1950 Hitmakers
These were some of the recording artists that had hits in the year 1950. The numbers in parenthesis will be it’s highest position on the Billboard Top 40
Dick Haymes had been one of the big stars in the decade of the 1940’s, scoring 40 Top 40 hits. In 1950 he would score 3 hits, his biggest being “Count Every Star” (#10). Perry Como had burst on the musical scene in 1943, scoring 59 Top 40 hits in the decade of the 1940’s. He would score over 120 Top 40 hits in the 1950’s. He would score 7 hits in 1950, his biggest being “Hoop Dee Do” (#1). Frankie Laine would score 4 hits in 1950, his biggest being “Cry Of The Wild Goose” (#1). Gordon Jenkins would have 5 hits in 1950, his biggest being his version of “Goodnight Irene” (#1). Teresa Brewer would have 2 hits this year, her biggest being “Music, Music, Music” (#1). The Ames Brothers would have 8 Top 40 hits this year. They would have 2 #1 hits-“Rag Mop” and “Sentimental Me’. Mario Lanza would have only one hit this year but it was a #1-“Be My Love”. Eddie Fisher would have 46 Top 40 hits in the 1950’s-his first was in 1950 and it was called “Thinking of You” (#5). Mindy Carson would have 2 hits this year, her biggest being “My Foolish Heart” (#6). Red Foley would be a big star in country music but he would also have success on the pop charts. He would score 7 Top 40 hits in 1950, his biggest being “Chattanooga Shoe Sine Boy” (#1). Phil Harris would score 3 hits in 1950, his biggest being “The Thing” (#1). Jo Stafford would be a big recording star in the early 1950’s. She would score 7 Top 40 hits in 1950, her biggest being her version of “The Tennessee Waltz” (#7). Paul Weston would score 3 hits in 1950, his biggest hit being his version of “Nevertheless (#2). Patti Page would score 4 hits in 1950, including 2 #1 hits. Her #1 hits were “All My Love” and her all time classic “Tennessee Waltz” (a song that would sell in excess of 6 million copies and also remain at #1 in the country for 13 weeks). Nat ‘King’ Cole would score 4 Top 40 hits in this year, his biggest being “Mona Lisa” (#1). The Weavers would score 3 Top 40 hits in 1950, their biggest being “Goodnight Irene” (#1). This song would stay at #1 for 13 weeks and remain on the nation’s Top 40 for 25 weeks. Les Paul & Mary Ford would score 25 hits in the decade of the 1950’s and 1 more in the 1960’s. Their only hit in 1950 was their version of “Tennessee Waltz” (#6). Doris Day would first gain national stardom in the 1940’s as a vocalist with the band of Les Brown (she is remembered for the classic “Sentimental Journey”). Now she is a solo star and in 1950 she will have 7 hits, her biggest being “Bewitched” (#6). Guy Mitchell would first come on the musical scene in 1950, scoring 2 hits of which his biggest was “My Heart Cries For You” (#2). Prior to 1950, the band of Sammy Kaye would score 94 Top 40 hits. Now in the year 1950 he would score 4 more hits, his biggest being “Harbor Lights” (#1).
