America's Greatest Hits 1948 (Various Artists)

• Track Listing

We complete our popular and successful series devoted to the biggest chart records of each calendar year in the early chart era as we focus on 1948, the eighth full calendar year of the Billboard Best Sellers chart which was launched in July 1940. Acrobat now boasts a complete series of these collections from 1940 through to 1962. This great value 103-track 4-CD set comprises just about every record which peaked in the Top 15 of the Billboard Best Sellers chart or in the Top 15 of the Cash Box chart during the year. For reasons of space, it excludes those records were still in the chart at the start of the year, but which peaked in the Top 10 in 1947, and so are included in our existing 1947 collection. It was a big year for solo vocalists, who were starting to dominate as the big swing bands declined in the era of post-war austerity and the burgeoning medium of television offered new promotional opportunities, although the "sweet" orchestras with their featured singers continued to hold sway, and the year had it's customary smattering of novelty songs, often in jazzy R&B or country styles. Eight different records made No. 1 in the Best Sellers, with some having lengthy chart runs. As usual, there were also quite a number of highly collectable records by some artists we don't hear too much about these days. It makes for an intriguing and very entertaining musical snapshot of the music scene during a period of creative transition as the world finally settled down after the turbulent years of conflict. It includes a 15,000+ word booklet with a commentary on every record as well as full discographical and chart information.