List of the most successful country songs in the USA (1947)
This is the list of the most played country and western songs in the Billboard (magazine) determined Folk Juke Box Charts in the USA in 1947. In 1947, Billboard magazine only recorded which single was played in the jukeboxes and how often. Country & Western record market sales statistics were not compiled until later, so these annual listings on Billboard are the only information on the success, spread, and popularity of country titles in the 1940s. Incorrectly, in its later decade tables, Billboard equated these juke box charts with the sales charts and called its decade tables "Best Selling Country & Western Records".
The designation of the music genre in the Billboard charts is not uniform; in 1947 the genre is called “Folk”, “Country & Western” and “Hillbilly”.
The information in the billboard overview was supplemented from other sources by: composer / lyricist, title of the B-side and the US catalog number.
| rank | Interpreter | Title & composer | Label & catalog number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tex Williams and the Western Caravan | "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" (Merle Travis & Tex Williams) - B-Side: "Round-Up Polka" | Capitol Americana 40001 |
| 2 | Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plowboys | "It's a Sin" (Fred Rose & Zeb Turner) - B-Side: "I Couldn't Believe It Was True" | Victor 20-2241 |
| 3 | Merle Travis | "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" (Merle Travis, Eddie Kirk, Cliffie Stone) - B-Side: "Sweet Temptation" | Capitol 349 |
| 4th | Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plowboys | "What Is Life Without Love" () - B-Side: "Be Sure There's No Mistake" | Victor 20-2058 |
| 5 | Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plowboys | "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Til I Can Hold You in My Arms)" (Arnold, Horton, Dilbeck) - B-Side: "Don't Bother to Cry" | Victor 20-2332 |
| 6th | Red Ingle Natural Seven & Jo Stafford as Cinderella G. Stump | "Tim-Tayshun" - B-Side: "(I Love You) For Seventy Mental Reasons" | Capitol 412 |
| 7th | Red Foley and the Cumberland Valley Boys | "New Jolie Blond" (Trad., Moon Mullican) - B-Side: "A Pillow Of Sighs And Tears" | Decca 46034 |
| 8th | Ernest Tubb | "Rainbow at Midnight" (John Miller) - B-Side: "I Don't Blame You" | Decca |
| 9 | Moon Mullican | "New Pretty Blonde (New Jole Blon)" (Trad., Moon Mullican) - B-Side: "When a Soldier Knocks and Finds Nobody Home" | King 578 |
| 10 | Merle Travis | "Divorce Me COD" (Merle Travis, Cliffie Stone) - B-Side: "Missouri" | Capitol 290 |
| 11 | Bob Wills | "Sugar Moon" (Bob Wills, Cindy Walker) - B-Side: "" | Columbia 37313 |
| 12 | Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plowboys | "To My Sorrow" (VJ McAlgin) - B-Side: "Easy Rockin'Chair" | Victor 20-2481 |
| 13 | Ernest Tubb | "Filipino Baby" (Billy Cox, Clarke Van Ness) - B-Side: "Drivin 'Nails In My Coffin" | Decca 46019 |
| 14th | Tex Williams and the Western Caravan | "That's What I Like About the West" (Tex Williams) - B-Side: "Darktown Poker Club" | Capitol Americana 40031 |
| 15th | Roy Acuff and his Smokey Mountain Boys | "(Our Own) Jole Blon" (Trad., Moon Mullican) - B-Side: "Tennessee Central (No. 9)" | Columbia 37287 |
| 16 | Al Dexter | "Down at the Roadside Inn" (Al Dexter) - B-Side: "" | Columbia 37303 |
| 17th | Dorothy Shay & Mischa Russell Orchestra | "Feudin 'and Fightin'" (Dubin, Lane) - B-Side: "Say That We're Sweethearts Again" | Columbia 37189 |
| 18th | Red Foley and the Cumberland Valley Boys | "Never Trust a Woman" () - B-Side: "A Smile Will Chase Away A Tear" | Decca 46074 |
Remarks
- ↑ Survey from Billboard Magazine, May 21, 1955, p. 18
- ↑ The single reached number 5 in the pop singles sales charts of 1947; The single reached number 1 in the pop sales charts and was in the top 10 for 12 weeks, see Whitburn, Joel: "Top Pop Records 1940-1955". Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 48
- ↑ Advertising slogan for Lucky Strike cigarettes since 1945
- ↑ In the C&W charts of 1946 position 18
- ↑ 3rd place in the C&W charts of 1946
- ↑ In the C&W charts of 1946 at number 20
literature
- Whitburn, Joel: The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits 1944-2006 . 2nd Edition. Menomonee Falls / Wisconsin: Record Research, 2007