List of Billboard Best-Selling Popular Record Albums number ones of 1945

The King Cole Trio had the first number-one album of the chart with their self-titled album, which spent twelve weeks atop.
The King Cole Trio (pictured in 1947) had the first number-one album of the chart with their self-titled album. Furthermore, it was the longest reigning album on the chart with 12 non-consecutive weeks.
Glenn Miller's Orchestra topped the chart for eight weeks with Glenn Miller.
The compilation album Glenn Miller by Glenn Miller's Orchestra (pictured in 1941) topped the charts for a total of eight weeks during the year.
Bing Crosby was the only solo artist with two albums atop the chart.
Bing Crosby (pictured in 1951) was the only solo artist with two albums atop the chart.

Billboard published its first popular albums chart, at the time known as Best-Selling Popular Record Albums, in 1945. The chart was first published in the magazine dated March 24 and included ten positions, "based on reports received from more than 200 dealers" throughout the United States.[1] In the 40 weeks that followed, eight albums by five different artists reached the top.[a]

The first number-one album on the chart was the King Cole Trio's self-titled debut released by Capitol.[2][3] It topped the charts for three weeks until it was replaced by the soundtrack of Song of Norway, an operetta, written by Robert Wright and George Forrest.[4] The soundtrack reached number one for one more week in May. Glenn Miller, a compilation album recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra released posthumously by Victor, topped the charts for two weeks in May and later in summer for an additional six weeks. The album was certified gold 23 years after its release by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 or more units.[5]

The second album credited to an original cast to top the chart was Carousel, released by Decca. The musical was composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein and was atop for six consecutive weeks in August and September.[6][7] Bing Crosby was the only artist to have two albums atop the chart: Selections from Going My Way for six weeks and Merry Christmas for four weeks.[8][9][10] The latter album was certified gold by the RIAA in November 1970.[11] The King Cole Trio was the longest reigning album of the year with 12 weeks at number one, followed by Glenn Miller with seven weeks. Albums released by Decca topped the charts for a total of 18 weeks, followed by Capitol at 17 weeks and Victor for 9 weeks.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference chart was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Nat King Cole | Biography & History". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  3. ^ Havers, Richard (March 24, 2017). "Nat King Cole's Album No.1 On The First Ever Billboard Chart". Udiscovermusic. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Henahan, Donal (September 5, 1981). "City Opera: Life of Grieg in 'Song of Norway'". New York Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  5. ^ "Gold & Platinum: Glenn Miller & His Orchestra". Recording Industry Association of America. July 2, 1968. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  6. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Rodgers & Hammerstein | Biography & History". AllMusic. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  7. ^ "Carousel [Original Cast Recording] — Jan Clayton / Jean Darling / John Raitt". AllMusic. Archived from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  8. ^ Bush, John. "Bing Crosby | Biography & History". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  9. ^ "Bing Crosby – Going My Way". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  10. ^ "Bing Crosby – White Christmas". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  11. ^ "Gold & Platinum: Bing Crosby". Recording Industry Association of America. November 13, 1970. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2019.


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