Billboard Top Race Records of 1948

Billboard Top Race Records of 1948 is a year-end chart compiled by Billboard magazine ranking the year's top race records based on record sales.Billboard assigned point totals to each record based on its sales.[1]

"Long Gone", an instrumental by Sonny Thompson with the "Sharps and Flats" was the year's No. 1 race record with 195 points. Thompson had another instrumental record, "Late Freight", that made the year-end list at No. 13.

"Good Rocking Tonight" by Wynonie Harris finished in the No. 2 spot with 145 points. The song anticipated elements of rock and roll music and has been cited as one of the candidates for the title of the first rock and roll record.[2][3][4]

"Tomorrow Night", a blues record by Lonnie Johnson, finished third with 129 points. The record was a remake of a 1939 version by Horace Heidt. Johson's version held the No. 1 spot on the race chart for seven weeks and crossed over to reach the No. 19 spot on the pop chart.

"Nature Boy" by King Cole, with an orchestra conducted by Frank De Vol, was the only song to be included in Billboard's year-end lists for both race and pop records. It finished at No. 11 among the year's race records and No. 14 among the pop records.[1][5]

King Records led all other labels with six records on the year-end chart, followed by Miracle and Capitol with three records each.[1]

Rank Title Artist(s) Label Points
1"Long Gone"Sonny ThompsonMiracle195
2"Good Rocking Tonight"Wynonie HarrisKing145
3"Tomorrow Night"Lonnie JohnsonKing129
4"Pretty Mama Blues"Ivory Joe Hunter4 Star125
5"I Can't Go on Without You"Bull Moose JacksonKing117
6"Messin' Around"Memphis SlimMiracle108
7"My Heart Belongs to You"Arbee StidhamRCA Victor97
8"Corn Bread"Hal Singer SextetteSavoy79
9"Run Joe"Louis JordanDecca62
10"Blues After Hours"Pee Wee CraytonModern55
11"Nature Boy"Nat King ColeCapitol47
12"All My Love Belongs to You"Bull Moose JacksonKing42
13"Late Freight"Sonny ThompsonMiracle41
14"Send for Me if You Need Me"The RavensNational39
14"Am I Asking Too Much?"Dinah WashingtonMercury39
15"Hop, Skip and Jump"Roy MiltonSpecialty38
16"King Size Papa"Julia LeeCapitol34
17"Long About Midnight"Roy BrownDeLuxe32
18"It's Too Soon to Know"The OriolesNatural28
19"It's Too Soon to Know"Dinah WashingtonMercury23
20"Fine Brown Frame"Nellie LutcherCapitol20
21"Don't Burn the Candle at Both Ends"Louis JordanDecca19
22"Everything I Do Is Wrong"Roy MiltonSpecialty15
23"Bewildered"Red Miller TrioBullet12
24"Pleasing You"Lonnie JohnsonKing11
25"Blues for the Red Boy"Todd RhodesKing10

See also

References

  1. "The Year's Top Race Records". The Billboard. January 1, 1949. p. 13.
  2. "Morgan Wright's HoyHoy.com: The Dawn of Rock 'n Roll". Hoyhoy.com. May 2, 1954. Archived from the original on June 24, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  3. 5 Candidates for the First Rock 'n' Roll Song
  4. "The first rock'n'roll record is released". The Guardian. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  5. "The Year's Top Popular Retail Record Sellers" (PDF). The Billboard. 61 (1): 12-13. January 1, 1949.
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