1955 Billboard Album Chart

For anyone curious, here is a blast from more than 60 years ago: Billboard's Best Selling Popular Albums chart, September 17, 1955. (Meant to post it a week ago, on September 17, but forgot!)

1. Love Me Or Leave Me - Doris Day (Columbia)
2. In the Wee Small Hours - Frank Sinatra (Capitol)
3. Lonesome Echo - Jackie Gleason (Capitol)
4. The Student Prince - Mario Lanza (RCA Victor)
5. Oklahoma! - soundtrack (Capitol)
6. Pete Kelly's Blues - Jack Webb (RCA Victor)
7. Pete Kelly's Blues - Peggy Lee & Ella Fitzgerald (Decca)
8. Starring Sammy Davis, Jr. - (Decca)
9. Music from Pete Kelly's Blues - Ray Heindorf & Marry Mattlock (Columbia)
10. Holiday in Rome - Michel Legrand (Columbia)
11. Music for Lovers Only - Jackie Gleason (Capitol)
12. Music, Martinis And Memories - Jackie Gleason (Capitol)
13. Vienna Holiday - Michel Legrand (Columbia)
14. I Like Jazz - (Columbia)
15. Soft And Sweet - The Three Suns (RCA Victor)

 

This is a nice snapshot from the year rock 'n' roll music as we know it really emerged. Of course, as r'n'r was a singles medium, the LP charts reflected none of this, and with a few rare exceptions (Beatles, Elvis, etc.) that would be the case for another decade.

Some great stuff there though. Wee Small Hours is probably my favorite Sinatra album.

 

Thanks, and I agree. Your point about rock 'n' roll and the singles chart reminds to bring up the EP chart from the same week. The same artists as in the LP chart, pretty much, with one very notable exception:

7. Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Hailey (Decca)

 

If I could add a few more observations, it's interesting to me to see which music and artists have really stood the test of time over the course of 60 years.

When looking at the artists who are primarily remembered for their music, the clear standouts here are Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and of course Old Blue Eyes. Anybody with a cursory knowledge of American music ought to at least recognize those names. Likewise, fans of classical and opera will no doubt be familiar with the tenor Mario Lanza who was one of the world's most renowned singers at this point in time.

Then you have celebrities who recorded music, but are better remembered for their public personas or characters they portrayed. People who remember Jackie Gleason today probably recall his role as Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners, not knowing that he was also an orchestra director who released several smash LPs. I'd also reckon that Sammy Davis is remembered more for being a member of the Rat Pack than for any particular songs he recorded, though he too had hits. Doris Day, though perhaps America's biggest star at the time, seems to be largely forgotten today by folks under 50. As for Jack Webb, I myself had no idea he dabbled in singing, having just remembered him from re-runs of Dragnet.

We can see from their multiple appearances that purveyors of soft instrumental mood music such as Jackie Gleason and Michel Legrand were all the rage in 1955. This is music that would have appealed to the burgeoning hi-fi movement-- our forefathers!

1955 was a golden year for jazz, represented here by the great Columbia compilation I Like Jazz, featuring Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Dave Brubeck, Pete Rugolo and many others.

In film soundtracks we can see Oklahoma! which was a juggernaut, becoming the first album ever certified gold by the RIAA, and later going to achieve x2 platinum sales. The Student Prince was recorded by Mario Lanza, who was fired from the film by M-G-M, who retained his soundtrack under a legal agreement. Pete Kelly's Blues, which I'd never heard of and had to look up, was apparently huge that year. Jack Webb starred in the title role as a bandleader, while Peggy Lee co-starred as an alcoholic jazz singer and received an Academy Award nomination.

I had never heard of the Three Suns either, but apparently they were a popular guitar/accordian/electric organ act out of New York who had a huge hit with their version of "Peg o' My Heart". Founding member Al Nevins would go on to form Aldon music with Don Kirshner and achieve huge success along with their stable of Brill Building songwriters in the early 1960s.

Like I said originally, a nice snapshot of an interesting time in music!

 

All Hail Bill Haley and his Comets

BTW I saw the title Pete Kelly's Blues in a record store the other day, but I did not look closely at it, thought it might have something to do with one of those 50s detective programs.

 

That's a very nice and thorough overview, taking care of the whole picture.

For me, the surprise act in that chart was The Three Suns. I was aware of the name, but had never paid attention to them, and hence I had no idea that they had done so well back in their heyday. Turns out that they were pretty big during the 1940s in particular, becoming associated with two best-selling tunes ("Peg o' my Heart," "Twilight Time").

In addition to Peggy, Ella was also in the Pete Kelly's Blues movie, and she too played a singer:



Jack Webb: he doesn't sing. (Thanks heavens; I can't imagine.) He plays a musician, and is in nominal charge of the production of some of the Pete Kelly's Blues albums.

 

I've heard of the 3 Suns in very recent years and even picked up couple of LPs. Very big in EXOTICA, and probably mentioned in one of those threads here. I acquired their Christmas music cd not too long ago. Looking forward to playing it in December!

I just checked on Amazon the Pete Kelly cd I saw a few days ago - it does NOT contain the vocals

 

Sometimes even I hate Rock and Roll when I get too deep into this genre.

 

Congrats on the forthcoming Christmas listening!

Pete Kelly's Blues: Maybe the one you saw was this one?

It is indeed an album of instrumentals.

Of the several Pete Kelly's Blues LPs that were released in the mid 1950s and in later years, only one consisted of vocals. All the others are jazz instrumental albums (including one that shows singer Connee Boswell on its cover). This is the vocal album:



In addition to Japanese CD reissues such as the one above, the album is also available in various Public Domain discs. The following one is actually a twofer, giving you not only the album of vocals but also one of the instrumental LPs:

 

Sinatra was the chairman of a pretty awesome board.

 

'I Like Jazz' (#14) is actually a pretty good album.

 

I was born in 1955, so I had an interest in what music was like in 1955. The Rock'n'Roll Revolution was nascent.

Regardless of the number of teens buying albums in 1955, the AVERAGE age of the performers in top 10 selling albums (minus the Oklahoma Soundtrack), was --32--.

On average, these 1955 performers were 18 in 1941, and 14 years later still going strong.

The most popular selling albums were being performed, not by teens of 1955 peers, but by those old enough to be their parents, on average. Oh well...

That changed drastically with album rock, and FM rock radio.