Great Hits of the 1950’s
The top songs of the 1950’s will bring back lots of memories when you were growing up or even a teenager during this decade. Many of these songs we danced to even at the prom. An artist named Elvis Presley came out and memorized the girls with his hip movements.
The hits were ranked using a point system that each record achieved on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and other charts used in the early 1950’s, as the Hot 100 chart was not released until 1958. The other charts used were the Best Sellers in Stores, Jukebox Hits, and Sales and Airplay. The songs were than ranked by highest peak position reached and how many weeks it stayed at the peak position on all the charts. The ties were broken by how many weeks it stayed in the top 10. Any additional ties were broken by how many weeks it stayed in the top 40. If there were still ties, it was broken by how many weeks the song charted on the all the charts. If there were still any ties, it was broken by the point system.
A careful look at the chart below you will notice that the songs in the top 10 had to peak at the #1 position for 10 weeks or more. This shows just how popular these songs were when they were released. To make the top 40 a song had to peak at the #1 position for 7 weeks or more. Just to make this chart a song had to peak at the #1 position for 3 weeks or more.
The year with the most songs on the chart is 1956 with 14. The artist with the most hits on the chart is Elvis Presley with 8. These eight songs totaled 62 weeks at the #1 position.
In this decade of the 1950’s, there were a total of 154 songs that reached the #1 position. The year of 1958 had the most #1 hits with 23. This chart only shows the top 100 songs as ranked by Billboard.
Check out my other charts by clicking on the following link: music charts.
Rank / Title / Artist / Year / Peak # Peak Weeks ()
1. The Tennessee Waltz / Patti Page 1050 #1 (13)
2. Goodnight, Irene / Weavers with Gordon Jenkins / 1950 #1 (13)
3. You Belong To Me / Jo Stafford 1952 #1 (12)
4. Vaya Con Dios / Les Paul & Mary Ford 1953 #1 (11)
5. The Third Man Theme [I] / Anton Karas 1950 #1 (11)
6. The Third Man Thems [I] / Guy Lombardo 1950 #1 (11)
7. Cry / Johnnie Ray 1951 #1 (11)
8. Don’t Be Cruel / Elvis Presley 1956 #1 (11)
9. Because Of You / Tony Bennett 1951 #1 (10)
10. Wheel Of Fortune / Kay Starr 1952 #1 (10)
11. Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White [I] / Perez Prado 1955 #1 (10)
12. Hound Dog / Elvis Presley 1956 #1 (10)
13. Sincerely / The McGuire Sisters 1955 #1 (10)
14. Singing The Blues / Guy Mitchell 1956 #1 (10)
15. I Went To Your Wedding / Patti Page 1952 #1 (10)
16. The Doggie In The Window / Patti Page 1953 #1 (10)
17. If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked A Cake / Eileen Barton 1950 #1 (10)
18. Little Things Mean A Lot / Kitty Kallen 1954 #1 (9)
19. How High The Moon / Les Paul & Mary Ford 1951 #1 (9)
20. Mack The Knife / Bobby Darin 1959 #1 (9)
21. Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart / Vera Lynn 1952 #1 (9)
22. Sh-Boom / Crew Cuts 1954 #1 (9)
23. All Shook Up / Elvis Presley 1957 #1 (9)
24. You You You / Ames Brothers 1953 #1 (8)
25. Mona Lisa / Nat King Cole 1950 #1 (8)
26. Sin / Eddy Howard 1951 #1 (8)
27. If / Perry Como 1951 #1 (8)
28. Rages To Riches / Tony Bennett 1953 #1 (8)
29. Rock Around The Clock / Bill Haley & His Comets 1955 #1 (8)
30. Wanted / Perry Como 1954 #1 (8)
31. The Wayward Wind / Gogi Grant 1956 #1 (8)
32. Sixteen Tons / Tennessee Ernie Ford 1955 #1 (8)
33. Heartbreak Hotel / Elvis Presley 1956 #1 (8)
34. Come On-A My House / Rosemary Clooney 1951 #1 (8)
35. Oh! My Papa / Eddie Fisher 1954 #1 (8)
36. Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy / Red Foley 1950 #1 (8)
37. I’m Walking Behind You / Eddie Fisher 1953 #1 (7)
38. Make Love To Me / Jo Stafford 1954 #1 (7)
39. Till I Waltz Again With You / Teresa Brewer 1953 #1 (7)
40. Love Letters In The Sand / Pat Boone 1957 #1 (7)
41. Kiss Of Fire / Georgia Gibbs 1952 #1 (7)
42. Mr. Sandman / Chordettes 1954 #1 (7)
43. Jailhouse Rock / Elvis Presley 1957 #1 (7)
44. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear / Elvis Presley 1957 #1 (7)
45. At The Hop / Danny & The Juniors 1958 #1 (7)
46. Cold, Cold Heart / Tony Bennett 1951 #1 (6)
47. Hey There / Rosemary Clooney 1954 #1 (6)
48. Why Don’t You Believe Me / Joni James 1952 #1 (6)
49. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing / Four Aces 1955 #1 (6)
50. Rock And Roll Waltz / Kay Starr 1956 #1 (6)
51. The Poor People Of Paris [I] / Les Baxter 1956 #1 (6)
52. The Yellow Rose Of Texas / Mitch Miller 1955 #1 (6)
53. Memories Are Made Of This / Dean Martin 1956 #1 (6)
54. April Love / Pat Boone 1957 #1 (6)
55. The Battle Of New Orleans / Johnny Horton 1959 #1 (6)
56. Young Love / Tab Hunter 1957 #1 (6)
57. It’s All In The Game / Tommy Edwards 1958 #1 (6)
58. The Purple People Eater / Sheb Wooley 1958 #1 (6)
59. Blue Tango [I] / Leroy Anderson 1952 #1 (5)
60. Too Young / Nat King Cole 1951 #1 (5)
61. I Can Dream Can’t I / Andrews Sisters 1950 #1 (5)
62. All My Love / Patti Page 1950 #1 (5)
63. Tammy / Debbie Reynolds 1957 #1 (5)
64. Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes / Perry Como 1953 #1 (5)
65. The Ballad Of Davy Crockett / Bill Hayes 1955 #1 (5)
66. Love Me Tender / Elvis Presley 1956 #1 (5)
67. My Prayer / The Platters 1956 #1 (5)
68. All I Have To Do Is Dream / The Everly Brothers 1958 #1 (5)
69. Tequila [I] / The Champs 1958 #1 (5)
70. The Thing / Phil Harris 1950 31 (5)
71. Don’t / Elvis Presley 1958 #1 (5)
72. Venus / Frankie Avalon 1959 #1 (5)
73. Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu / Domenico Modugno 1958 #1 (5)
74. Harbor Lights / Sammy Kaye 1950 #1 (4)
75. Autumn Leaves [I] / Roger Williams 1955 #1 (4)
76. Lisbon Antigua [I] / Nelson Riddle 1956 #1 (4)
77. No Other Love / Perry Como 1953 #1 (4)
78. Secret Love / Doris Day 1954 #1 (4)
79. I Almost Lost My Mind / Pat Boone 1956 #1 (4)
80. Honeycomb / Jimmie Rogers 1957 #1 (4)
81. Music! Music! Music! / Teresa Brewer 1950 #1 (4)
82. Wake Up Little Susie / The Everly Brothers 1957 #1 (4)
83. Sugartime / The McGuire Sisters 1958 #1 (4)
84. Let Me Go Lover / Joan Weber 1955 31 (4)
85. Stagger Lee / Lloyd Price 1959 31 (4)
86. The Three Bells / The Browns 1959 #1 (4)
87. Lonely Boy / Paul Anka 1959 31 (4)
88. He’s Got The Whole World (In His Hands) / Laurie London 1958 #1 (4)
89. Come Softly To Me / Fleetwoods 1959 #1 (4)
90. The Chipmunk Song / The Chipmunks 1958 #1 (4)
91. St. George & The Dragnet [I] / Stan Freberg 1953 #1 (4)
92. Half As Much / Rosemary Clooney 1951 #1 (3)
93. This Ole House / Rosemary Clooney 1954 #1 (3)
94. Slow Poke / Pee Wee King 1951 #1 (3)
95. I Need You Now / Eddie Fisher 1954 #1 (3)
96. The Green Door / Jim Lowe 1956 #1 (3)
97. The Glow Worm / Mills Brothers 1951 #1 (3)
98. Dance With Me Henry / Georgia Gibbs 1955 #1 (3)
99. Moonglow And Theme From Picnic / Morris Stoloff 1956 #1 (3)
100. Here In My Heart / Al Martino 1951 #1 (3)
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