It’s settle or scramble in the third year of the Petrillo musicians’ strike: Decca and Capitol churn out hit after hit but Victor and Columbia dig in, reissue old stuff and record their Singers a capella. Bing Crosby on Decca has his best year ever, Louis Jordan becomes the first R&B crossover act and king of Billboard‘s new Jukebox chart, and a single movie musical launches five of the year’s top 10 hits.

#1 Song of the Year   The top song according to our Chartcrush ranking of all songs that earned the majority of their chart ranking points in the year

Artists of the Year   The top three artists based on all charted songs that spent most of their chart runs in the year

1. Bing Crosby
2. The Mills Brothers
3. Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Artist with Most Charting Songs   Artist(s) with the most charting songs during the year (song count in parentheses)

• Bing Crosby (12)

Average #1 Artist Age   The average of how old artists who scored #1 hits during the year were when their songs first reached #1

• 37.8

#1 Songs   List of #1 songs that earned the majority of their chart ranking points in the year, and (in parentheses), the month the song first hit #1 and the total number of weeks it was #1

1. Glen Gray & His Casa Loma Orchestra, vocal Eugenie Baird – My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart?) (January, 5 wks)
2. Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra, vocal Kitty Kallen – Besame Mucho (March, 8 wks)
3. The Merry Macs – Mairzy Doats (March, 3 wks)
4. Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, vocal Skip Nelson & The Lombardo Trio – It’s Love-Love-Love (April, 2 wks)
5. Bing Crosby – San Fernando Valley (May, 2 wks)
6. Bing Crosby – I Love You (May, 4 wks)
7. Harry James & His Orchestra, vocal Dick Haymes – I’ll Get by (As Long as I Have You) (June, 6 wks)
8. Bing Crosby – I’ll Be Seeing You (July, 3 wks)
9. Bing Crosby – Swinging on a Star (August, 10 wks)
10. Mills Brothers – You Always Hurt the One You Love (October, 2 wks)
11. Dinah Shore – I’ll Walk Alone (November, 6 wks)