1920
One hundred and sixty-five songs chart — the biggest year yet, by far. Prohibition begins January 17, and the Jazz Age begins with it. The dance orchestra has fully taken over the chart: Ben Selvin’s “Dardanella” at #1, Paul Whiteman’s “Whispering” at #2, plus Art Hickman and Ted Lewis all in the top 17. The quartet era is done. Paul Whiteman arrives with the smooth, sophisticated dance-music sound he’ll brand as “symphonic jazz”; George Gershwin debuts as a songwriter with “Swanee” (at age 21), sung by Jolson to #3. The pop chart’s biggest event, though, isn’t on the pop chart at all: Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” (August 1920) is the first blues recording by a Black woman, and it launches the entire “race records” industry — the parallel world of Black popular music that this Billboard-derived chart has mostly ignored is about to become impossible to ignore. Marion Harris covers W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and does it justice, the closest the pop chart gets to acknowledging the blues revolution going on beside it. Eddie Cantor makes his chart debut; Jolson signs off with his catchphrase title “You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet” — literally true.
Ben Selvin & His Orchestra — “Dardanella” (#1) — Archive.org
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra — “Whispering” (#2) — Archive.org
Al Jolson — “Swanee” (#3) — Archive.org
Ted Lewis & His Band — “When My Baby Smiles at Me” (#4) — Archive.org
Marion Harris — “St. Louis Blues” (#7) — Archive.org
Edith Day — “Alice Blue Gown” (#11) — Archive.org
Bert Williams — “When the Moon Shines on the Moonshine” (#18) — Archive.org
Eddie Cantor — “You’d Be Surprised” (#20) — Archive.org
Elizabeth Spencer & Charles Hart — “Let the Rest of the World Go By” (#13) — Archive.org
Al Jolson — “You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet” (#28) — Archive.org