The 1940s were the last full decade of the big-band era, and they also gave American pop its wartime hits, its first modern Christmas standards, and a handful of songs that still turn up in films. These 30 best songs from the 40s include Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” the Andrews Sisters’ “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” Duke Ellington’s “Take the ‘A’ Train,” Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” and Dooley Wilson’s “As Time Goes By.”
Each entry notes the hit year, explains why the song mattered then, and has a video from an official, Topic, or carefully chosen archival upload of the period recording.
Here are the first 10 at a glance. Open the table for all 30, or tap a song to jump to it.
| Rank | Song | Artist | Year | Why it’s here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God Bless the Child | Billie Holiday | 1941 | A standard about standing on your own |
| 2 | White Christmas | Bing Crosby | 1942 | The wartime Christmas standard |
| 3 | The Christmas Song | Nat King Cole | 1946 | Chestnuts, written in a heat wave |
| 4 | Take the ‘A’ Train | Duke Ellington | 1941 | The band’s signature tune |
| 5 | Swinging on a Star | Bing Crosby | 1944 | A lesson set to a bounce |
| 6 | Stardust | Artie Shaw | 1940 | A new-decade take on an older standard |
| 7 | Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy | The Andrews Sisters | 1941 | A wartime jump-blues hit |
| 8 | Paper Doll | The Mills Brothers | 1943 | A huge wartime No. 1 |
| 9 | Sentimental Journey | Doris Day | 1945 | A homecoming song |
| 10 | My Foolish Heart | Gordon Jenkins | 1950 | A late-decade film ballad |
| 11 | Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! | Vaughn Monroe | 1945 | A winter standard, first recorded here |
| 12 | A String of Pearls | Glenn Miller | 1942 | A chart-topping instrumental |
| 13 | You Always Hurt the One You Love | The Mills Brothers | 1944 | A gentle song with a hard title |
| 14 | Moonlight Cocktail | Glenn Miller | 1942 | A No. 1 vocal swing side |
| 15 | Shoo-Shoo Baby | The Andrews Sisters | 1943 | A wartime send-off |
| 16 | Tuxedo Junction | Glenn Miller | 1940 | A dance-floor standard |
| 17 | Maybe | The Ink Spots | 1940 | A close-harmony wish |
| 18 | Cool Water | Sons of the Pioneers | A desert standard of the decade | |
| 19 | There Are Such Things | Frank Sinatra | 1942 | An early Sinatra ballad |
| 20 | Rum and Coca-Cola | The Andrews Sisters | 1945 | A calypso-tinged wartime smash |
| 21 | Till the End of Time | Perry Como | 1945 | A melody borrowed from Chopin |
| 22 | I’ll Never Smile Again | Tommy Dorsey ft. Frank Sinatra | 1940 | Sinatra’s first great ballad hit |
| 23 | This Land Is Your Land | Woody Guthrie | 1944 | A folk song that outlived the decade |
| 24 | That Old Black Magic | Glenn Miller | 1943 | A Harold Arlen hit, in swing form |
| 25 | Some Enchanted Evening | Perry Como | 1949 | A South Pacific standard |
| 26 | (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons | Nat King Cole | 1946 | A late-decade love song |
| 27 | All the Things You Are | Miles Davis | 1949 | A standard, live in Paris |
| 28 | Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered | Vivienne Segal | 1940 | From the original Pal Joey |
| 29 | Chattanooga Choo Choo | Glenn Miller | 1941 | A million-selling wartime trip |
| 30 | As Time Goes By | Dooley Wilson | 1942 | The Casablanca song |
1. “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday
Holiday wrote this with Arthur Herzog Jr., and her 1941 recording became one of her signature songs.
It is about having your own money and your own pride when help does not come. Official VEVO audio replaces a fan upload. Background: Variety.
2. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
Crosby’s 1942 recording, written by Irving Berlin, became the Christmas song of the war years and one of the best-selling records of all time.
See also our list of the best Christmas songs.
3. “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole
Mel Torme and Bob Wells wrote it in 1945; Cole’s 1946 recording is the version most people still hear.
Official VEVO audio replaces a fan upload.
4. “Take the ‘A’ Train” by Duke Ellington
Billy Strayhorn wrote it, and Ellington’s 1941 recording became the orchestra’s theme: a ride on the New York subway up to Harlem.
Official VEVO audio replaces a fan upload.
5. “Swinging on a Star” by Bing Crosby
Written for the film Going My Way, this 1944 hit is a cheerful lecture about the kind of person you could grow up to be.
Official Topic audio, 2008 remaster, replaces a fan upload. Also linked: best pop songs.
6. “Stardust” by Artie Shaw
Hoagy Carmichael’s song is older than the 1940s, but Artie Shaw’s 1940 recording is one of the versions that carried it through the big-band years.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
7. “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by The Andrews Sisters
This 1941 trio hit, written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince, is about a bugler who cannot stop playing boogie-woogie after he is drafted.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
8. “Paper Doll” by The Mills Brothers
The live page credited this to “The Mills Sisters.” The 1943 No. 1 is by the Mills Brothers, and the credit is corrected here.
A man would rather have a paper doll than a partner who goes out on him. Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload. Also linked: best jazz songs.
9. “Sentimental Journey” by Doris Day
Recorded with Les Brown and His Band of Renown, this 1945 hit became a song for people coming home at the end of the war.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
10. “My Foolish Heart” by Gordon Jenkins
The song comes from the 1949 film of the same name; Jenkins’s recording is the lush pop version associated with the turn of the decade.
The year in the table follows the hit recording rather than the film. Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
11. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Vaughn Monroe
Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn wrote it; Monroe’s 1945 recording (his name is often misspelled Vaughan) made it a standard.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload. Also linked: best Christmas songs.
12. “A String of Pearls” by Glenn Miller
This 1942 Miller instrumental, written by Jerry Gray, was a No. 1 hit and a showcase for the band’s polished swing.
The video is an archival transfer of the original 1940s record, used because no official estate Topic upload turned up.
13. “You Always Hurt the One You Love” by The Mills Brothers
This 1944 Mills Brothers hit is a soft, almost lullaby-like record about how easy it is to wound the person closest to you.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
14. “Moonlight Cocktail” by Glenn Miller
Miller’s 1942 recording, with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires, was another No. 1, a smooth vocal swing tune built on a cocktail metaphor.
Archival transfer of the original 1940s record, used in place of a fan upload.
15. “Shoo-Shoo Baby” by The Andrews Sisters
This mid-war Andrews Sisters hit is a playful goodbye to a sailor heading out.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
16. “Tuxedo Junction” by Glenn Miller
Erskine Hawkins originated it; Miller’s 1940 recording made “Tuxedo Junction” a national hit.
Archival transfer of the original 1940 record, replacing a later-orchestra-style fan upload.
17. “Maybe” by The Ink Spots
The Ink Spots’ 1940 recording is a tender, almost whispered hope that a love might still work out.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
18. “Cool Water” by Sons of the Pioneers
Bob Nolan wrote this western song, and the Sons of the Pioneers made it their signature.
A 1948 Vaughn Monroe record with the group was the big pop-chart version. The existing video, which credits the Sons, is kept because no official Sons-only Topic upload was found. Year left blank rather than picking one recording over the other.
19. “There Are Such Things” by Frank Sinatra
Recorded with Tommy Dorsey in 1942, this is young Sinatra singing about faith in love when the news was grim.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
20. “Rum and Coca-Cola” by The Andrews Sisters
This 1945 hit, adapted from a Trinidadian calypso, was one of the Andrews Sisters’ biggest records.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload. The lyric is a period piece, including lines that have not aged well, and it is presented as a 1940s hit rather than as a modern model.
21. “Till the End of Time” by Perry Como
Como’s 1945 hit takes its melody from Chopin and turns it into a wartime promise to love someone till the end of time.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
22. “I’ll Never Smile Again” by Tommy Dorsey ft. Frank Sinatra
Dorsey’s 1940 recording, with Sinatra and the Pied Pipers, was a No. 1 and a turning point for Sinatra as a band singer.
The video is an archival transfer of the original 1940 record.
23. “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie
Guthrie wrote it in 1940 as an answer to “God Bless America,” and recorded it in 1944.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload. Also linked: best folk songs.
24. “That Old Black Magic” by Glenn Miller
Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote it for a 1942 film; Miller’s 1943 recording, with Skip Nelson and the Modernaires, was a No. 1.
Archival transfer of the original record, replacing a fan upload.
25. “Some Enchanted Evening” by Perry Como
From the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein show South Pacific, Como’s record helped carry the song onto the pop chart.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload.
26. “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” by Nat King Cole
Cole’s 1946 recording of this ballad is the version that made it a standard.
Official VEVO visualizer replaces a fan upload. Also linked: jazz singers.
27. “All the Things You Are” by Miles Davis
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein wrote the song in 1939. The live page credited “Miles Davies” and used a dead video.
The replacement is official Topic audio of Davis playing it live in Paris in May 1949, which keeps the track in the decade. Spelling corrected to Miles Davis.
28. “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” by Vivienne Segal
Rodgers and Hart wrote it for the 1940 musical Pal Joey, and Vivienne Segal introduced it on stage.
The existing video is kept.
29. “Chattanooga Choo Choo” by Glenn Miller
From the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade, Miller’s record was a huge hit and later a million-seller, a fantasy train ride south.
Archival transfer of the original 1941 record, replacing a fan upload.
30. “As Time Goes By” by Dooley Wilson
Herman Hupfeld wrote it in 1931; Dooley Wilson’s performance in Casablanca (1942) is the reason it belongs on a 1940s list.
Official Topic audio replaces a fan upload. Also linked: best songs of all time.
FAQs
What were the most popular songs of the 1940s?
Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and “A String of Pearls,” the Andrews Sisters’ “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Rum and Coca-Cola,” and the Mills Brothers’ “Paper Doll” were among the decade’s biggest hits.
What kind of music defined the 1940s?
Big-band swing first, then, as the war ended, more vocal-group pop, holiday standards, and the first stirrings of the solo-singer era, with Frank Sinatra the clearest example.
Are all of these originally from the 1940s?
Most of the hit recordings are. A few songs were written earlier (“Stardust,” “As Time Goes By,” “All the Things You Are”) and are here because a 1940s recording is the one that made them famous in that decade.
From wartime swing to Christmas standards and the first Casablanca spins of “As Time Goes By,” these records are a clear snapshot of what the 1940s sounded like on American radio.
For a wider mix of eras, see the best songs of all time.
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