Songs from the Year 1932

Other Years:

1932

1933

1934

This page lists the top songs of 1932 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.

The top ten song artists of 1932 were:
1:Bing Crosby	3:Guy Lombardo	5:Rudy Vallee & his Connecticut Yankees	7:George Olsen	9:Cab Calloway & his Cotton Club Orchestra
2:Louis Armstrong	4:Paul Whiteman	6:Fred Astaire & Leo Reisman	8:Duke Ellington	10:The Mills Brothers

#	Artist	Song Title	Year	Chart Entries
1	Fred Astaire & Leo Reisman	Night & Day	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (18 weeks), US invalid BB 1 of 1932, Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004 (1932), POP 1 of 1932, ASCAP song of 1932, Music Imprint 14 of 1930s, Brazil 21 of 1933, nuTsie 34 of 1930s, DMDB 52 (1932), RIAA 195, Acclaimed 1369 (1932), RYM 4 of 1932
2	Bing Crosby	Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (8 weeks), Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005 (1932), Library of Congress artifact added 2013 (1932), POP 4 of 1932, US invalid BB 7 of 1932, nuTsie 33 of 1930s, Europe 44 of the 1930s (1932), Visconti song of 1932
3	Rudy Vallee & his Connecticut Yankees	Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (8 weeks), Library of Congress artifact added 2013 (1932), POP 4 of 1932, Music Imprint 15 of 1930s, Brazil 60 of 1933, Australian Nostalgia 60 of 1930-1939, RIAA 196, RYM 6 of 1932
4	Louis Armstrong	All of Me	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (18 weeks), Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005 (1932), US invalid BB 8 of 1932, POP 8 of 1932, Brazil 19 of 1932, nuTsie 42 of 1930s, RYM 5 of 1932
5	Bing Crosby	Please	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (16 weeks), US invalid BB 9 of 1932, Europe 11 of the 1930s (1932), POP 12 of 1932, Australian Nostalgia 17 of 1930-1939, Brazil 53 of 1932
6	Ted Lewis & his Orchestra	In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (22 weeks), US invalid BB 3 of 1932, Australian Nostalgia 3 of 1930-1939, POP 3 of 1932, nuTsie 80 of 1930s
7	Bing Crosby & The Mills Brothers	Dinah	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (9 weeks), US invalid BB 5 of 1932, POP 5 of 1932, Brazil 27 of 1932, Europe 47 of the 1930s (1931)
8	Duke Ellington	It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)	1932	Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008 (1932), US Billboard 6 - 1932 (6 weeks), UK 40s Sheet Music 10 - Aug 1941 (1 week), Scrobulate 31 of swing, nuTsie 32 of 1930s, RYM 1 of 1932, Song of 1932
9	Guy Lombardo	We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (8 weeks), US invalid BB 10 of 1932, POP 10 of 1932, Australian Nostalgia 48 of 1930-1939
10	George Olsen	Lullaby of the Leaves	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (10 weeks), US invalid BB 13 of 1932, POP 20 of 1932, Brazil 84 of 1933
11	Paul Whiteman	All of Me	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (10 weeks), POP 8 of 1932, Brazil 66 of 1932
12	Guy Lombardo	Paradise	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (10 weeks), US invalid BB 6 of 1932, POP 6 of 1932
13	Bing Crosby	Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (7 weeks), Europe 13 of the 1930s (1931), US invalid BB 15 of 1932, POP 15 of 1932
14	Kate Smith	River, Stay 'Way from My Door	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (8 weeks), US invalid BB 11 of 1932, POP 16 of 1932
15	Guy Lombardo	Too Many Tears	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (9 weeks), US invalid BB 12 of 1932, POP 18 of 1932
16	Cab Calloway & his Cotton Club Orchestra	I've Got the World On a String	1932	US invalid BB 2 of 1932, POP 2 of 1932, US Billboard 18 - 1932 (1 week)
17	Tommy Dorsey	Take My Hand, Precious Lord	1932	Music Imprint 19 of 1930s, nuTsie 74 of 1930s, RIAA 223, Acclaimed 1301 (1932), RYM 33 of 1932
18	Leo Reisman	Paradise	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (17 weeks), POP 6 of 1932
19	George Olsen	Say it Isn't So	1932	US Billboard 1 - 1932 (9 weeks), POP 9 of 1932
20	Guy Lombardo	How Deep Is the Ocean	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (6 weeks), POP 17 of 1932, Brazil 42 of 1933
21	Ted Fio Rito	Willow Weep For Me	1932	US invalid BB 4 of 1932, POP 11 of 1932, US Billboard 17 - 1932 (2 weeks)
22	Paul Whiteman	Willow Weep For Me	1932	US Billboard 2 - Dec 1932 (7 weeks), Jazz Standard 13, RYM 75 of 1932
23	Maurice Chevalier	MiMi	1932	US Billboard 9 - 1932 (6 weeks), US invalid BB 14 of 1932, POP 14 of 1932
24	Pat O'Malley	Goopy Geer	1932	Peel list 1 of 1932
25	Castro Barbosa & O Grupo da Velha Guarda	O Teu Cabelo Nao Nega	1932	Brazil 1 of 1932
26	Bing Crosby	Love Me Tonight	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (6 weeks), POP 13 of 1932
27	Joe Rines & his Orchestra	Underneath the Harlem Moon	1932	US Billboard 6 - 1932 (6 weeks), POP 7 of 1932
28	Louis Armstrong	I Got Rhythm	1932	US Billboard 17 - 1932 (2 weeks), nuTsie 90 of 1930s, RYM 16 of 1932
29	Kate Smith	Too Late	1932	US Billboard 9 - 1932 (4 weeks), Brazil 73 of 1932
30	Gus Arnheim & his Orchestra	You're Blase	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (5 weeks), Jazz Standard 640
31	Paul Whiteman	Let's Put Out the Lights	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (6 weeks), RYM 74 of 1932
32	Leo Reisman	Alone Together	1932	US Billboard 9 - 1932 (5 weeks), Jazz Standard 89
33	Russ Columbo	Prisoner of Love	1932	US Billboard 16 - 1932 (1 week), nuTsie 99 of 1930s
34	Fred Waring & the Pennsylvanians	You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me	1932	US Billboard 15 - 1933 (2 weeks), Jazz Standard 770
35	Paul Whiteman	We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (6 weeks), RYM 51 of 1932
36	Paul Whiteman	Three on a Match	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (5 weeks), RYM 72 of 1932
37	Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette MacDonald	Isn't It Romantic	1932	AFI 73, Jazz Standard 337
38	Art Kassel & his Kassels-in-the-Air	Hell's Bells	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (21 weeks)
39	Ted Black & his Orchestra	In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (7 weeks)
40	The Mills Brothers	Bugle Call Rag	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (5 weeks)
41	Bing Crosby	Sweet Georgia Brown	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (8 weeks)
42	Jack Hylton & his Orchestra	You're Blase	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (6 weeks)
43	The Mills Brothers	St Louis Blues	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (8 weeks)
44	Rudy Vallee & his Connecticut Yankees	Let's Put Out the Lights	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (8 weeks)
45	Rudy Vallee & his Connecticut Yankees	I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (10 weeks)
46	Jimmie Grier & his Orchestra	One Hour with You	1932	US Billboard 2 - 1932 (11 weeks)
47	Ray Noble	Try a Little Tenderness	1932	Peel list 2 of 1932
48	Gastao Formenti	Maringa	1932	Brazil 2 of 1932
49	Louis Armstrong	Love, You Funny Thing	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (6 weeks), RYM 14 of 1932
50	Louis Armstrong	You Can Depend On Me	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (16 weeks), RYM 16 of 1932
51	Don Redman	I Got Rhythm	1932	Jazz Standard 73, RYM 18 of 1932, Song of 1932
52	Louis Armstrong	Chinatown, My Chinatown	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (7 weeks), RYM 24 of 1932
53	Paul Whiteman	How Deep Is the Ocean	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (5 weeks), RYM 27 of 1932
54	Louis Armstrong	Sweethearts On Parade	1932	US Billboard 6 - 1932 (9 weeks), RYM 37 of 1932
55	Louis Armstrong	Body & Soul	1932	US Billboard 7 - 1932 (5 weeks), RYM 15 of 1932
56	Eddie Cantor	What A Perfect Combination	1932	US Billboard 7 - 1932 (5 weeks), Song of 1932
57	The Mills Brothers	You rascal you	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (8 weeks)
58	Wayne King	Sweethearts Forever	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (7 weeks)
59	The Mills Brothers	I Heard	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (9 weeks)
60	Ted Black & his Orchestra	Masquerade	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (7 weeks)
61	Arden-Ohman Orchestra	When We're Alone	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (7 weeks)
62	Ruby Newman & his Orchestra	My Silent Love	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (6 weeks)
63	Jack Denny & his Orchestra	Auf Wiedersehen, my Dear	1932	US Billboard 3 - 1932 (6 weeks)
64	Bert Ambrose & his Orchestra	The Clouds Will Soon Roll By	1932	Peel list 3 of 1932
65	Francisco Alves	Para Me Livrar do Mal	1932	Brazil 3 of 1932
66	Louis Armstrong	Kickin' the Gong Around	1932	US Billboard 11 - 1932 (3 weeks), RYM 9 of 1932
67	Duke Ellington	Rose Room (In Sunny Roseland)	1932	US Billboard 15 - 1932 (3 weeks), RYM 1 of 1932
68	Louis Armstrong	Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea	1932	US Billboard 12 - 1932 (2 weeks), RYM 9 of 1932
69	Ruth Etting	It Was So Beautiful	1932	US Billboard 13 - 1932 (2 weeks), RYM 81 of 1932
70	Louis Armstrong & Hoagy Carmichael	Rockin' Chair	1932	US Billboard 14 - 1932 (3 weeks), RYM 37 of 1932
71	Paul Whiteman	I'll Never Be The Same	1932	US Billboard 14 - 1932 (3 weeks), RYM 51 of 1932
72	Duke Ellington	Moon Over Dixie	1932	US Billboard 14 - 1932 (3 weeks), RYM 54 of 1932
73	Louis Armstrong	Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long	1932	US Billboard 15 - 1932 (2 weeks), RYM 26 of 1932
74	Duke Ellington	Blue Ramble	1932	US Billboard 16 - 1932 (3 weeks), RYM 30 of 1932
75	Louis Armstrong	Shine	1932	US Billboard 17 - 1932 (1 week), RYM 15 of 1932
76	Louis Armstrong	Keepin' Out of Mischief Now	1932	US Billboard 17 - 1932 (2 weeks), RYM 26 of 1932
77	Louis Armstrong	Home	1932	US Billboard 18 - 1932 (1 week), RYM 5 of 1932
78	Jimmie Rodgers	Roll Along Kentucky Moon	1932	US Billboard 18 - 1932 (1 week), RYM 35 of 1933
79	Paul Whiteman	I'll Follow You	1932	US Billboard 19 - 1932 (1 week), RYM 27 of 1932
80	Al Jolson	Hallelujah, I'm a Bum	1932	US Billboard 19 - 1933 (1 week), RYM 82 of 1932
81	Fred Waring & the Pennsylvanians	Fit as a Fiddle	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (6 weeks)
82	Isham Jones	My Silent Love	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (7 weeks)
83	Bing Crosby	Lazy Day	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (5 weeks)
84	The Mills Brothers	Rockin' Chair	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (6 weeks)
85	Guy Lombardo	Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (5 weeks)
86	The Mills Brothers	Good-Bye, Blues	1932	US Billboard 4 - 1932 (7 weeks)
87	Ted Lewis & his Orchestra	Play, Fiddle, Play	1932	US Billboard 4 - Dec 1932 (6 weeks)
88	Breno Ferreira	Andorinha Preta	1932	Brazil 4 of 1932
89	Charlie Kunz	Lovely To Look At/ Smoke Gets In Your Eyes/ Night & Day	1932	Peel list 4 of 1932
90	Louis Armstrong	I've Got the World On a String	1932	Jazz Standard 184, RYM 29 of 1933
91	Ruth Etting	I'll Never Be The Same	1932	Jazz Standard 210, RYM 81 of 1932
92	Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra	Moten Swing	1932	Jazz Standard 249, Song of 1932
93	Al Jolson	You Are Too Beautiful	1932	Jazz Standard 449, RYM 82 of 1932
94	Ray Noble	Sailing on the Robert E Lee	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (9 weeks)
95	George Olsen	Please	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (6 weeks)
96	Guy Lombardo	Just a Little Home for the Old Folks (A Token from Me)	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (4 weeks)
97	Guy Lombardo	Puh-Leeze, Mr Hemingway	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (5 weeks)
98	Ray Noble	Hold My Hand	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (8 weeks)
99	Dan Russo & his Oriole Orchestra	Goofus	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (4 weeks)
100	Ray Noble	Lights of Paris	1932	US Billboard 5 - 1932 (7 weeks)

Previous Comments

Previous Comments (newest first)

20 Mar 2016

she lived down by the firehouse

by Pie Plant

22 Feb 2016

Charlie Kunz - Medley

Per John Peel & YouTube, the following (3) recordings should be combined into(1) as they are a medley. #90 - Lovely To Look At & #91 - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & #88 - Night & Day (in that order).

Data fixed, thanks

15 Dec 2015

What Happened? Brother Can You Spare A Dime

I noticed that your Top 1000 Song Title List & Song Artist List have changeddramatically over the last few weeks e.g. this song was #326 in November and is now completely out of the Top 1000! There are dozens more examples like this. Was curious what new data or new formulas you are now using?

You will also have noticed that the major version number changed (2.5 to 2.6). The basic data has not changed (much), its the algorithm we use that is new.

The first thing to say is that the "Overall Top 1000 Songs" list depends strongly on how much you emphasise one year over another. If we counted up all the entries in charts then all the top songs would come from 1995-2005 (where we have most chart data). So we've applied some clever maths to overcome that bias.

The yearly charts are much more accurate because they compare songs from the same era and therefore from consistent sets of charts. We'd be relatively confident that Bing Crosby's "Brother, can you spare a dime?" was the second most successful song of 1932. Whether it was the 326th,, 1012th or 1696th song or of all time is much harder to judge.

The various things we do to overcome these issues are described in the FAQ "How is the site is generated?". The latest version change came because we found the "year adjustment factors" were slipping out of sync with the source data available (as we added more charts). So we have instituted a new scheme where we can validate the results (by looking at the songs that end up in positions 1000-2000) and use those results to tweak the year factors. This has the advantage that the factors better match the data but the disadvantage that we have to keep changing them.

In order that our more observant readers (such as yourself) can keep track and ensure we don't add an new unconscious biases we have made the year factors we use and the scores of the top 3000 songs (and top 2000 albums) available as CSV files. The final section on the FAQ explains the details. Have a play, see if you can find anything interesting (tell us if you do).

15 May 2015

#2-Bing Crosby-Brother Can You Spare A Dime

This recording was also selected for Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005.

Data fixed, thanks

15 Aug 2014

Fred Astaiire & Leo Reisman

Night and Day (#1) was also elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

It is not listed on the Wikipedia page listing the awards but is on the listing of the 2004 awards. We'll assume you are right and fix the data

Thanks for the suggestion

In addition the Wiki page also seems to be missing "A Night In Tunisia" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye and the album "Ellington at Newport"

4 Dec 2013

Poor Butterfly

There was a version perhaps a little later than 32 of Poor Butterfly with a Shanty Town type of patter course. It started with "That chick was high like a big fat butterfly ....."

Any body know more?

Three versions made the charts after 1932. Benny Goodman in 1942, Oscar Peterson in 1947 and the biggest hit was The Hilltoppers in 1954 which reached 12 in Billboard and 14 in Cashbox

11 Nov 2012

I Don't Know why I Love You Like I do

wasn't "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" a big hit in 1931 along with "Guilty" and Prisoner of Love?

Tommy

There is a song "I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)" by Wayne King that was number 2 in the US in 1931. Also two songs called "I Don't Know Why" were hits in 1931 one by Benny Krueger the other by Kate Smith (we guess they are both the same song). None make it to the year list.

We don't have a song called "I Don't Know Why I Love You Like I Do" in our listings. Of course different versions would have had variations on the names.

"Guilty" was a hit in 1931 for Ruth Etting (peak 4), Wayne King (peak 11) and Russ Columbo (peak 13). None of them high enough to reach the year list.

"Prisoner of Love" was a hit in 1932 (and is listed there)

5 Nov 2012

TAT

THIS IS JUST JAY STUFF OLD BOARING FINGS

26 Feb 2012

Looking for a song

The words are "Women do get weary" is it called "Try a little tenderness". I love the songs of this period as they have words which make sense and tunes that have great harmonies.

Thank You, Bernard Bloch.

In the Otis Redding (1966) version the words are "young girls they do get weary". According to Wikipedia the song was written in 1932 and first recorded by Ray Nobel.

We have entries for Ray Noble (Peel list 2 of 1932), Ted Lewis & his Orchestra (US Billboard 6 - 1933 (10 weeks)), Ruth Etting (US Billboard 16 - 1933 (2 weeks)), Frank Sinatra (Peel list 2 of 1947, RYM 64 of 1945) and Aretha Franklin (US Billboard 100 - Sep 1962 (1 week)) that predate Otis Redding's 1966 version.

28 Sep 2011

# 15 Take My Hand, Precious Lord

This song was written be Rev. Thoamas A. Dorsey - not to be confused with bandleader Tommy Dorsey.

Indeed see the Tommy Dorsey page.

20 Sep 2011

Take My Hand

I think the gospel song "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" is by Thomas A. Dorsey and not Tommy Dorsey as described by the reference link.

Yes, there is already a comment about that on the Tommy Dorsey page

13 Aug 2011

Possible duplicate

#1 and #45 Fred Astaire "Night and Day"

Thanks for the correction, we'd already made it before we saw your post, but its good to get it confirmed.

4 Jan 2011

Take my hand, precious Lord

Hi, The song Take my hand, precious Lord is not by band leader Tommy Dorsey (1905-1956). It was however written by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993). According to wikipedia the first recorded version is by The Heavenly Gospel Singers in 1937.

Best regards,

Martijn

You are right about there being two artists listed here. We've added some text to the page to clarify.

The song was written in 1932 (on the death of his wife and son). That is presumably why the majority of sources have assigned that year to it.

4 Nov 2010

"Songs From The Tear 1933"

The lists for 1932 and 1933 look. Need I say more?

We've looked. The lists have a limited number of sources, but the page does mention that.

So yes, you do need to say more, we don't understand what point you are trying to make.