Songs from the Year 1941

This page lists the top songs of 1941 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. There is also a set of monthly tables showing the various number ones on any date during 1941.

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.

Previous Comments (newest first)

7 Feb 2019

song lyrics

looking for the title of a song written in 1941 with a line "all alone andlonely, for my one and only"

16 May 2018

popular songs from 1941

Some I remember

3 Feb 2016

#88 - Rosemary June - I'll Be With You In...

The 1941 UK Sheet Music Entry should be removed from this 1959 recording & transferred to a 1941 recording.

Data fixed, thanks

25 Jan 2016

#25 Yes My Darling Daughter

A bit early for the legendary Eydie Gorme (although you have her UK chartdetails correct) - honours were shared between Glenn Miller & Dinah Shore back in 1941 - chart details are on their respective lists, whichever one you care to choose.

Since Dinah Shore had more success with it we'll assign the UK number 1 to her but also list it as a Glenn Miller hit in the UK top 40.

Thanks for pointing this out

6 May 2015

It All Comes Back To Me Now

The Hal Kemp version can be found here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr6iIHKVlrY

This guy's channel has an absolute slew of stuff from this era!

10 Apr 2015

Wonderful work! This is the kind of info that are meant to be shared acrossthe internet. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!

Thank you

13 Jan 2015

October Song

My sister and I are looking for a song mother sang to us in 1941-1947 Wecalled it October song. Words start Asters & Golden rods nodding together, Suemack is wearing her crimson gown.

Thank u+ JK

31 Aug 2014

I'll be lonely too

1939/1945 song had these words. Wht name and all lyrics

28 Mar 2013

SONG

Wasn"t there a number 1 song entilded "I MET HER ON MONDAY" ??? Ron

According to our sources Horace Heidt released the song "I Met Her On Monday" in 1942 but it wasn't a hit.

That line has also been used in many other hits, for example The Crystals "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)", Craig David "7 Days" and Spinal Tap "Big Bottom".

28 Mar 2013

# 74 You Made Me Love you

This is the same as # 17. It was issued as Columbia 36296.

28 Mar 2013

# 74 You Made Me Love you

This was also a # 5 Billboard Hit.

Well spotted, we've fixed the data, thanks for the suggestion

13 Mar 2013

Consistent Billboard Data

What happened to the 1941 #1 single hit Frenesi by Artie Shaw?

It was a hit in 1940 not 1941 (at least it spent more weeks in the chart in 1940, was first number 1 in 1940 and was listed as 1940 in the Grammy Hall of Fame).

11 Feb 2013

It All Comes Back To Me Now

The song "It All Comes Back To Me Now" seems to be out of print. +It was asong recorded by Hal Kemp with Skinnay Ennis doing the vocal. +I can't seem to buy it anywhere. +I am trying to take it down. +Just having a little trouble with the bridge because it's hard to feel the downbeat. +Do you know where I can get it: +I looked under out of print sheet music and used music, but cannot find it. +I am willing to pay for it. +It can be downloaded as a PDF. +My email is mdesah@aol.com.

We don't have sheet music or music files here, maybe a reader can help you

12 Jan 2013

Thanks for this remarkable resourse

I'm an 85 year old music lover who just stumbled onto your web site. +Your charts are marvelous and are providing me with evidence of the popularity of songs during the lifetime of many Seniors at our Retirement Campus...so that we might incorporate them in Singalongs.

My highest compliments on your excellent work, and your thoughtful responsesto the many people who have commented and questioned your selections.

Don Kennedy

Thank you

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".

17 Apr 2012

could anyone tell me what songs were british hits on 9 of may and the 2nd july 1941

The charts we have for songs start in 1952. There was a sheet music chart for some of the 1940s but we've never found a trustworthy source for it.

21 Jan 2012

songs in 1941 publishing rights?

hi Id like to use some songs for a video - i heard that after 70y is ok not to have to pay for them

is this true

The duration of copyright varies from one country to another. In the UK (where you are writing from) the standard length is now 70 years from the death of the author (note, not from the date of publication). This duration is different for sound recordings (see, for example, the Wikipedia page on UK copyright).

If you want the material to be accessible in other countries the situation will be more complex.

In any case you need to seek a qualified legal opinion.

5 Jan 2012

#1 selling song

Please tell me how to find the #1 selling song the month of January 1941

If you are looking for the number one songs in the US the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_singles_of_1941_%28U.S.%29 will give you an answer

3 Nov 2011

# 2 Daddy

The vocal on this recording is Kay's own vocal group the Three Kaydets.

You are correct, the data has been fixed.

6 Oct 2011

young man with a horn

Hi: I am trying to get the music for "young man with a horn".

Can you help me?

thank you.\

We don't have music files at this site, just chart listings.

We assume you mean the soundtrack to the Doris Day film. Two different versions are available as downloads from Amazon, and we're sure it will be on iTunes as well.

7 Apr 2011

#63 is INCORRECT

There'll Be Some Changes Made was a #1 hit for BENNY GOODMAN & his Orchestrain 1941. It was the First issued "Red Label" Columbia Record (35201). It was a flop in 1939 , but Columbia reissued it two years later. Louise Tobin (Mrs. Harry James) was only the band vocalist. She got pregnant and left the band late in 1939. So far as I know, she NEVER recorded under her own name. This is NOT a "pop vocalist" record.

The original source has it down as "Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (Vocal Louise Tobin)" under "Columbia 35210". Which would make Louise Tobin a possible value for the artist.

However, as you suggest, alternate sources credit it to Benny Goodman. So we'll fix it. Thanks for the correction.

7 Mar 2011

No 1 song australia 26/12/41

Can you please tell me what the number one song in Australia was at 26th December, 1941.

Hope you can help me.

There were no charts in Australia before the 1950s. However a guy called David Kent created a retrospective chart of number one hits going back to 1940 and published it as the "Kent Music Report". This is explained on pages such as:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_singles_in_Australia_during_the_1940s

We have used that chart (on this site its called the "kent1a" chart).

In that listing the number one song for December 1941 in Australia was "It's A Great Day for the Irish" which was most famously sung by Judy Garland in the film "Little Nellie Kelly", but in Australia the version by The Jesters was also popular. Since charts from the 1940s usually focused on the sheet music sales either version could be considered the number 1.

1 Dec 2010

birthday date song+

I am trying to locate the top song for 1-8-41 and 2-8-41 for a family 70th birthday party.

Please help if you can.

Thanks!

As we have said many times the first question is the top song where, hits in the US are different from those in Europe. The next question is according to who? In the US during the 1950s there were at least three different charts.

We have a specific page that discusses exactly this topic.

If you'd followed the links on that page you would have found that Billboard suggests that the song "Daddy" by Sammy Kaye was the top song from July 12th to August 29th that year.

31 Jan 2010

number one song

trying to find out the number one song on May 21,1941.

The first question is "where?", for example in Australia the number 1 song was "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" by Vera Lynn.

You didn't specify a location, so we suspect that you meant what was the number 1 song in the US.

So the next question would be "according to who?", there were no official charts published in the 1940s, 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).

In 1941 the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart is probably the most representative one. In that chart the number 1 record was:

"Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)" by Jimmy Dorsey

in the entry for the song above it says "US 1 for 10 weeks - Mar 1941" that means it was the Billboard "Stores" number 1 for 10 weeks starting in March 1941.

2 Sep 2009

Number 39 title is incorrect.

I'm sure that the correct title is "It All Comes Back to Me Now."

I just discovered this website and will no doubt use it as a valuable resource often.

Thanks, Bill Rupp

You are correct, the mistake has been fixed. The issue was that some other charts had a similar title, but it turns out that the song is different.

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