The #1 hits of 1904 include a few songs you know. You’re older than you look.
Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart) – Haydn Quartet (Victor), ten weeks at #1. The Crew-Cuts covered this in 1959. I have heard Sweet Adeline groups (female barbershop quartets) sing this song. I checked the Social Security database. Adeline was Top 1000 from 1900 to 1952. It fell off the list until 1999. In 2022, it was #92. Adaline (#242) and Adelina (#401) also ranked.
Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis– Billy Murray (Edison), nine weeks at #1. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition in that year was described as “the most lavish fair of the era.” Louis was a Top 30 name between 1900 and 1927, in the Top 100 through 1959, and is still #246 in 2022; Luis is currently #125.
Bedelia – Haydn Quartet. I couldn’t find a particularly clean copy. (Victor), Seven weeks at #1. I checked the Social Security database. Bedelia has never been in the top 1000 names since 1900.
Navajo – Billy Murray (Columbia), five weeks at #1. A piece of music of its time.
Silver Threads Among The Gold – Richard Jose (Victor), four weeks at #1
Blue Bell – Byron Harlan and Frank Stanley (Edison), four weeks at #1
You’re The Flower Of My Heart, Sweet Adeline – Columbia Male Quartet (Columbia), three weeks at #1
Bedelia – Billy Murray (Edison), three weeks at #1
Alexander– Billy Murray (Edison), three weeks at #1. A “comedy record” because Murray is presumably singing from the female POV? Alexander has been a Top 250 name since 1900, #4 in 2009, and #17 in 2022.
Blue Bell – Haydn Quartet (Victor), three weeks at #1
A couple more
All Aboard for Dreamland– Byron Harlan (Edison), two weeks at #1. This is about the Coney Island amusement park. I had a difficult time finding a decent recording.
Toyland – Corrine Morgan and Haydn Quartet (Victor), two weeks at #1
Adeline, Louis, Bedelia, and Navajo also reached the top 3 by other artists.
One song that my high school Glee club performed was a version of The Woodchuck Song. It was sung by Bob Roberts (Edison) and went to #3.
My favorite 1904 title is Under the Anhauser Bush, a comedy record by Arthur Collins and Bryan Harlan (Edison), which reached #2. The tune was used in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), starring Judy Garland, as was Louis, sung by Judy.
I wouldn’t have expected they had a version of a “Billboard 100” in 1904. What were your sources for this post (excluding the US Census)?
Record label publications, Edison and Victor, did some. Books on sheet music. Jim Walsh’s Hobbies magazine articles. Joel Whitburn and Record Research compiled these.