• Track Listing

Acrobat has devoted a number of collections over the years to anthologies of the biggest hits in different years and decades across different genres, and this one fills a particular gap in the catalogue, bringing together all the records which featured at No. 1 in all of Billboard's charts relating to the R&B market during the 1940s. In October 1942, Billboard launched the "Harlem Hit Parade", which was replaced in February 1945 by the "Most Played Juke Box Race Records", to which in 1948 was added the "Best Selling Retail Race Records". This 97-track 4-CD collection features every record which reached No. 1 in any of those charts, apart from a few which are unavailable for copyright reasons. We have also included those from 1950, as it is arguably the final year of the decade, and we had space in the 4-CD format to accommodate them for the benefit of collectors who do not have our "R&B No. 1s of the '50s" set. The collection offers a fascinating spread of music, ranging across the spectrum of a genre which was continually evolving from big band music to solo singers, small group R &B and pure blues, with one or two artists like Louis Jordan and Nat King Cole maintaining a solid presence right through the decade. It's a hugely entertaining musical journey through what was a momentous decade socially and politically, in which R&B laid the groundwork for the arrival of the musical upheavals of the '50s. It contains a 12,000+ word booklet featuring background notes on every record as well as full discographical and chart information.