One of Acrobat’s most popular and successful series are the America’s Greatest Hits collections – 4-CD sets featuring the biggest hits from the Billboard charts from 1940, when the Billboard record sales chart was launched, through to 1962.

However, before the Billboard chart was first published, the popular US weekly radio show Your Hit Parade, sponsored by Lucky Strike, began producing a chart in 1935, which was sometimes a Top 10, sometimes a Top 15, so we decided to take the America’s Greatest Hits format back into the Your Hit Parade era of the 1930s.

This 74-track 3-CD collection comprises every record that featured in the Your Hit Parade chart during 1937, the first full year of the chart, apart from one of which we could not find a copy. There were many fewer records that made the chart in 1937 compared to 1936, so it all fits onto a 3-CD set.

It was a very varied music landscape, with the big swing orchestras with the big swing orchestras like Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman making their mark, though often with middle-of-the-road vocal performances rather than jazzy pieces, although there’s plenty of hot stuff here too.

Along with them are the big dance bands who were popular on radio, including g Guy Lombardo, Shep Fields and Eddy Duchin, competing with each other as they recorded the future classics of the Great American Songbook that were coming out of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley, plus some of the top singers of the era, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire among them.

It’s an enjoyable and fascinating musical snapshot of the era, complete with a 12,000 word booklet with notes on each track, and full discographical and chart information.

CD 1

1. IN THE CHAPEL IN THE MOONLIGHT Shep Fields & His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (Bluebird 6640)

2. IT'S DE-LOVELY Eddy Duchin & His Orch. (Victor 25432)

3. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN Ray Noble & His Orchestra, Vocal: Al Bowlly (Victor 25422)

4. PENNIES FROM HEAVEN Bing Crosby (Decca 947)

5. I'LL SING YOU A THOUSAND LOVE SONGS Eddy Duchin & His Orch. (Victor 25393)

6. I'M IN A DANCING MOOD Tommy Dorsey Orch. (Victor 25476)

7. THE NIGHT IS YOUNG AND YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL  Jan Garber & His Orchestra (Brunswick  7800)

8. EASY TO LOVE  Ray Noble & His Orchestra, Vocal: Al Bowlly (Victor 25422)

9. WITH PLENTY OF MONEY AND YOU (OH! BABY, WHAT I COULDN'T DO Vocal chorus by Bob Hannon  (Decca 1076)

10. GOODNIGHT MY LOVE Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (Victor 25461)

11. WHEN MY DREAMBOAT COMES HOME Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (Victor 25435)

12. THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE AIR Shep Fields & His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (Bluebird 6683)

13. TRUST IN ME Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra (Vocalion 3449)

14. THIS YEAR'S KISSES Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (Victor 25505)

15. BOO HOO Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (Victor 25522)

16. LITTLE OLD LADY Abe Lyman & His Californians (Decca 1120)

17. WHAT WILL I TELL MY HEART Andy Kirk & His Clouds Of Joy (Decca 10085)

18. I'VE GOT MY LOVE TO KEEP ME WARM Ray Noble & His Orchestra (Victor 25507)

19. YOU'RE LAUGHING AT ME Fats Waller And His Rhythm  (Victor 25530)

20. SERENADE IN THE NIGHT  Mantovani & His Tipica Orchestra (Columbia 3159)

21. MOONLIGHT AND SHADOWS Shep Fields & His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (Bluebird 6803)

22. WHEN THE POPPIES BLOOM AGAIN Music In The Russ Morgan Manner (Brunswick 7845)

23. TOO MARVELLOUS FOR WORDS Bing Crosby (Decca 1185)

24. WHERE ARE YOU Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra (Vocalion 3456)

CD 2 

1. SWEET IS THE WORD FOR YOU Bing Crosby (Decca 1184)

2. SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, Vocals Carmen Lombardo (Victor 25526)

3. CARELESSLY Billie Holiday With Teddy Wilson & His Orch. (Brunswick 7867)

4. THE LOVE BUG WILL BITE YOU Jimmy Dorsey & His Orch. (Decca 1187)

5. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS Bing Crosby  (Decca 1210)

6. HOW COULD YOU Anson Weeks & His Orch. (Decca 1134)

7. THERE'S A LULL IN MY LIFE Teddy Wilson & His Orch. (Brunswick 7884)

8. BLUE HAWAII Bing Crosby (Decca 1175)

9. LET'S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF Fred Astaire (Brunswick 7857)

10. SWEET LEILANI Bing Crosby (Decca 1175)

11. THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME Fred Astaire (Brunswick 7855)

12. IT LOOKS LIKE RAIN IN CHERRY BLOSSOM LANE Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, Vocals Lebert Lombardo (Victor 25572)

13. A SAILBOAT IN THE MOONLIGHT Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, Vocals Carmen Lombardo (Victor 25594)

14. THE MERRY-GO-ROUND BROKE DOWN Music In The Russ Morgan Manner (Brunswick 7888)

15. WAS IT RAIN Frances Langford (Decca 1202)

16. THE YOU AND ME THAT USED TO BE Dolly Dawn & Her Dawn Patrol (Var iety VA557)

17. WHERE OR WHEN Hal Kemp & His Orch. (Brunswick 7865)

18. I KNOW NOW Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, Vocals Carmen Lombardo (Victor 25566)

19. GONE WITH THE WIND Horace Heidt & His Brigadiers (Brunswick 7913)

20. CAUSE MY BABY SAYS IT'S SO Kay Kyser & His Orchestra (Brunswick 7891)

21. SO RARE Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, Vocals Carmen Lombardo (Victor 25626)

22. THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU Bunny Berigan & His Orch. (Victor 25593)

23. TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY Ted Fiorito & His Orch. (Decca 1257)

24. SATAN TAKES A HOLIDAY Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (Victor 25570)

CD 3

1. STOP YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART Music In The Russ Morgan Manner (Brunswick 7910)

2. WHISPERS IN THE DARK Bob Crosby & His Orchestra (Decca 1346)

3. MY CABIN OF DREAMS Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake Seven (Victor 25620)

4. STARDUST ON THE MOON Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake Seven (Victor 25630)

5. AFRAID TO DREAM Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (Victor 25627)

6. HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES, BABY Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (Victor 25635)

7. THAT OLD FEELING Shep Fields & His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (Bluebird 7066)

8. YOURS AND MINE Hudson-De Lange Orch. (Brunswick  8002)

9. HARBOUR LIGHTS Claude Thornhill & His orch. (Vocalion 3505)

10. REMEMBER ME Bing Crosby (Decca 1451)

11. THE MOON GOT IN MY EYES Bing Crosby (Decca 1375)

12. ROSES IN DECEMBER Ozzie Nelson & His Orch (Bluebird B-7034)

13. THE ONE ROSE (THAT'S LEFT IN MY HEART) Bing Crosby (Decca 1201)

14. YOU CAN'T STOP ME FROM DREAMING Teddy Wilson & His Orch. (Brunswick  7954)

15. BLOSSOMS ON BROADWAY Dick Robertson Orch. (Decca 1415)

16. VIENI, VIENI Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees (Bluebird 7069)

17. YOU AND I KNOW Tommy Dorsey & His Orch.(Victor 25648)

18. FAREWELL, MY LOVE Russ Morgan & His Orch. (Brunswick 8009)

19. IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (Victor 25686)

20. ONCE IN A WHILE Tommy Dorsey & His Orch.  (Victor 25686)

21. I STILL LOVE TO KISS YOU GOODNIGHT Bing Crosby (Decca 1451)

22. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT Fred Astaire (Brunswick 7983)

23. EBB TIDE Bunny Berigan & His Orch (Victor 25664)

24. THERE'S A GOLDMINE IN THE SKY Bing Crosby (Decca 1565)

25. ROSALIE Swing & Sway With Sammy Kaye  (Vocalion 3700)

26. TRUE CONFESSIONS Larry Clinton & His Orchestra with Bea Wain  (Victor 25706)