This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1945.
Specific locations 1945 in British music 1945 in Norwegian music
Specific genres 1945 in country music 1945 in jazz
Events January 27 – Billboard has added a third chart to measure record popularity, "Records Most-Played On the Air". which will track disk jockey ("spinners", "dial twisters") activity. January 28 – Wilhelm Furtwängler conducts a concert in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic including a performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 2, which is recorded and is considered one of his greatest performances. Furtwängler, "within a few hours of being arrested" by the Gestapo (who are cracking down on liberals), flees to Switzerland.Grove Music Online. February 13–15 – Bombing of Dresden in World War II destroys the Semperoper (Saxon state opera house). February 13 – The premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 under the composer's baton at the Moscow Conservatory is delayed by a military salute marking the Red Army's crossing of the Vistula. March 23 – The Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise is reformed under this name. April 12 – The Berlin Philharmonic gives one of its final performances of the Nazi era in Berlin with various members of the military and political elite in attendance. Robert Heger conducts Brünnhilde's last aria (the Immolation Scene) and the finale from Richard Wagner's Götterdammerung, Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4. Members of the Hitler Youth offer cyanide capsules to the audience as they leave the building. The Battle of Berlin then forces the orchestra to close for two months. May 8 – VE Day: Grenadier Guards second lieutenant Humphrey Lyttelton joins in the celebrations by playing his trumpet in an impromptu performance in front of Buckingham Palace in London, inadvertently giving his first broadcast performance as the BBC is recording events. July 26 – Composer Ernest John Moeran marries cellist Peers Coetmore. July 27 – Benjamin Britten and Yehudi Menuhin perform concerts at Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp. August 19 – Dick Powell marries June Allyson. September 1 – Trio Lescano's last concert on Italian radio. September 4 – Beethoven's Fidelio becomes the first opera to be performed in Berlin following World War II. October 25 – Philharmonia Orchestra plays its first concert, in London. November – Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt conducts the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra in its first concert. November 5 – Jerome Kern, who is just beginning to write a score for Annie Get Your Gun, collapses on a New York street due to a cerebral hemorrhage, dying on November 11. November 26 – Charlie Parker makes his first recording as a leader, also featuring Miles Davis. The Motion Picture Daily Fame Poll designates Bing Crosby "Top Male Vocalist" for the ninth straight year. Antal Doráti becomes conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Reynaldo Hahn is appointed director of the Paris Opéra. Frank Sinatra leaves Your Hit Parade to appear on Max Factor Presents Frank Sinatra and, starting in September, Songs By Sinatra. Ruth Weston runs away from home in Portsmouth, Virginia, to marry trumpeter Jimmy Brown and begin her career as a singer. Marlene Dietrich appears on the CBS radio network, accompanied by accordionist John Serry Sr.
Publications Spade Cooley – Spade Cooley's Western Swing Song Folio (the first songbook to identify the big Western dance band music as Western Swing)
Albums released Nat King Cole – King Cole Trio Bing Crosby Merry Christmas Selections from Going My Way Glenn Miller – Glenn Miller Django Reinhardt – Paris 1945
US charts 1945 For the United States, charts are compiled from data published by Billboard magazine, using their own formulas with slight modifications. There are no songs missing or truncated by Billboard's holiday deadline. Each year, records included enter the charts between the prior November and early December. Each week, fifteen points are awarded to the number one record, then nine points for number two, eight points for number three, and so on. This system rewards songs that reach the highest positions, as well as those that had the longest chart runs, adjusting Whitburn's formula, which places no. 1 records on top, then no 2 and so on, ordered by weeks at that position.
Before the Hot100 was implemented in 1958, Billboard magazine measured a record's performance with three charts, 'Best-Selling Popular Retail Records', 'Records Most-Played On the Air' or 'Records Most Played By Disk Jockeys' and 'Most-Played Juke Box Records'. As Billboard did starting in the 1940s, the three totals for each song are combined, with that number determining the final year-end rank. For example, 1944's "A Hot Time in the Town of Berlin" by Bing and the Andrews Sisters finished at no. 19, despite six weeks at no. 1 on the 'Most-Played Juke Box Records'(JB) chart. It scored 126 points, to go with its Best-Selling chart (BS) total of 0. Martha Tilton's version of "I'll Walk Alone" peaked at no. 4 on the Juke Box chart, which only totalled 65 points, but her BS total was also 65, for a final total of 130, ranking no. 18. Examples like this can be found in "The Billboard" magazine up to 1958. The 'Records Most-Played On the Air' chart did not begin until January 1945.
The following songs appeared in The Billboard's 'Best Selling Retail Records', 'Records Most-Played On the Air' and 'Most Played Juke Box Records' charts during 1945. Rank Artist Title Label Recorded Released Chart Positions 1 Les Brown and his Orchestra (Vocal Chorus by Doris Day) "Sentimental Journey" Columbia 36769 US 1945 #3, US #1 for 8 weeks, 28 total weeks, CashBox #2, Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, 1,000,000 sales 2 Perry Como "Till The End Of Time" Victor 20-1709 US BB 1945 #2, US #1 for 9 weeks, 17 total weeks, CashBox #3, Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, 1,000,000 sales 3 Johnny Mercer And The Pied Pipers "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" Capitol 195 US BB 1945 #3, US #1 for 7 weeks, 19 total weeks, CashBox #7 4 Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra "There! I've Said It Again" Victor 20-1637 US BB 1945 #4, US #1 for 6 weeks (Air Play), 25 total weeks, CashBox #8 5 The Andrews Sisters "Rum and Coca-Cola" Decca 18636 US 1945 #1, US #1 for 10 weeks (Juke Box), 21 total weeks, CashBox #6, 1,000,000 sales 6 Les Brown and his Orchestra (Vocal Chorus by Doris Day) "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" Columbia 36779 US 1945 #5, US #1 for 7 weeks, 16 total weeks, CashBox #1, 1,000,000 sales 7 Swing And Sway With Sammy Kaye "Chickery Chick" Victor 20-1726 US 1945 #8, US #1 for 4 weeks, 16 total weeks, 1,000,000 sales 8 Harry James and his Orchestra (Vocal Chorus by Kitty Kallen) "It's Been a Long, Long Time" Columbia 36838 US BB 1945 #6, US #1 for 4 weeks, 17 total weeks, CashBox #5 9 Johnny Mercer, Jo Stafford, and The Pied Pipers "Candy" Capitol 183 US BB 1945 #14, US #1 for 1 week, 19 total weeks 10 Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallaro on piano "I Can't Begin to Tell You" Decca 23457 US BB 1945 #10, US #1 for 6 weeks (Juke Box), 19 total weeks, 1,000,000 sales 11 Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" Capitol 180 US BB 1945 #11, US #1 for 2 weeks, 13 total weeks, Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 12 Bing Crosby and Les Paul "It's Been a Long, Long Time" Decca 18708 US BB 1945 #13, US #1 for 2 weeks, 16 total weeks 13 Carmen Cavallaro and His Orchestra "Chopin's Polonaise" Decca 18677 US BB 1945 #14, US #3 for 10 weeks, 20 total weeks, 1,000,000 sales 14 Harry James and his Orchestra (Vocal Chorus by Kitty Kallen) "I'm Beginning To See The Light" Columbia 36758 US BB 1945 #10, US #1 for 2 weeks, 18 total weeks 15 Tony Pastor and his Orchestra "Bell Bottom Trousers" Victor 20-1661 US BB 1945 #16, US #2 for 2 weeks, 15 total weeks 16 Benny Goodman and his Orchestra "Gotta Be This Or That" Columbia 36813 US BB 1945 #18, US #2 for 1 week, 17 total weeks 17 Hal McIntyre and His Orchestra "Sentimental Journey" Victor 20-1643 US BB 1945 #18, US #3 for 1 week, 19 total weeks 18 Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes "I'll Buy That Dream" Decca 23434 US BB 1945 #19, US #2 for 1 week, 18 total weeks 19 Stan Kenton and His Orchestra "Tampico" Capitol 202 US BB 1945 #20, US #3 for 1 weeks, 14 total weeks 20 The Pied Pipers "Dream" Capitol 185 US BB 1945 #20, US #1 for 1 week, 18 total weeks
Top race records
At the start of 1945, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the "most popular records in Harlem" under the title of "the Harlem Hit Parade" (HHP). Rankings were based on a survey of record stores primarily in the Harlem district of New York City, an area which has historically been noted for its African American population. This chart was published for the final time in the issue dated February 10. The following week the magazine launched a new chart in its place, "Most Played Juke Box Race Records", based on reports from juke box operators (details can be found in each issue). For the year-end list of 1945's top R & B records below, peak positions and numbers of weeks from the HHP charts were carried over. 1945 chronological list of records that reached number one on the "Most Played Juke Box Race Records" chart. Rank Artist Title Label Recorded Released Chart positions 1 Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers "The Honeydripper" Exclusive 207 US BB 1945 #191, US #16 for 1 week, 4 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #1, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 18 weeks, 27 total weeks 2 Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well" Decca 18674 US BB 1945 #90, US #9 for 1 week, 10 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #2, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 8 weeks, 20 total weeks 3 Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five "Caldonia" Decca 8670 US BB 1945 #66, US #6 for 1 weeks, 8 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #3, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 7 weeks, 26 total weeks 4 Roosevelt Sykes and His Piano "I Wonder" Bluebird 34-0721 US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #4, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 7 weeks, 13 total weeks 5 Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra "Tippin' In" Victor 20-1639 US BB 1945 #238, US #21 for 1 week, 2 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #5, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 6 weeks, 25 total weeks 6 Pvt. Cecil Gant "I Wonder" Gilt-Edge 500 US BB 1945 #266, US #26 for 1 week, 1 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #6, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 2 weeks, 28 total weeks 7 Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five "Mop Mop" Decca 8668 US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #7, Harlem/Race Records #1 for 1 weeks, 17 total weeks 8 Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra "The Honeydripper" Decca 23451 US BB 1945 #247, US #21 for 1 week, 4 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #8, Harlem/Race Records #2 for 8 weeks, 9 total weeks 9 Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five "You Can't Get That No More" Decca 8668 US BB 1945 #189, US #15 for 1 week, 1 total weeks, US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #9, Harlem/Race Records #2 for 4 weeks, 13 total weeks 10 Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra "Beulah's Boogie" Decca 18719 US Most-Played Race Records 1945 #10, Harlem/Race Records #2 for 4 weeks, 9 total weeks
Published popular music "All of My Life", words and music: Irving Berlin "All Through the Day" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern "Along the Navajo Trail" w.m. Dick Charles, Eddie DeLange & Larry Markes "Apple Honey" m. Woody Herman "Aren't You Glad You're You?" w. Johnny Burke m. Jimmy Van Heusen "Atlanta G.A." w. Sunny Skylar m. Arthur Shaftel "Autumn Serenade" w. Sammy Gallop m. Peter DeRose "Be-Baba-Leba" w.m. Helen Humes "The Blond Sailor" w. (Eng) Mitchell Parish, Bell Leib m. Jacob Pfeil "Boogie Blues" w.m. Gene Krupa & Ray Biondi "Caldonia" w.m. Fleecie Moore "The Carousel Waltz" w. Richard Rodgers "Cement Mixer" w.m. Slim Gaillard & Lee Ricks