I know you have been aching to hear the #1 hits of 1926. You may recognize at least three of the dozen from a century ago.
From Joel Whitburn presents a Century of Pop Music: “For popular music, the most historic event of the 1920s was the switch from acoustic to electrical records, which followed a year of experiments by engineers at Bell Laboratories in 1924-25. Instead of the acoustic process of singers and musicians performing directly into a recording horn, they were now able to record with a condenser microphone in a spacious studio.
“With the use of vacuum tube amplifiers and an electromagnetically powered cutting stylus, the frequency range of recorded music expanded by two and a half octaves. The Associated Glee Clubs of America’s pairing of a ‘Adeste Fidelis’ and ‘John Peel’ became the first electrically recorded hit in July 1925. and within months every major label record label had gone electric.”
Valencia (A Song of Spain) -Paul Whiteman and his orchestra with Franklyn Baur on vocals (Victor), 11 weeks at #1. Music written in 1924 by Spanish composer/pianist José Padilla
Baby Face (Carita de Nino) -Jan Garber and his orchestra with Benny Davis on vocals (Victor), 6 weeks at #1
Who – George Olsen (Victor), 6 weeks at #1, gold record. From the musical comedy Sunny, written by Harbach-Hammerstein II-Kern.
Sleepy Time Gal – Ben Bernie with his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra and Arthur Fields on vocals (Brunswick), 4 weeks at #1
The Birth of the Blues – Paul Whiteman and his orchestra with Jack Fulton, Charles Gaylord, and Austin Young on vocals (Victor), 4 weeks at #1
Crooner
Bye Bye Blackbird – Gene Austin (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. “Austin was a soft-voiced ‘crooner’ whose career horizons were expanded by the greater sensitivity of electrical recording.”
Always – George Olsen with Fran Frey, Bob Rice, and Edward Joyce (Victor), 3 weeks at #1. written by Irving Berlin.
Breezin’ Along With The Breeze – Johnny Marvin, “The Ukulele Ace” (Columbia), 2 weeks at #1. Written by Gillespie-Simons-Whiting
Always – Vincent Lopez and his Casa Lopez Orchestra (Okeh), 2 weeks at #1 (instrumental)
I’m Sitting On Top Of The World – Al Jolson with Carl Fenton’s Orchestra (Brunswick), 2 weeks at #1
“Gimme” A Little Kiss (Will “Ya”? Huh ?)- “Whispering” Jack Smith (Victor), 2 weeks at #1
When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along – Al Jolson with Carl Fenton’s Orchestra (Brunswick), 2 weeks at #1
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blues (Has Anybody Seen My Girl) – Gene Austin (Victor), one week at #1