The Country No. 1s Of The '40s

Acrobat already has on catalogue collections which present “America’s No. 1s of the ‘50s” (ACFCD7501), “America's No. 1s of the '40s” (ACSCD6005), “America’s R&B No. 1s of the ‘50s” (ACSCD6003), “America’s R&B No. 1s Of The '40s” (ACQCD7168), and “Country No. 1s of the '50s” (ACTRCD9034), and this release completes that set with presenting the “Country No. 1s of the ‘40s”. Billboard published its first country chart in January 1944 under the name “Most Played Juke Box Folk Records”, becoming the “Most Played Juke Box Hillbilly Records” chart in 1947, and adding a Best Sellers chart the same year. In 1948 “Country & Western” replaced Hillbilly in the nomenclature, with a “Country & Western Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys” chart added in 1949. This 69-track 3-CD comprises records which made No. 1 in any of those three charts from the first chart in 1944 through to the end of 1950, apart from a couple which were unavailable for copyright reasons – it’s always a moot point as to whether a year like 1950 is the last year of one decade or the first year of the next one. In this case, because so many records spent long periods at No. 1 during these years, there were rather fewer chart-toppers than one might expect, so we were able to include the 1950 No. 1s within the 3-CD set format. As noted, the chart was often dominated by certain records, and Eddy Arnold in particular had an extraordinary run of success, spending many weeks at the top with several of his records, while one of two western swing artists like Bob Wills, Al Dexter and Tex Williams also having some long chart runs, with other big names of the era – Red Foley, Ernest Tubb and the emerging forces of Hank Snow and Hank Williams also featuring. It includes a 10,000-word booklet with notes on every record, and full chart information, and is a fascinating journey through an era when the commercial country scene developed its character as Nashville emerged as a major force.