Songbook top 10 lists, first ten years, February 2009-February 2019
____________________________________
The numbers at right represent collective page views.
Top ten pages, 17 March 2009 to 16 January 2019 (11AM PST):
| 1940-1949: selected standards and hits |  |
41,910 |
| Duke Ellington: selected songs, 1927-1953 | |
37,161 |
| 1890-1899 selected hits and standards | |
35,067 |
| Route 66 | |
25,023 |
| 1900-1909 selected standards and hits | |
23,781 |
| Autumn Leaves (Les feuilles mortes) | |
16,836 |
| Bei Mir Bistu Shein / Bei Mir Bist Du Schön (Schoen): selected early recordings, part 1 (1937) | |
14,819 |
| 1910-1919 selected standards, hits and special features | |
13,628 |
| Bing Crosby: selected recordings, 1927-1934 | |
13,191 |
| Selected popular dances of the Jazz Age (closed for repairs, 25 April 2020) | |
12,685 |
____________________________________
Top ten pages featuring a single song, March 2009-January 2019:
The biggest surprise in the second list would have to be the 1927 song “Hot Feet,” which until Disney resurrected it in an episode of Girl Meets World a few years ago had been lost in the mists of time. According to evidence that I present in the page, the song was recorded by its author, Wendell Hall, at least four times (1927-1928), though I’ve only heard one of the four, and this is the one featured in a video included in the page.* The only other recordings of “Hot Feet” that I’m aware of are a 1927 piano roll and a 1927 cover by Paul Specht and his Orchestra. I suspect that the Disney connection is a large factor in the sustained popularity of this page.
That “Midnight, the Stars and You” appears so high on the list is also rather odd. I’ve found no evidence that the 1934 Ray Noble-Al Bowlly recording was a hit, or that the song was ever popular in the 1930s or for decades after it was written and first recorded. There were two contemporaneous covers that I know of, and then there’s not a trace of interest in the song until its inclusion in the soundtrack of the 1980 horror film The Shining. I’d guess that many visits to my page on the song might have more to do with curiosity about the anachronistic use of the song in that film, or general curiosity regarding Kubrick and the film, than interest in the song itself.
While that soundtrack appearance has evidently resulted in few commercial studio recordings — SecondHandSongs, lists only four studio covers, none released before 2009 — the numerous recent live covers (found on YouTube, for example) by bands and solo artists suggest sustained and possibly growing interest in the song over the past several years.
___________________________________
The top ten pages on a Latin standard, March 2009-January 2019:
- Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)
9,616 - Perfidia
7,130 - Manhã de Carnaval
- El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor)
- Chega de saudade
- Águas de março (Waters of March)
- Malagueña salerosa (La Malagueña)
- Bésame Mucho
- Te quiero dijiste / Magic is the Moonlight
- Para Vigo me voy (Say Si Si)
3,035
____________________________________
Last 365 days
Top ten pages featuring a single song, last 365 days:
| Crawdad Song — lyric (Woody Guthrie version) | |
1,350 |
| Midnight, the Stars and You – 1934 | |
1,331 |
| Hot Feet (Wendell Hall) – 1927, with lyric | |
892 |
| White Christmas | |
862 |
| Non Dimenticar (T´ho voluto bene) | |
822 |
| Águas de Março (Waters of March) | |
775 |
| How Deep is the Ocean? (How High is the Sky?) | |
728 |
| Te quiero dijiste / Magic is the Moonlight | |
615 |
| The Cat Came Back | |
589 |
| It’s Time to Say Goodnight — 1934 | |
573 |
| Sayonara | |
564 |
______________________________________
* However, I’ve been unable to confidently identify which of the four recordings by Hall is represented in the video included in the page.
Songbook 