The Top 100 of the 1950's

Jason · Jun 5, 2018

A few weeks ago, my boss asked me how old I was...not thinking much of it I told them. I've gotten thoughts that go both ways on this - about half the time people say I look younger than I am (maybe because I don't know how to act my age lol

). The other half, people think I am older than I am because of certain things I know about (such as old school telephony hardware and concepts). However, this time surprised me because my boss knows how old I am, so I asked why. He said he couldn't help but notice that I was humming and often singing along to some songs they had on the radio. Apparently he had it on Sirius 50's Classics or something like that. We shrugged it off, but as I queued things up in Pandora after the fact, I have noticed I do know an inordinate number of popular songs from the 50's. This was surprising given that I wasn't born until 1969 - nearly twenty years later.

So, I put myself to the test - and I knew 89 of the top 100 songs from the 1950's...how many of these do you know?

Rank	Song Title	Song Artist	Year
1	That's Amore	Dean Martin	1953
2	Come Fly With Me	Frank Sinatra	1958
3	Jailhouse Rock	Elvis Presley	1957
4	I Walk The Line	Johnny Cash	1956
5	I've Got You Under My Skin	Frank Sinatra	1953
6	In the Mood	Glenn Miller	1955
7	All Shook Up	Elvis Presley	1957
8	La Bamba	Ritchie Valens	1958
9	You Make Me Feel So Young	Frank Sinatra	1953
10	Great Balls Of Fire	Jerry Lee Lewis	1957
11	Love Me Tender	Elvis Presley	1956
12	Johnny B. Goode	Chuck Berry	1958
13	Rock Around The Clock	Bill Haley & His Comets	1956
14	When I Fall In Love	Nat King Cole	1956
15	Mack The Knife	Bobby Darin	1959
16	Hound Dog	Elvis Presley	1956
17	You Send Me	Sam Cooke	1957
18	I Get a Kick Out of You	Frank Sinatra	1953
19	Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)	Penguins	1955
20	In The Still Of The Night	Five Satins	1956
21	Blue Suede Shoes	Elvis Presley	1956
22	I Only Have Eyes For You	Flamingos	1959
23	Tequila	Champs	1958
24	Only You (And You Alone)	Platters	1955
25	Our Love Is Here To Stay	Frank Sinatra	1955
26	Walkin' After Midnight	Patsy Cline	1957
27	Rockin' Robin	Bobby Day	1958
28	Chantilly Lace	Big Bopper	1958
29	(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock	Bill Haley & His Comets	1955
30	At The Hop	Danny & The Juniors	1958
31	Let's Do It (Lets Fall in Love)	Ella Fitzgerald	1956
32	All The Way	Frank Sinatra	1953
33	Dream Lover	Bobby Darin	1959
34	Chances Are	Johnny Mathis	1957
35	Peggy Sue	Buddy Holly	1957
36	Tutti-Frutti	Little Richard	1956
37	Don't Be Cruel	Elvis Presley	1956
38	Put Your Head On My Shoulder	Paul Anka	1959
39	I'll Be Seeing You	Billie Holiday	1954
40	Smoke Gets In Your Eyes	Platters	1958
41	Volare	Dean Martin	1958
42	They Can't Take That Away From Me	Frank Sinatra	1955
43	Memories Are Made Of This	Dean Martin	1956
44	Mona Lisa	Nat King Cole	1950
45	All I Have To Do Is Dream	Everly Brothers	1958
46	Wake Up Little Susie	Everly Brothers	1957
47	(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear	Elvis Presley	1957
48	Banana Boat (Day-O)	Harry Belafonte	1956
49	Night And Day	Frank Sinatra	1957
50	Yakety Yak	Coasters	1958
51	What'd I Say (Part 1)	Ray Charles	1959
52	Little Bitty Pretty One	Thurston Harris	1957
53	Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On	Jerry Lee Lewis	1957
54	Why Do Fools Fall In Love	Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers	1956
55	Everyday	Buddy Holly	1957
56	My Funny Valentine	Frank Sinatra	1955
57	That'll Be The Day	Buddy Holly & The Crickets	1957
58	Blueberry Hill	Fats Domino	1957
59	Splish Splash	Bobby Darin	1958
60	Miss Molly Good Golly	Little Richard	1958
61	Always	Ella Fitzgerald	1956
62	Love Is Here To Stay	Frank Sinatra	1955
63	Come Go With Me	Dell-Vikings	1957
64	Misty	Johnny Mathis	1959
65	Sea Of Love	Phil Phillips	1959
66	The Stroll	Diamonds	1958
67	Hey Good Lookin'	Hank Williams, Senior	1951
68	Because Of You	Tony Bennett	1951
69	Whoe Wrote The Book Of Love	Monotones	1958
70	Earth Angel	Crew-Cuts	1955
71	Jambalaya (On The Bayou)	Hank Williams	1954
72	There Goes My Baby	Drifters	1959
73	The Man I Love	Billie Holiday	1956
74	16 Candles	Crests	1958
75	Do You Want To Dance	Bobby Freeman	1958
76	Ain't That A Shame	Fats Domino	1955
77	Heartbreak Hotel	Elvis Presley	1956
78	The Purple People Eater	Sheb Wooley	1958
79	Return To Me	Dean Martin	1958
80	Rock 'N' Roll Music	Chuck Berry	1957
81	The Twelfth Of Never	Johnny Mathis	1957
82	TRue Love Ways	Buddy Holly	1958
83	Twilight Time	Platters	1958
84	The Great Pretender	Platters	1956
85	The Hawaiian Wedding Song (Ke Kali Nei Au)	Andy Williams	1959
86	Too Marvelous For Words	Frank Sinatra	1955
87	White Lightning	George Jones	1959
88	A Teenager In Love	Dion & The Belmonts	1958
89	Maybelline	Chuck Berry	1955
90	I Wish You Love	Dean Martin	1959
91	Little Darlin'	Diamonds	1957
92	Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay	Danny & The Juniors	1958
93	The Tennessee Waltz	Patti Page	1950
94	It's Only Make Believe	Conway Twitty	1958
95	Too Marvelous for Words	Ella Fitzgerald	1956
96	Loving You	Elvis Presley	1957
97	My Prayer	Platters	1956
98	Sincerely	McGuire Sisters	1955
99	Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White	Perez Prado	1955
100	Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing	Four Aces	1955

Feeling very old for my age now

*sigh*

ETA: Here's my source reference for the chart toppers: http://www.discjockey.org/top-100-songs-of-the-1950s/

shizu · Jun 5, 2018

I was born thirty years after most of these, and I know (which in this case I count as being able to recount the lyrics) 73 of them.

They're classics for a reason, after all.

And a lot of them have featured in soundtracks and commercials over the years, as well as being covered by later artists.

I've been feeling old for my age since about the mid-90s though, so, y'know, maybe I'm not the best example!

DanielSTJ · Jun 6, 2018

Casey Kasem? Satellite XM Radio?

I'm all for it. Makes me feel like an old man tho.

I've listened to many of these. They're GOLD damn it! When will those foolhardy youth learn! :greenie

Lakey · Jun 6, 2018

The YouTube channel MusicProf78 contains excellent digitally-cleaned-up recordings of all these chart-toppers. Well worth checking out if you are researching any time period in the US between the 20s and the 60s.

Dennis E. Taylor · Jun 6, 2018

Two good links in this thread. Woot!

For the record, I recognize pretty much all of those songs, although not all from the original. For instance, Sea of Love by the Honeydrippers.

cornflake · Jun 6, 2018

Categorizing 'know' by being able to sing in my head a decent chunk upon seeing the title, 95. I only checked the artists when I was like, 'huh?' and every Hank Williams lost me, heh.

I was born loong after these, but raised by someone who loved this stuff and played the oldies station and thus grew up with it and loved it. I also like modern rock, classical music, etc., but old-school girl groups especially, are my jam. One of the best things I remember buying on my first trip to London was a cheap-yet-massive cd set of '50s/early '60s classics.

I am pretty much always the youngest person at Darlene Love concerts.

The number of times I've been asked if I even know who she is, while sitting *at her concert* ...

Btw, to anyone who likes this music, Darlene Love is still the greatest singer alive, still performs, and sometimes brings fun guests, like dunk-off-her-ass Ronnie Spector.

Jason · Jun 6, 2018

shizu said:
I was born thirty years after most of these, and I know (which in this case I count as being able to recount the lyrics) 73 of them.

They're classics for a reason, after all. And a lot of them have featured in soundtracks and commercials over the years, as well as being covered by later artists.

I've been feeling old for my age since about the mid-90s though, so, y'know, maybe I'm not the best example!

Totally agree - some I knew from remakes of them, but the lyrics and base melody was similar enough that, upon hearing the original, I'd say "Oh, I know that!"

DanielSTJ said:
Casey Kasem? Satellite XM Radio?

I'm all for it. Makes me feel like an old man tho.

I've listened to many of these. They're GOLD damn it! When will those foolhardy youth learn!

All due respect Daniel, but judging on your avatar - you are the youth! LOL
BTW, you never answered...how many?

Lakey said:
The YouTube channel MusicProf78 contains excellent digitally-cleaned-up recordings of all these chart-toppers. Well worth checking out if you are researching any time period in the US between the 20s and the 60s.

Awesome link, tks! How many of these 100 did ya know?

Dennis E. Taylor said:
Two good links in this thread. Woot!

For the record, I recognize pretty much all of those songs, although not all from the original. For instance, Sea of Love by the Honeydrippers.

All 100? #impressive

cornflake said:
Categorizing 'know' by being able to sing in my head a decent chunk upon seeing the title, 95. I only checked the artists when I was like, 'huh?' and every Hank Williams lost me, heh.
...
I was born loong after these, but raised by someone who loved this stuff and played the oldies station and thus grew up with it and loved it. I also like modern rock, classical music, etc., but old-school girl groups especially, are my jam. One of the best things I remember buying on my first trip to London was a cheap-yet-massive cd set of '50s/early '60s classics.

I am pretty much always the youngest person at Darlene Love concerts. The number of times I've been asked if I even know who she is, while sitting *at her concert* ...

Btw, to anyone who likes this music, Darlene Love is still the greatest singer alive, still performs, and sometimes brings fun guests, like dunk-off-her-ass Ronnie Spector.

Yeah, for me "know" in this case means being able to sing a good portion of it in your head on seeing the title. And, fwiw, your magic number of 95 is sufficiently impressive!

Lakey · Jun 6, 2018

Jason said:
Awesome link, tks! How many of these 100 did ya know?

Oh, pretty much all of them. Between growing up in a nostalgic household (my parents were teens in the 50s) and researching the 40s and early 50s for my novel, I know quite a lot of music from that era!

One very interesting difference between popular music of that era and popular music today is that back then, when a song was successful for one singer, other record labels often scrambled to make recordings with their own stars. So if you look at the charts for a particular year (rather than the whole decade) it's not unusual to see as many as three or four versions of the same song. For instance, Jo Stafford and Patti Page both had hits with "Tennessee Waltz," and a year later they each had a hit recording of "You Belong to Me."

Maze Runner · Jun 6, 2018

I don't recognize by title numbers 96 through 99, #85, 66 and 63, 55 and 52, but if I heard them I might know them. My father had a contact with Atlantic Records and got his albums free, so while my friends were listening to rock and R&B, I was plowing through his rows and rows of promotional albums. hahaha, and if my ex wife is reading this, "I want 'em back!"

Siri Kirpal · Jun 6, 2018

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Ha! I can sing popular songs from my grandmother's era. She was born in 1890. I was born in 1953. And only recognized a few of the songs, but not because of their popular singers. The words to Mack the Knife were originally written in German by Bertoldt Brecht (sp?).

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Marissa D · Jun 6, 2018

Yeah, I think most of these are so part of the culture that knowing them is just part of being semi-culturally aware.

Lavern08 · Jun 7, 2018

Jason said:
...how many of these do you know?

Every last one of 'em!

*Drops Mike*

DanielSTJ · Jun 7, 2018

I know only about a 1/4th of them, but I plan to change that this weekend.

MAS · Jun 10, 2018

Oh gosh, I'd totally forgotten about Purple People Eater. But where's Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini? Surely that was even more popular???

Lakey · Jun 10, 2018

MAS said:
Oh gosh, I'd totally forgotten about Purple People Eater. But where's Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini? Surely that was even more popular???

I think it’s a little later - ‘60 or ‘61, maybe?

Jason · Jun 11, 2018

Yup just a hair later, 1960

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Bitsy_Teenie_Weenie_Yellow_Polkadot_Bikini

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 14, 2018

I'm surprised Glenn Miller's In the Mood is on that list since it first came out in 1939.

Xelebes · Jun 15, 2018

33. Which surprises me because while I do listen to quite a bit of 50s music, I do not listen to the music on the list much at all.

Jason · Jun 17, 2018

Meh

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mood

Looks like there were several versions recorded since its original release, so I’d just refer you to the source website.

Splitting hairs imho but take away from this thread whatever you like, dismiss that which you don’t.

Happy days all

DanielSTJ · Jun 18, 2018

I'm working my way up the list backwards!

shakeysix · Jun 18, 2018

Every single one of them and many not listed. I was born in 1950 but my memory tentacles go waaay back. I come from a musical family and cut my teeth on my parent's, grandparents music. "Sea Food and Rice, Very, Very Nice--Hold Tight! Hold Tight!" Better count my great grandmother-- she loved Faded Love long before the radio! --s6

The Top 100 of the 1950's

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head

shizu

DanielSTJ

The Wandering Bard

Lakey

professional dilettante

Dennis E. Taylor

Get it off! It burns!

cornflake

practical experience, FTW

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head

Lakey

professional dilettante

Maze Runner

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

Marissa D

Scribe of the girls in the basement

Lavern08

Sit Down, and Shut Up!

DanielSTJ

The Wandering Bard

MAS

Lakey

professional dilettante

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui

Jason

Ideas bounce around in my head

DanielSTJ

The Wandering Bard

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy