Top 25 R&B Acts by Decade (Part 1 of 3)

[NightTrain]

Next to each act's name is the biggest R&B hit they had during the decade in question.

The 1940s:

1. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five ("Choo-Choo Ch'Boogie")
2. Nat "King" Cole (""Straighten Up and Fly Right")
3. The Ink Spots ("Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall")
4. Duke Ellington ("Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me")
5. Erskine Hawkins ("Don't Cry, Baby")
6. Ella Fitzgerald ("Stone Cold Dead in the Market")
7. Lionel Hampton ("Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop")
8. Johnny Moore's Three Blazers ("Drifting Blues")
9. Bull Moose Jackson ("Can't Go On Without You")
10. Dinah Washington ("Baby, Get Lost")
11. Julia Lee ("Snatch and Grab It")
12. Amos Milburn ("Chicken Shack Boogie")
13. Joe Liggins ("The Honeydripper")
14. Billy Eckstine ("I Stay in the Mood For You")
15. The Mills Brothers ("Till Then")
16. Ivory Joe Hunter ("Pretty Mama Blues")
17. Nellie Lutcher ("He's A Real Gone Guy")
18. Lucky Millinder ("Who Threw The Whiskey in the Well?")
19. Wynonie Harris ("All She Wants To Do Is Rock")
20. Charles Brown ("Trouble Blues")
21. Paul Williams ("The Hucklebuck")
22. Roy Brown ("'Long About Midnight")
23. Roy Milton ("R.M. Blues")
24. Sonny Til & The Orioles ("It's Too Soon To Know")
25. Buddy Johnson & His Orchestra ("When My Man Comes Home")


The 1950s:

1. Fats Domino ("Ain't That A Shame?")
2. Elvis Presley ("Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel")
3. Ruth Brown ("Oh, What A Dream")
4. Dinah Washington ("Cold, Cold Heart")
5. The Clovers ("Fool, Fool, Fool")
6. The Drifters ("Money Honey")
7. B.B. King ("3 O'Clock Blues")
8. Joe Turner ("Honey Hush")
9. Ray Charles ("Drown In My Own Tears")
10. Little Richard ("Long, Tall Sally")
11. Chuck Berry ("Maybellene")
12. Johnny Otis ("Double Crossing Blues")
13. The Platters ("The Great Pretender")
14. Little Walter ("Juke")
15. Lloyd Price ("Lawdy Miss Clawdy")
16. The Donminoes ("Sixty Minute Man")
17. LaVern Baker ("Jim Dandy")
18. Chuck Willis ("C.C. Rider")
19. Nat "King" Cole ("Mona Lisa")
20. Muddy Waters ("I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man")
21. The Coasters ("Searchin'")
22. Ivory Joe Hunter ("I Almost Lost My Mind")
23. Clyde McPhatter ("A Lover's Question")
24. Johnny Ace ("Pledging My Love")
25. Sam Cooke ("You Send Me")

Source: Joel Whitburn, "Billboard's Top R&B Singles, 1942-1999."

[NightTrain]

1. Not one response?!

Why do I even bother?

[Tikki]

2. Great Listing....this reminds me

....of starting back to school each September.....I kept one section of my ring folder devoted to listings of all my favorite new songs and singers as they came out during the school year.

May I add: Esther Phillips, Ike Turner and T-bone Walker inclusive to those decades.

[NightTrain]

3. Kick for the day shift