We continue our popular and successful series devoted to the biggest chart records of each calendar year in the early chart era as we focus on 1945, the fifth full calendar year of the Billboard Best Sellers chart - the chart was launched in July 1940 - and the first year to feature a Most Played by Disc Jockeys chart. This great value 94-track 4-CD set comprises every record which peaked in the Top 10 of the Best Sellers chart during the year, plus those which entered the Top 10 in the final weeks of the year. For reasons of space, it excludes those records were still in the chart at the start of the year, but which peaked in the Top 10 in 1944, and so are included in our existing 1944 collection. It was another vintage year for Bing Crosby, who had 9 hits during the year, while Dick Haymes and Harry James with Kitty Kallen had six. Johnny Mercer had three No. 1s, one with Jo Stafford, and Doris Day made her chart debut with two No. 1s. Others who featured at No.1 were The Andrews Sisters, Vaughn Monroe, Perry Como, Harry James, Sammy Kaye and Freddy Martin, while there were also many highly collectable lesser-known records by some artists we don't hear too much about these days. It makes for an intriguing and very entertaining musical snapshot of a year when WWII came to a close, celebrated by a number of both sentimental and celebratory hits. It includes a 12,000+ word booklet with a commentary on every record as well as full discographical and chart information.
Track Listing
Disc 1:
- Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
- The Andrews Sisters - Rum And Coca Cola
- Sammy Kaye & His Orch with Billy Williams - Don't Fence Me In
- Kay Kyser & His Orchestra with Georgia Carroll - There Goes That Song Again
- Kate Smith - Don't Fence Me In
- Spike Jones & His City Slickers with Carl Grayson - Cocktails For Two
- Frank Sinatra - I Dream Of You (More Than You Dream I Do)
- Perry Como - I Dream Of You
- Artie Shaw & His Orchestra - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
- Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
- Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights - Don't Fence Me In
- Harry James & His Orchestra With Kitty Kallen - I'm Beginning To See The Light
- Frank Sinatra - Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night In The Week)
- Frankie Carle & His Orchestra with Paul Allen - A Little On The Lonely Side
- Abe Lyman & His Orchestra with Rose Blane - Rum And Coca-Cola
- Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra - Rum And Coca-Cola
- Jo Stafford, Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers - Candy
- Gertrude Niesen - I Wanna Get Married
- Duke Ellington With His Famous Orchestra with Joya Sherrill - I'm Beginning To See The Light
- Pied Pipers With Paul Weston & His Orchestra - Dream
- Les Brown Orchestra With Doris Day - My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time
- The Phil Moore Four - My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time
- Les Brown Orchestra With Doris Day - Sentimental Journey
- Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians with Jimmy Brown - A Little On The Lonely Side
Disc 2:
- Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra - There! I've Said It Again
- Bing Crosby - Just A Prayer Away
- Johnny Long & His Orchestra & Dick Robertson - My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time
- Betty Hutton - Stuff Like That There
- Woody Herman & His Orchestra - Laura
- Dinah Shore - Candy
- Sammy Kaye & His Orch with Billy Williams - Just A Prayer Away
- Spike Jones & His City Slickers with Red Ingle - Chloe
- Ella Fitzgerald & Ink Spots - I'm Beginning To See The Light
- Woody Herman & His Orchestra - Caldonia
- Freddy Martin & His Orchestra - Laura
- Tony Pastor & His Orchestra with Ruth McCullough - Bell Bottom Trousers
- Dick Haymes - Laura
- Charlie Spivak & His Orchestra with Jimmy Saunders - You Belong To My Heart
- Louis Jordan And His Tympani Five - Caldonia
- Frank Sinatra - Dream
- Bing Crosby & Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra - You Belong To My Heart
- Johnnie Johnston - Laura
- Hal McIntyre & His Orchestra - Sentimental Journey
- Kay Kyser & His Orchestra - Bell Bottom Trousers
- Louis Prima & His Orchestra - Bell Bottom Trousers
- Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians with Jimmy Brown - Bell Bottom Trousers
- Merry Macs - Sentimental Journey
- Benny Goodman & His Orchestra - Gotta Be This Or That (Pt. 1)
Disc 3:
- Carmen Cavallaro & His Orchestra - Chopin's Polonaise
- Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers - On The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe
- Mills Brothers - I Wish
- Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra with Wynonie Harris - Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well
- Perry Como - If I Loved You
- Bing Crosby - On The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe
- Jerry Colonna - Bell Bottom Trousers
- Stan Kenton & His Orchestra with June Christy - Tampico
- Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with The Sentimentalists - On The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe
- Sammy Kaye & His Orch with Billy Williams & Nancy Norman - Good Good Good (That's You-That's You)
- Perry Como - Till The End of Time
- Perry Como - I'm Gonna Love That Gal
- Dick Haymes - I Wish I Knew
- Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra - Boogie Woogie
- Dinah Shore - Along The Navajo Trail
- Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - 11:60 PM
- Dick Haymes - Till The End Of Time
- Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters - Along The Navajo Trail
- Benny Goodman & His Orchestra with Dottie Reid - It's Only A Paper Moon
- Judy Garland and The Merry Macs - On The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe
- Dick Haymes & Helen Forrest - I'll Buy That Dream
- Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Skeets Herfurt - Hong Kong Blues
- Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - I'll Buy That Dream
- Charlie Spivak & His Orchestra with Irene Daye - It's Been A Long Long Time
- Bing Crosby with Les Paul & His Trio - It's Been A Long Long Time
Disc 4:
- Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - It's Been A Long Long Time
- Sammy Kaye & His Orch with Billy Williams & Nancy Norman - Chickery Chick
- Dick Haymes - That's For Me
- Stan Kenton & His Orchestra with June Christy - It's Been A Long Long Time
- Dick Haymes - It Might As Well Be Spring
- Jo Stafford - That's For Me
- Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallero At The Piano - I Can't Begin To Tell You
- Peggy Lee - Waitin' For The Train To Come In
- Spike Jones & His City Slickers - Holiday For Strings
- Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra & Delta Rhythm Boys - The Honeydripper
- Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - Waitin' For The Train To Come In
- Paul Weston & His Orchestra & Margaret Whiting - It Might As Well Be Spring
- Perry Como - Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)
- Frank Sinatra - Nancy (With The Laughing Face
- Freddie Martin & His Orchestra With Clyde Rogers - Symphony
- Betty Hutton - Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief
- Bing Crosby - White Christmas
- Bing Crosby - Symphony
- Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
- Sammy Kaye & His Orch with Billy Williams - It Might As Well Be Spring
- Andy Russell - I Can't Begin To Tell You
- Harry James and His Orchestra with Ruth Haag - I Can't Begin To Tell You
- Louis Jordan And His Tympani Five - Buzz Me
- Evelyn Knight & The Jesters - Chickery Chick
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