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1) Professional basketball was without a players union

2) Jackie Robinson was the first black athlete to play in the major league baseball

3) A third called themselves the American Football League

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Sporting events all around the world were disrupted by World War II. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were cancelled because of the war.

During WWII, numerous athletes served in the armed forces until the end of the war.

Some of those athletes were: Stan Musial, Warren Spahn, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio and more.

It is unfathomable that today's athletes would even think for one second about serving their country in this way.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1946 when the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball.

Football wasn't really that popular yet, but there were professional leagues, of course. At that time, players were still playing on both sides of the ball. The same goes for professional basketball. It was more of a novelty. People really cheered on their hometime college basketball teams, though.

Boxing was hugely popular in the 1940s. And Joe Louis was the heavyweight champion for the entire decade - the only boxer ever to hold a crown for that long.

Sports in 1943
BASEBALL
Baseball, like all sports, was heavily impacted by WWII. As of December 1, 1943, 347 major league players were serving in the armed forces. Attendance numbers also went down, a total loss of 1,160,119 in comparison to 1942.

Even with a loss of players and attendance, teams still played exceedingly well. The St. Louis Cardinals led the National League with a 105-49 record, finishing 18 games over second-place Cincinnati. This was the largest first-place lead since the 1906 Cubs won the league by a margin of 20 games. The New York Yankees won the American League pennant with a 98-56 record, finishing 6 games over second-place Washington.

By season's end, Stan Musial led both Leagues in the batting category, with a batting average of .357, 108 runs, and 220 hits. Bill Nicholson of the Cubs led the National League in Home Runs and Runs Batted In, with 29 HRs and 128 RBIs.

Rudy York of Detroit led the American League in Home Runs and Runs Batted In, with 34 HRs and 118 RBIs.

When the Yankees and Cardinals met for the World Series, the Yankees nearly swept the Cardinals, winning 4 games to 1. This brought the Yankees World Series wins to a total of 10 titles, double that of any other team.
BASKETBALL (AMATEUR)
In 1943, the "Whiz Kids" of the University of Illinois won their second Big Ten title in a row, dominating the sport with their starting lineup of juniors.

However, the team did not go on to postseason play, as all of the starters were in the armed forces and Wyoming University took their place.

Wyoming, who won the Rocky Mountain Conference, went on to win the NCAA Tournament.
Later in a Red Cross benefit, Wyoming beat St. John's of Brooklyn, who had won the Madison Square Garden Invitational.

Dartmouth College won their conference for the sixth straight season, while Duke held their title tight in the South, though constantly bullied by George Washington.

Rice and Texas shared the conference title in the southwest, and Kentucky and Tennessee topped the southeast.

On the Pacific coast, Washington topped Stanford. Kansas won the Big Six and Creighton dominated the Missouri Valley Conference.

In the AAU, the Phillips "66" won the title in Denver, where it was hosted for the ninth time in a row. They beat the Denver Legion, 57-40.
BASKETBALL (PROFESSIONAL)
In Chicago, the Washington Bears won the US professional basketball championship. Coming in second was the Oshkosh All-Stars, and third came Fort Wayne, who had won the National Pro league title.

In the American Professional league championship, the Philadelphia Sphas captured the title. In the 1943-1944 inaugural, the College All-Stars proved themselves against the Washington Bears, winning 35-31.
BOXING
In the Army, Joe Louis kept himself busy with boxing matches against others in the service. Billy Conn, a contender for the heavyweight title, was also in the Army. Championships in four divisions were frozen in 1943: the heavyweight, light-heavyweight, middleweight, and welterweight.

Willie Pep made one defense of his featherweight crown, and held the title. But after his streak of 62 victories was broken, he enlisted in the Navy.

Untouched by the war were the lightweight and bantamweight classes. The flyweight class was unmoved, dormant, as it had been for years. Jackie Patterson of Scotland, the title-holder, had been all but unheard from.

Manuel Ortiz, who shared possession of the featherweight title with Pep, defended his title no less than eight times during 1943. At the time, this was the record for title defense, not even rivaled by Joe Louis, the most active boxer at the time.

In the lightweight class, Beau Jack both lost and regained his title in 1943, while drawing large crowds to his matches.
FOOTBALL (AMATEUR)
College football was greatly affected by WWII, possibly more than any other sport.

The following teams did not participate in the football season in 1943: Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Fordham, Georgetown, Stanford, Santa Clara, Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State. A few other colleges played informally, cancelling their regular season schedules.

Several colleges played their regular schedules with players who were civilians and/or under-age. These teams, however, without their starting lineups, suffered many losses. Some of these were: Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Georgia, Louisiana State, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

At the end of the year, with only one loss, Notre Dame was voted by the Associated Press to be the number one team in college football.

In the collegiate-professional night game on August 25, 1943, the college All-Stars beat the Washington Redskins 27-7.
FOOTBALL (PROFESSIONAL)
The NFL played on in 1943, despite the war. Every team except for the Cleveland Rams put men on the field during the regular schedule. While the quality of the football was not as spectacular, the attendance numbers, up 36% from 1942, suggested otherwise.

In the Eastern division, the season resulted in a tie between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, forcing a playoff game.

In the playoff, the Redskins delivered a crumbling defeat to the Giants, shutting them out 28-0. The Chicago Bears won the Western division championship.

In the league championship, the Bears proved themselves against the Redskins, winning 41-21.

Sports in 1947
BASEBALL
Early in the year, the president of the Triple A Pacific Coast League tried extensively to persuade MLB to allow his league to become a "Third Major League."
MLB commissioner "Happy" Chandler denied this request. Chandler also had an idea to expand the MLB by adding teams to both leagues, and bringing baseball to the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and Hollywood. But, since the American League had voted against the change, the plan was not brought to fruition... yet.

Attendance figures soared in 1947 and, with the war over, more people were able to visit their favorite ballparks. Seven teams set attendance records, and seven other teams lost attendance from the year before.

MLB tore down its color barrier in 1947. In April, Jackie Robinson joined the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers, and proved himself to be one of the best players in the majors. Jackie could hit well, he stole lots of bases (even home), and was a defensive asset.

The Cleveland Indians signed hard-hitting center-fielder Larry Doby, who was also African-American, thus breaking the American League color barrier later in the same year. Both of these players would eventually be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In the 7th so-called "Subway series", the New York Yankees faced the Brooklyn Dodgers. Both teams won more than 90 games, proving themselves against their leagues. The Series went all 7 games, with a few firsts along the way. Lawrence "Yogi" Berra hit the first pinch-hit home run in the fall classic's history. It was the richest Series yet known, drawing $2,021,348.92, and 389,763 fans, which was more than the St. Louis Browns drew the whole year.

In the final game, the Yankees edged out the Dodgers in a pitcher's duel. This increased the number of American League World Series wins to 27 out of 44 played.

Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947 were: Jack Chesbro, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, Rube Waddell, Ed Walsh, Jesse Burkett, "Iron Man" Joe McGinnity, Tommy McCarthy, Eddie Plank, and Clark Griffith.
BASKETBALL (AMATEUR)
In the NCAA, the Holy Cross of Worcester, Mass., led by George Kaftan, Joe Mullaney and Bob Cousy beat the Oklahoma University Sooners in the Finals, 58-47, at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was the first and only time Holy Cross won the NCAA Championship.
BASKETBALL (PROFESSIONAL)
In the American Athletic Union (AAU), basketball division, the Phillips 66ers (aka the Oilers) defeated the Oakland Bittners in the Finals. The 66ers had few troubles as they blasted their way through the 52-team bracket. The Bittners were no different, and were easily defeated 62-41.

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) played its first entire season in 1947. In this new league, there were some differences, but not many, compared to the AAU.

For example, the games were held in stadiums shared with hockey teams. The owners refused to heat their buildings, so fans had to bring blankets when they went to games. Some games were canceled due to puddles on the floor, from the hockey rink. The games were played for 48 minutes, instead of the 40 minutes played by the AAU. The players were also allowed to commit 6 fouls instead of 5.

In the BAA Finals, the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Chicago Stags 4 games to 1 in a five game series.
BOXING
"Sugar Ray" Robinson held his welterweight title, but with a price.

At Cleveland Arena, Robinson faced Jimmy Doyle, a contender for the title. Doyle had problems before the fight, with head injuries sustained from other bouts in California. Despite doctor's warnings, Doyle decided to go ahead with the fight, because he reportedly wanted to buy his mother a house.

In the ring, after 9 rounds, Doyle went down with a TKO. He was admitted to the hospital soon after and died as a result of the fight with Robinson. Robinson donated his next 4 winnings to Doyle's mother, so she could buy the house Doyle promised her.

Robinson defended his title once more in 1947, against Chuck Taylor in Detroit, Michigan. After 15 rounds, Robinson TKO'd Taylor. Taylor reportedly visited the hospital after the bout, complaining of kidney problems. Thankfully, Taylor was released from the hospital the next day.

Joe Louis defended his heavyweight title against "Jersey Joe" Walcott, and was forced to fight him twice. In the first bout, Louis KO'd Walcott in the 15th round. However, many, including some officials, thought that the decision was unfair, and made Louis and Walcott fight again six months later. In this fight, Louis prevailed again, and continued as the reigning heavyweight champion.
FOOTBALL (AMATEUR)
1947 was a year of upsets for the armed forces' football teams. Army, who had won all championships since '44, was stopped by Columbia. West Point also had their incredible 32-game winning streak snapped by Columbia.

The Rose Bowl was a no contest, with the #2 Michigan Wolverines dominating the #8 USC Trojans, 49-0.

The Sugar Bowl was easily won by the #5 Texas Longhorns, 27-7, against the #6 Alabama Crimson Tide.

The #10 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets won the Orange Bowl, beating the #12 Kansas Jayhawks, 20-14.

The Cotton Bowl was declared a tie(?!) between the #3 SMU Mustangs and #4 Penn State Nittany Lions, 13-13.

The Gator Bowl was equally anticlimactic, ending in another tie. 20-20 was the final score in the bowl between the Georgia Bulldogs and Maryland Terrapins (both unranked).

In the Delta Bowl, it was a close game between the #13 Ole Miss Rebels (winners) and the TCU Horned Frogs, 13-9.

The #1 spot in the AP Poll went to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, for the second year in a row. The Heisman trophy went to Notre Dame's Johnny Lujack, the team's quarterback.
FOOTBALL (PROFESSIONAL)
In the NFL championship, the Chicago Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21.

The Western division was won by the Cardinals against the Chicago Bears, in a attendance record-setting game at Wrigley Field. The 30-21 victory drew a crowd of 48,632 fans.

In the Eastern division, Philadelphia won their first division title, sweeping the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-0.

In the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), the Cleveland Browns faced the New York Yankees (football). In a defensive struggle between teams, the Browns prevailed, winning 14-3.

Sammy Baugh led the league in passing, Steve Van Buren in rushing and Mal Kutner in receiving.

Sports in 1949
BASEBALL
In 1949, baseball was still recovering from the Mexican League and WWII. On June 5, 18 Major League players were invited by Commissioner A. B. Chandler to come back to their teams, after being banned from MLB for three years.

The Brooklyn Dodgers brought pitcher Don Newcombe up from their farm in Montreal. He promptly achieved a 17-8 record, an Earned Run Average of 3.17, five shutouts, and 149 strikeouts - a terrific performance.

After being hurt for the beginning of the season, "Yankee Clipper" Joe DiMaggio came back in late June. He quickly made up for his absence, hitting 14 home runs, 67 RBI, and posting a .346 batting average. All this he accomplished in just 76 games.

Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox narrowly missed a Triple Crown win, losing the batting average title to George Kell in the final day of the season by .0002 points.

However, Williams led the home run category with 43, and tied with Vern Stephens for the RBI title with 159.

In the National League, Jackie Robinson took the batting average title from Stan Musial, with a .342 BA. Robinson also added 124 RBI. Ralph Kiner took the home run title with 54 round-trippers, 18 more than number two, Stan Musial who had 36.

The World Series was played in New York that year, when the New York Yankees faced the Brooklyn Dodgers. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the Yankees won the World Series 4 games to 1. This brought the number of Yankees World Series wins to a grand total of 12.
BASKETBALL (AMATEUR)
In 1949, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship was won by the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

Coached by Adolph Rupp in an eight-team tournament, they defeated the Oklahoma A&M Cowboys, 46-36, in the finals.

Oklahoma A&M, a division of Oklahoma State University, was coached by Henry Iba.
BASKETBALL (PROFESSIONAL)
In the first year the Association was known as the NBA, George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers won the Championship.
BOXING
On March 1, 1949, long-reigning champion Joe Louis, still undefeated, formally announced his retirement from the National Boxing Association. He had defended his title 25 times over the course of 12 years, making him one of the busiest champions of all time.

"Sugar" Ray Robinson held his welterweight title, only having to defend it once, against the Cuban Kid Gavilan in Philadelphia.

Ike Williams held onto his lightweight championship versus Mexico's Enrique Bolanos and Chicago's Freddie Dawson.

Willie Pep once again regained his featherweight title against Harlem's Sandy Saddler, and defended it from Eddie Compo.

Manuel Ortiz kept ahold of the bantamweight championship, beating Dado Marino in Honolulu.
FOOTBALL (AMATEUR)
In the Associated Press' final poll, Notre Dame, coached by Frank Leahy, finished in first place with an undefeated season.

The #6 Ohio State Buckeyes beat the #3 California Golden Bears in the Rose Bowl.

The #2 Oklahoma Sooners annihilated the #9 LSU Tigers in the Sugar Bowl, 35-0.

In the Orange Bowl, the #15 Santa Clara Broncos defeated the #11 Kentucky Wildcats.
The Cotton Bowl saw the #5 Rice Owls win against the #16 North Carolina Tar Heels.
The #14 Maryland Terrapins beat the #20 Missouri Tigers in the Gator Bowl.

The annual Heisman Award was captured by the Notre Dame end Leon Hart. Charlie Justice, who enjoyed being on the cover of LIFE Magazine and several others, was once again the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.
FOOTBALL (PROFESSIONAL)
Head Coach Greasy Neale led the Philadelphia Eagles to victory in 1949.

Runners up for the title were the Los Angeles Rams, coached by Clark Shuagnessy. Though they won the Western division, they could not capture the Championship.

It was an amazingly deep draft that year, stocked with future Hall of Famers. The Rams selected Norm Van Brocklin, while the Chicago Bears took George Blanda and Doak Walker went to Boston.

The NFL Champion Eagles found their future franchise player by drafting Chuck Bednarik.

List of Major Sports Champions in the 1940s

More 1940s Sports

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1940s Sports: History, Facts, MVPs & Champions

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Sporting events all around the world were disrupted by World War II. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were cancelled because of the war. During WWII, numerous athletes served in the armed forces until the end of the war. Some of those athletes were: Stan Musial, Warren Spahn, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio and more.

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1) Hula Hoops was used by Greeks for exercise

2) Silly putty can withstand decay and it can bounce 25 percent higher than a rubber band

3) Richard James invented slinkies by accident

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Many 1940s toys had a military twist. While they were more sophisticated than before, families still loved to play board games while listening to the radio.

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1) The Mills brothers became the more conventional vocal group

2) The Gleen Millers sold out concerts into the 21st century

3) The Andrews sisters became the top-selling groups in history

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For music from an individual year in the 1940s, go to 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49

This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1940s.

In the developed world, swing, big band, jazz, Latin and country music dominated and defined the decade's music. After World War II, the big band sounds of the earlier part of the decade had been gradually replaced by crooners and vocal pop.

Ragtime, a genre that first became popular in the 1890s, was popular through about the 1940s. After its best-known exponent, Scott Joplin, died in 1917, the genre faded. As the 1920s unfolded, jazz rapidly took over as the dominant form of popular music in the United States.

In addition, a new form of popular music, crooning, emerged during the early 1930s. Technology played a large part in the development of this style, as electronic sound recording had emerged near the end of the 1920s and replaced the earlier acoustic recording. While singers such as Al Jolson and Billy Murray had recorded songs by yelling into a Victrola horn, as this was the only way to get audible sound with acoustic recording, the new electronic equipment allowed for a softer, more intimate style of singing. Many of the older singers such as Jolson and Murray consequently fell out of favor during the 1930s with changing tastes (although Al Jolson managed a successful career comeback after World War II).

Bing Crosby was the leading figure of the crooner sound as well as its most iconic, defining artist. By the 1940s, he was an entertainment superstar who mastered all of the major media formats of the day, movies, radio, and recorded music. Other popular singers of the day included Cab Calloway and Eddie Cantor.

Bandleaders such as the Dorsey Brothers often helped launch the careers of vocalists who went on to popularity as solo artists, such as Frank Sinatra, who rose to fame as a singer during this time. Sinatra's vast appeal to the " bobby soxers" revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had generally appealed mainly to adults up to that time, making Sinatra the first teen idol. Sinatra's music mostly attracted young girls to his concerts. This image of a teen idol would also be seen with future artists such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Sinatra's massive popularity was also one of the reasons why the big band music declined in popularity; major record companies were looking for crooners and pop singers to attract a youth audience due to his success. Frank Sinatra would go on to become one of the most successful artists of the 1940s and one of the best selling music artists of all time. Sinatra remained relevant through the 1950s and 60s, even with rock music being the dominant form of music in his later years. In the later decades, Sinatra's music would be mostly aimed at an older adult audience. Sinatra became one of the most respected and critically acclaimed music artists of all time.

Big band swing could variably be an instrumental style or accompany a vocalist. In comparison to its loud, brash, rhythmic sound stood the "sweet" bands which played a softer, more melodic style. The most notable of these, in no small part thanks to a long postwar TV career, was the band of Lawrence Welk.

While swing bands could be found in most major cities during the 1930s-1940s, the most popular and famous were the bands of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw, which had national followings and sold huge numbers. World War II brought an end to big band swing as many musicians were conscripted into the armed forces and travel restrictions made it hard for bands to tour. In 1944, Glenn Miller was killed when his plane crashed into the English Channel en route to a USO show in France. His death is widely considered to mark the close of the swing era.

After the war, a combination of factors such as changing demographics and rapid inflation made large bands unprofitable, so that popular music in the US came to be dominated instead by traditional pop and crooners, as well as bebop and jump blues.

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 By Disk Jockeys" and 'Most-Played Juke Box Records': However, since the latter two charts were not implemented until mid-decade, we focus on ' Best-Selling Retail Records of the 1940s.' Since it consisted of ten positions for most of the decade, only ten per week were recognized. Each week fifteen points were awarded to the number one record, then nine points for number two, eight points for number three, and so on, with one point for number ten. This system balances songs that reach the highest positions, as well as those that had the longest chart runs. Calculations are unaffected by year-end cutoffs as with Billboard ( see discussion).

13

Les Brown and his Orchestra (Vocal Chorus by Doris Day)

Columbia 36769

November 20, 1944

January 22, 1945

US Billboard 1945 #1, US Pop #1 for 8 weeks, 28 total weeks, 213 points, Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, 1,000,000 sales

23

Glenn Miller and his Orchestra

Victor 27934

August 1, 1942

September 12, 1942

US Billboard 1942 #3, US Pop #1 for 7 weeks, 18 total weeks, 181 points, 1,000,000 sales

27

Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (Vocal Frank Sinatra and Pied Pipers)

Victor 27974

July 1, 1942

July 17, 1942

US Billboard 1943 #3, US Pop #1 for 5 weeks, 26 total weeks, US R&B 1943 #22, Harlem Hit Parade #2 for 1 week, 13 total weeks, 176 points, 1,000,000 sales

36

Bing Crosby

Decca 18595

February 17, 1944

April 1944

US Billboard 1944 #7, US Pop #1 for 4 weeks, 28 total weeks, 168 points

39
The Harmonicats
" Peg o' My Heart"

Vitacoustic 1

March 1947

April 1947

US Billboard 1947 #4, US Pop #1 for 8 weeks, 26 total weeks, 165 points

Benny Goodman performing in Stage Door Canteen (1943)

In the early 1940s, bebop emerged, led by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and others. It helped to shift jazz from danceable popular music towards a more complex "musician's music." Differing greatly from swing, early bebop divorced itself from dance music, establishing itself more as an art form but lessening its potential popular and commercial value. Since bebop was meant to be listened to, not danced to, it used faster tempos.

The swing era lasted until the mid-1940s, and produced popular tunes such as Duke Ellington's " Cotton Tail" (1940) and Billy Strayhorn's " Take the 'A' Train" (1941). When the big bands struggled to keep going during World War II, a shift was happening in jazz in favor of smaller groups. Some swing era musicians, like Louis Jordan, later found popularity in a new kind of music, called " rhythm and blues", that would evolve into rock and roll in the 1950s.

By the end of the 1940s, the nervous energy and tension of bebop was replaced with a tendency towards calm and smoothness, that eventually influenced the birth of cool jazz, which favoured long, linear melodic lines in the 1950s.

By the 1940s, Dixieland jazz revival musicians like Jimmy McPartland, Eddie Condon and Bud Freeman had become well-known and established their own unique style. Most characteristically, players entered solos against riffing by other horns, and were followed by a closing with the drummer playing a four-bar tag that was then answered by the rest of the band.

Some of the most notable Jazz artists of the 1940s include Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and also Nat King Cole.

Vaughn Monroe as a guest star in a 1962 Bonanza episode

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, became widely popular through the romanticization of the cowboy and idealized depictions of the west in Hollywood films. Singing cowboys, such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, sang cowboy songs in their films and became popular throughout the United States. Film producers began incorporating fully orchestrated four-part harmonies and sophisticated musical arrangements into their motion pictures.

In the post-war period, country music was called "folk" in the trades, and "hillbilly" within the industry. In 1944, The Billboard replaced the term "hillbilly" with "folk songs and blues", and switched to "country" or "country and western" in 1949.

But while cowboy and western music were the most popular styles, a new style - honky tonk - would take root and define the genre of country music for decades to come. The style meshed Western swing and blues music; featured rough, nasal vocals backed by instruments such as the guitar, fiddle, string bass, and steel guitar; and had lyrics that focused on tragic themes of lost love, adultery, loneliness, alcoholism and self-pity. One of the earliest successful practitioners of this style was Ernest Tubb, a Crisp, Texas native who had perfected his style on several Texas radio stations in the mid- to late-1930s. In 1940, he gained a recording contract with Decca Records, and a year later released his standard " Walking the Floor Over You." The single became a hit and sold over one million copies. Allmusic critic David Vinopal called "Walking the Floor Over You" the first honky tonk song that launched the musical genre itself. As the decade progressed, the style was picked up by Floyd Tillman and Hank Williams, and by the end of the 1940s was the predominant style in country music.

Williams, a Butler County, Alabama native, began earning a reputation as both a songwriter and a performing artist. Using traditional honky-tonk themes, Williams grew to become one of the most important country performers of all time. His recording of " Lovesick Blues" (and its flip side, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry") in 1949 remains a landmark in both country and popular music to this day. But even by the late 1940s, it became well known that Williams drank heavily, and his personal problems would continue to grow as the 1950s dawned. Still, his overall style inspired countless artists in country and other styles of music, including rock music, and his songs would be performed by numerous artists in many styles.

On August 25, 1945 Jenny Lou Carson became the first woman to write a No. 1 country music hit when " You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often," performed by Tex Ritter, reached the top of the Billboard Most Played Juke Box Folk Records. In 1949 Carson had another No. 1 country music hit as a songwriter when " Don't Rob Another Man's Castle," performed by Eddy Arnold, topped the Billboard Folk Best Seller Charts. From 1945 to 1955 Carson was one of the most prolific songwriters in country music. Women weren't absent from the scene as vocalists; in fact, the No. 1 song on Billboard magazine's very first Most Played Juke Box Folk Records chart, dated January 8, 1944, saw The Andrews Sisters get co-credit along with Bing Crosby on " Pistol Packin' Mama." In 1949, Margaret Whiting teamed with Jimmy Wakely to have a No. 1 country and pop hit, a cover of the Floyd Tillman song " Slippin' Around." Kitty Wells was a popular concert attraction, performing with her husband Johnnie Wright and his duet partner, Jack Anglin; and Wilma Lee Cooper was prominently featured on recordings with her husband, Stoney. Other popular female acts were Patsy Montana, Martha Carson, The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Molly O'Day with the Cumberland Mountain Folks, and Lulu Belle (of Lulu Belle and Scotty), while Mother Maybelle Carter re-formed the Carter Family with her daughters, Anita, June, and Helen and their popularity would only grow in time.

Eddy Arnold, known as "The Tennessee Plowboy," became an innovator of crossover music, or music of one particular genre (in this case, country) that was popular among mainstream audiences. His style combined elements of refined honky tonk with popular music sounds, evident on hits like "That's How Much I Love You," "I'll Hold You In My Heart ('Til I Can Hold You In My Arms)," "Anytime" and "Boquet of Roses," and several of these songs charted on both the Billboard country and pop charts. He was so dominant that by 1948, five of that year's six No. 1 songs on Billboards' country chart bore Arnold's name, a record that Charlie Rich would tie 26 years later but otherwise has been unmatched. Arnold would go on to score more than 150 chart hits during a career that spanned until his death in 2008.

Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Tino Rossi, were popular French singers.

The Cuban bolero has traveled to Mexico and the rest of Latin America after its conception, where it became part of their repertoires. Some of the bolero's leading composers have come from nearby countries, most especially the prolific Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández, Some Cuban composers of the bolero are listed under Trova. Some successful Mexican bolero composers are María Grever, Gonzalo Curiel Barba, Gabriel Ruiz, and Consuelo Velázquez which song Verdad Amarga (Bitter Truth) was the most popular in Mexico in the year 1948; another example is Mexico's Agustín Lara.

Consuelo Velázquez with Pedro Vargas

Other famous performers include Pedro Vargas, Luis Aguilar, Ana María González, Trío Calaveras, Trío Los Panchos

Mariachi an ensemble that consists of guitarrón, vihuela, guitar, violins and trumpets. Between 1940 mariachi and rancheras originated in the western states of the country.

This folk ensemble performs ranchera, son de mariachi, huapango de mariachi, polka, corrido, and other musical forms. It originated in the southern part of the state of Jalisco during the 19th century. The city of Guadalajara in Jalisco is known as the "Capital of Mariachi". The style is now popular throughout Mexico and the Southwestern United States, and is considered representative of Mexican music and culture.

In China, the 1940s was the golden era of Mandarin pop songs which were collectively termed ' Shidaiqu', literally "songs of the era". Shanghai Pathe Records, then belonging to EMI, emerged to be the leading record company in China and featured a blend of Chinese melodies and western orchestrations as well as Big Band Jazz elements in arrangements of music, leading to their superseding traditional Chinese operas in radio broadcasts. With the help of growing radio audience in the nation, Shidaiqu successfully became prevalent and listening to Mandarin pop songs was regarded as trendy. Among all Chinese contemporary singers, Zhou Xuan, Yao Li (also known as Hue Lee), Wu Yingyin, Bai Guang, Bai Hong, Gong Qiuxia and Li Xianglan were the seven most famous artists (七大歌星), who gained nationwide popularity. Zhou Xuan was the most representative of all, who later became one of the emblematic and legendary figures in the history of Chinese pop songs. In addition, despite the ravages of the Japanese occupation, there saw an immense development and maturation in the Chinese movie industry. Very often, pop songs were intermingled with episodes in films, providing the audience with multiple entertainment at one time. Nonetheless, little attention was paid on the groundbreaking breakthroughs of Chinese Mandarin pop songs in the 1940s, both by the academia and the community in China as well as Western countries. Shidaiqu had its influence even in Hong Kong and Taiwan music in the 1950s and 1960s as well as in Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese communities. Rose, Rose, I Love you, the renowned song presented by Frankie Laine, and An Autumn Melody, were two symbolic Shidaiqu.

In Japan, Nihon Columbia and Nihon Victor were two of the larger record companies. Blues, boogie-woogie and jazz were popular. Ryouichi Hattori was a popular composer, and Shizuko Kasagi was one of the popular singers.

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For music from an individual year in the 1940s, go to 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 This article includes an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 1940s .

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1) McDonald's was founded in California

2) Anne Frank died

3) World war ll happened

# data[].attributes.body
1) Squared can create a solid look that is slightly towards the neck

2) Oxford shoes first appeared in Scotland and Ireland

3) Tailored blouses provides a closer fit to the wearer's shaped

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With the first half of the 1940s dominated by World War II, fashion stalled. Both men and women were often seen in their uniforms during the war and, if they were not, their clothing styles were dictated by rationing and Utility clothing. After the war, Christian Dior launched the New Look in Paris, returning women’s fashion to an overtly feminine silhouette, while men, women, and children’s clothing all began to lean towards the sporty, casual American Look.