America'S Greatest Hits 1945 / Various America'S Greatest Hits 1945 / Various CD

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.

1. Johnny Mercer ; the Pied Pipers - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive 2. The Andrews Sisters - Rum and Coca Cola 3. Sammy Kaye ; His Orch with Billy Williams - Don't Fence Me in 4. Kay Kyser ; His Orchestra with Georgia Carroll - There Goes That 5. Kate Smith - Don't Fence Me in 6. Spike Jones ; His City Slickers with Carl Grayson - Cocktails for Two 7. Frank Sinatra - I Dream of You (More Than You Dream I Do) 8. Perry Como - I Dream of You 9. Artie Shaw ; His Orchestra - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive 10. Bing Crosby ; Andrews Sisters - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive 11. Horace Heidt ; His Musical Knights - Don't Fence Me in 12. Harry James ; His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - I'm Beginning to See 13. Frank Sinatra - Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week) 14. Frankie Carle ; His Orchestra with Paul Allen - a Little on the Lonely 15. Abe Lyman ; His Orchestra with Rose Blane - Rum and Coca-Cola 16. Vaughn Monroe ; His Orchestra - Rum and Coca-Cola 17. Jo Stafford, Johnny Mercer ; the Pied Pipers - Candy 18. Gertrude Niesen - I Wanna Get Married 19. Duke Ellington with His Famous Orchestra with Joya Sherrill - I'm Beginning to See the Light 20. Pied Pipers with Paul Weston ; His Orchestra - Dream 21. Les Brown Orchestra with Doris Day - My Dreams Are Getting Better 22. The Phil Moore Four - My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time 23. Les Brown Orchestra with Doris Day - Sentimental Journey 24. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians with Jimmy Brown - a Little on the Lonely Side 25. Vaughn Monroe ; His Orchestra - There! I've Said It Again 26. Bing Crosby - Just a Prayer Away 27. Johnny Long ; His Orchestra ; Dick Robertson - My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time 28. Betty Hutton - Stuff Like That There 29. Woody Herman ; His Orchestra - Laura 30. Dinah Shore - Candy 31. Sammy Kaye ; His Orch with Billy Williams - Just a Prayer Away 32. Spike Jones ; His City Slickers with Red Ingle - Chloe 33. Ella Fitzgerald ; Ink Spots - I'm Beginning to See the Light 34. Woody Herman ; His Orchestra - Caldonia 35. Freddy Martin ; His Orchestra - Laura 36. Tony Pastor ; His Orchestra with Ruth McCullough - Bell Bottom 37. Dick Haymes - Laura 38. Charlie Spivak ; His Orchestra with Jimmy Saunders - You Belong to 39. Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five - Caldonia 40. Frank Sinatra - Dream 41. Bing Crosby ; Xavier Cugat ; His Orchestra - You Belong to My 42. Johnnie Johnston - Laura 43. Hal McIntyre ; His Orchestra - Sentimental Journey 44. Kay Kyser ; His Orchestra - Bell Bottom Trousers 45. Louis Prima ; His Orchestra - Bell Bottom Trousers 46. Guy Lombardo ; His Royal Canadians with Jimmy Brown - Bell Bottom 47. Merry Macs - Sentimental Journey 48. Benny Goodman ; His Orchestra - Gotta Be This or That (Pt. 1) 49. Carmen Cavallaro ; His Orchestra - Chopin's Polonaise 50. Johnny Mercer ; the Pied Pipers - on the Atchison Topeka ; Santa 51. Mills Brothers - I Wish 52. Lucky Millinder ; His Orchestra with Wynonie Harris - Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well 53. Perry Como - If I Loved You 54. Bing Crosby - on the Atchison Topeka ; Santa Fe 55. Jerry Colonna - Bell Bottom Trousers 56. Stan Kenton ; His Orchestra with June Christy - Tampico 57. Tommy Dorsey ; His Orchestra with the Sentimentalists - on the 58. Sammy Kaye ; His Orch with Billy Williams ; Nancy Norman - Good Good Good (That's You-That's You) 59. Perry Como - Till the End of Time 60. Perry Como - I'm Gonna Love That Gal 61. Dick Haymes - I Wish I Knew 62. Tommy Dorsey ; His Orchestra - Boogie Woogie 63. Dinah Shore - Along the Navajo Trail 64. Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - 11:60 PM 65. Dick Haymes - Till the End of Time 66. Bing Crosby ; the Andrews Sisters - Along the Navajo Trail 67. Benny Goodman ; His Orchestra with Dottie Reid - It's Only a Paper 68. Judy Garland and the Merry Macs - on the Atchison Topeka ; 69. Dick Haymes ; Helen Forrest - I'll Buy That Dream 70. Tommy Dorsey ; His Orchestra with Skeets Herfurt - Hong Kong 71. Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - I'll Buy That Dream 72. Charlie Spivak ; His Orchestra with Irene Daye - It's Been a Long 73. Bing Crosby with Les Paul ; His Trio - It's Been a Long Long Time 74. Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - It's Been a Long 75. Sammy Kaye ; His Orch with Billy Williams ; Nancy Norman - 76. Dick Haymes - That's for Me 77. Stan Kenton ; His Orchestra with June Christy - It's Been a Long 78. Dick Haymes - It Might As Well Be Spring 79. Jo Stafford - That's for Me 80. Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallero at the Piano - I Can't Begin to 81. Peggy Lee - Waitin' for the Train to Come in 82. Spike Jones ; His City Slickers - Holiday for Strings 83. Jimmie Lunceford ; His Orchestra ; Delta Rhythm Boys - the 84. Harry James and His Orchestra with Kitty Kallen - Waitin' for the 85. Paul Weston ; His Orchestra ; Margaret Whiting - It Might As Well 86. Perry Como - Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba) 87. Frank Sinatra - Nancy (With the Laughing Face 88. Freddie Martin ; His Orchestra with Clyde Rogers - Symphony 89. Betty Hutton - Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief 90. Bing Crosby - White Christmas 91. Bing Crosby - Symphony 92. Vaughn Monroe ; His Orchestra - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It 93. Sammy Kaye ; His Orch with Billy Williams - It Might As Well Be 94. Andy Russell - I Can't Begin to Tell You 95. Harry James and His Orchestra with Ruth Haag - I Can't Begin to Tell 96. Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five - Buzz Me 97. Evelyn Knight ; the Jesters - Chickery Chic