red Foley late the previous year, [10] and in 1945 another song achieved the distinction of being a chart-topper for two different acts, as Spade Cooley reached the top spot with "Shame on You" in the spring and Foley, in collaboration with orchestra leader Lawrence Welk, took the song back to number one in November.

Chart history

Bob Wills achieved three number ones in 1945. Bob Wills photograph - Cropped.jpg
Bob Wills achieved three number ones in 1945.
Two of Tex Ritter's songs topped the chart during the year. Tex Ritter 1966.JPG
Two of Tex Ritter's songs topped the chart during the year.
Gene Autry, a popular singing cowboy, reached number one with "At Mail Call Today". Gene Autry.JPG
Gene Autry, a popular singing cowboy, reached number one with "At Mail Call Today".
Ernest Tubb ended the year at number one. Ernest Tubb publicity portrait - Cropped.jpg
Ernest Tubb ended the year at number one.
Chart history
Issue dateTitleArtist(s)Ref.
January 6"I'm Wastin' My Tears on You" Tex Ritter [11]
January 13 [12]
January 20 [13]
January 27 [14]
February 3"I'm Losing My Mind Over You" Al Dexter [15]
February 10 [16]
February 17 [17]
February 24 [18]
March 3 [19]
March 10 [20]
March 17"There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder" Jimmie Davis [21]
March 24"I'm Losing My Mind Over You" Al Dexter [22]
March 31"Shame on You" Spade Cooley [23]
April 7 [24]
April 14"Smoke on the Water" Bob Wills [25]
April 21"Shame on You" Spade Cooley [26]
April 28"Smoke on the Water" Bob Wills [27]
May 5"Shame on You" Spade Cooley [28]
May 12 [29]
May 19"At Mail Call Today" Gene Autry [30]
May 26 [31]
June 2"Shame on You" Spade Cooley [32]
June 9"At Mail Call Today" Gene Autry [33]
June 16"Shame on You" Spade Cooley [34]
June 23 [35]
June 30"At Mail Call Today" Gene Autry [36]
July 7"Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima" Bob Wills [37]
July 14 [a] "Shame on You" Spade Cooley [38]
July 14 [a] "At Mail Call Today" Gene Autry
July 21 [39]
July 28 [a] [40]
July 28 [a] "Oklahoma Hills" Jack Guthrie
August 4 [a] "At Mail Call Today" Gene Autry [41]
August 4 [a] "Oklahoma Hills" Jack Guthrie
August 11 [42]
August 18 [43]
August 25"You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" Tex Ritter [44]
September 1 [a] [45]
September 1 [a] "Oklahoma Hills" Jack Guthrie
September 8"You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" Tex Ritter [46]
September 15"Oklahoma Hills" Jack Guthrie [47]
September 22"You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" Tex Ritter [48]
September 29 [49]
October 6 [50]
October 13 [51]
October 20 [52]
October 27"With Tears in My Eyes" Wesley Tuttle [53]
November 3"You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" Tex Ritter [54]
November 10 [55]
November 17"With Tears in My Eyes" Wesley Tuttle [56]
November 24 [a] [57]
November 24 [a] "You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" Tex Ritter
November 24 [a] "Shame on You" Red Foley and Lawrence Welk
November 24 [a] "Sioux City Sue" Dick Thomas
December 1"With Tears in My Eyes" Wesley Tuttle [58]
December 8"It's Been So Long Darling" Ernest Tubb [59]
December 15"Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight" Bob Wills
December 22"It's Been So Long Darling" Ernest Tubb [60]
December 29 [61]

a. ^ Multiple songs tied for the number one position.

See also

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"There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder" is a 1944 song written by Jimmie Davis, Ekko Whelan, and Lee Blastic and made popular by Tex Ritter. The song was the B-side to Tex Ritter's, "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You". "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder" peaked at number two on the Folk Juke Box charts.

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References

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  2. Whitburn, Joel (2005). Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs: 1944-2005. Record Research. p. ix. ISBN   9780898201659.
  3. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Watson-Guptill. p. 512. ISBN   9780823082896.
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  8. Lange, Jeffrey J. (2004). Smile when You Call Me a Hillbilly: Country Music's Struggle for Respectability, 1939-1954. University of Georgia Press. p. 78. ISBN   9780820326238.
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  10. 1 2 Davis, Doug (April 13, 2012). "Wartime tune 'Smoke on the Water' a hit in 1945". Texarkana Gazette . Retrieved June 12, 2018.
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