Music Lists Are Us: Favorite '40s Songs by Year, with brief comments

1940

Fools Rush In by The Glenn Miller Orchestra

Midnight Special by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter

I'll Never Smile Again by The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Frank Sinatra

Java Jive by The Ink Spots

When You Wish Upon a Star by Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards

In the Mood by The Glenn Miller Orchestra

You Are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis (by the (at that time) future Governor of Louisiana)

1941


Take the 'A' Train by Duke Ellington

The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by The Andrews Sisters

God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday
Cool Water by The Sons of the Pioneers
Chattanooga Choo Choo by The Glenn Miller Orchestra
Walking the Floor Over You by Ernest Tubb




1942


Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree by The Andrews Sisters
Paper Doll by The Mills Brothers
Night and Day by Frank Sinatra
I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo by The Glenn Miller Orchestra

1943

Stormy Weather by Lena Horne

Cocktails For Two by Spike Jones and His City Slickers

Five Guys Named Moe by Louis Jordan

1944

Straighten Up and Fly Right by Nat King Cole

Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby by Louis Jordan

Don't Fence Me In by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters

You Always Hurt the Ones You Love by The Mills Brothers

I'll Be Seeing You by Bing Crosby

1945

Lover Man, (Oh Where Can You Be?) by Billie Holiday

Blue Moon of Kentucky by Bill Monroe

I'm Beginning to See the Light by Ella Fitzgerald and The Ink Spots

Accentuate the Positive by Johnny Mercer or Big Crosby & The Andrews Sisters

Caldonia by Louis Jordan

Strange Things Happening Every Day by Rosetta Tharpe

Don't Fence Me In by Gene Autry

1946

Route 66 by Nat King Cole

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens by Louis Jordan

Hey Ba Ba Re-Bop by Lionel Hampton

(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons by Nat King Cole

Choo Choo Ch'Boogie by Louis Jordan

1947

La Vie en rose by Edith Piaf

This is Your Land by Woody Guthrie

Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk

Wabash Cannonball by Roy Acuff

1948

Nature Boy by Nat King Cole

I Love You So Much It Hurts Me by The Mills Brothers

Blue Shadows on the Trail by Roy Rogers & The Sons of the Pioneers

Up Above My Head I Hear Music in the Air by Rosetta Tharpe

Move On Up a Little Higher by Mahalia Jackson

Good Rockin' Tonight by Wynonnie Harris

1949

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams

Saturday Night Fish Fry by Louis Jordan

Someday You'll Want Me to Want You by The Mills Brothers

Ain't Nobody's Business by Jimmy Witherspoon with The Jay McShann Band

The Fat Man by Fats Domino

(Ghost) Riders in the Sky by Vaughn Monroe

Beans & Cornbread by Louis Jordan