[Description by Uncle Ricky, credits to Rob Durkee.]
| 40 Years of Number One Hits on July 4th | |
| 1937 | It Looks Like Rain In Cherry Blossom Lane Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians |
| 1938 | Says My Heart Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra (Harriet Hilliard) |
| 1939 | Wishing (Will Make It So) Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (Ray Eberle) |
| 1940 | I’ll Never Smile Again Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (Frank Sinatra) |
| 1941 | Daddy Sammy Kaye (The Kaye Choir) |
| 1942 | Sleepy Lagoon Harry James and His Orchestra |
| 1943 | Comin’ In On a Wing and a Prayer The Song Spinners |
| 1944 | I’ll Be Seeing You Bing Crosby |
| 1945 | Sentimental Journey Les Brown and His Orchestra (Doris Day) |
| 1946 | The Gypsy The Ink Spots |
| 1947 | Chi-Baba Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go To Sleep) Perry Como |
| 1948 | Woody Woodpecker Kay Kyser and His Orchestra (Gloria Wood) |
| 1949 | Riders In the Sky (A Cowboy Legend) Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra |
| 1950 | “The Third Man” Theme Anton Karas |
| 1951 | Too Young Nat “King” Cole |
| 1952 | Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart Vera Lynn |
| 1953 | The Song From Moulin Rouge Percy Faith and His Orchestra (Felicia Saunders) |
| 1954 | Little Things Mean A Lot Kitty Kallen |
| 1955 | (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley and His Comets |
| 1956 | The Wayward Wind Gogi Grant |
| 1957 | (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear/Loving You Elvis Presley |
| 1958a | The Purple People Eater Sheb Wooley |
| 1958b | Yakety Yak The Coasters |
| 1959 | The Battle Of New Orleans Johnny Horton |
| 1960 | Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool Connie Francis |
| 1961 | Quarter To Three Gary U.S. Bonds |
| 1962 | I Can’t Stop Loving You Ray Charles |
| 1963 | Easier Said Than Done The Essex |
| 1964 | I Get Around The Beach Boys |
| 1965 | (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones |
| 1966 | Strangers In the Night Frank Sinatra |
| 1966 | Paperback Writer The Beatles |
| 1967 | Windy The Association |
| 1968 | This Guy’s In Love With You Herb Alpert |
| 1969 | Love Theme From “Romeo and Juliet” Henry Mancini and His Orchestra |
| 1970 | The Love You Save Jackson 5 |
| 1971 | It’s Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move Carole King |
| 1972 | Lean On Me Bill Withers |
| 1973 | Will It Go Round In Circles Billy Preston |
| 1974 | Rock the Boat The Hues Corporation |
| 1975 | Love Will Keep Us Together The Captain and Tennille |
| 1976 | Silly Love Songs Wings |
American Top 40 was celebrating six years airtime on July 4, 1976, when the United States was celebrating the Big 200.
The American Top 40 Bicentennial Special featured the Number One Songs on July 4th from 1937 through 1976. Sprinkled with fascinating facts, presented as only Countdown Master Kasem can present them, we offer a partial retrospective on the 25th anniversary of this historic program for July 4, 2001.
Our exhibit includes the program as presented on WPIX-FM in New York, but only for the years 1937 through 1959.
As Rob Durkee notes in American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century, AT40 specials weren’t exempt from goofs. This special features a mistake with the second song; Says My Heart is actually a song called Whoa Baby, on which Harriet Hilliard is not heard. Simply, they played the wrong song.
There were no Billboard charts from 1937-1939, so the first two titles were based on the reports of other trade publications. No artist is featured more than once in this countdown.
This aircheck includes an authentic, Sunday morning WPIX-FM newscast (at 24:23), complete with street closures for the Bicentennial celebrations that day. And, there is a great spot for Nathan’s Famous.
As of July 4, 2004, Part Two of this feature is available in The Dale Patterson Collection.