A recent "scan and destroy" to get rid of junk on the bookshelf raised the question of how/when what's been popular at an earlier time becomes "folk" in the sense of being sung/performed enough to be remembered by later generations.

This is probably a more appropriate question with respect to the US than to places with longer music histories, but it is obvious that "pop songs" (Broadsides, music hall, etc) stuff has (in the opinion of some) slipped in with the ancient traditional stuff, both here and elsewhere.

The book that sparked the thought was:

Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories - 1890 1954
Subtitled: THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC
ISBN 0-89820-083-0
Compiled from America's popular music charts 1890-1954.
Record Research Inc, P.O. Box 200, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051
Copyright © 1986 by Joel Whitburn

The book itself is 666 pages (an ominous sign?) and my (printable) pdf is a little over 300 MB; but I had the temporary delusion that the list of "Number One Songs" at the end might be quickly cleaned up and could be of interest here. Unfortunately, when converted to plain text (with some of the OCR bloopers corrected) it's still about 30 pages (in Word). (And it wasn't all that quick.)

The book is vague about what charts were used, and there have been a lot of them. The "Number 1 List" shows the date when the song/tune first appeared at #1 on any chart, the number of weeks it was on any of the several charts, the name of the piece, and a performer.

I'm not sure the #1 list was too inspiring, but the full text listings of "everything that charted" might contain some prospects for revival, and certainly contains lots of "once famous" performers of whom I know nothing.

A BRIEF SAMPLE of the first few years:

1890
1. 8/02 6 Semper Fidelis ... U.S. Marine Band
2. 9/13 6 Washington Post... U.S. Marine Band
3. 10/25 4 The Thunderer .. . U.S. Marine Band

1891
1. 3/07 4 Little'Liza Loves You ...Len Spencer
2. 4/04 10 The Laughing Song ...George Washington Johnson
3. 6/13 4 Michael Casey As A Physician ... Russell Hunting
4. 7/11 5 The Whistling Coon...George Washington Johnson
5. 8/22 6 The Mocking Bird ... John Yorke Atlee
6. 9/19 4 Pat Kelly As A Police Justice... Dan Kelly
7. 10/17 7 Turkey In The Straw ...Billy Golden
8. 12/05 5 Drill, Ye Terriers, Drill...George J. Gaskin

1892
1. 1/09 3 Slide, Kelly, Slide ... George J. Gaskin
2. 1/30 8 Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom Der E .. .Len Spencer
3. 3/26 6 The Picture Turned Toward The Wall... Manhansett Quartette
4. 5/07 3 Sally In Our Alley...Manhansett Quartette
5. 5/28 3 The Song That Reached My Heart... Joe Natus
6. 6/18 3 Throw Him Down, McCloskey... Charles Marsh
7. 7/09 5 Michael Casey At The Telephone ... Russell Hunting
8. 8/13 6 The Old Folks At Home ...Len Spencer
9. 9/24 2 The Pretty Red Rose ... Will Denny
10. 10/08 6 Michael Casey Taking The Census... Russell Hunting
11. 11/19 2 Near It... Len Spencer
12. 12/03 4 Love's Old Sweet Song ...Thomas Bott
13. 12/31 4 Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow-Wow... Dan Quinn

1893
1. 1/28 5 The Bowery ... Dan Quinn
2. 3/04 8 O Promise Me .. . George J. Gaskin
3. 4/29 10 After The Ball... George J. Gaskin
4. 7/08 3 My Country 'Tis Of Thee...Jules Levy
5. 7/29 3 Mamie, Come And Kiss Your Honey Boy ... Len Spencer
6. 8/19 4 Two Little Girls In Blue ...J.W. Myers
7. 9/16 9 Daisy Bell... Dan Quinn
8. 11/18 8 The Fatal Wedding ...George J. Gaskin

... ...

1898
1. 1/15 4 On The Banks Of The Wabash... Steve Porter
2. 2/12 3 My Old Kentucky Home ...Edison Male Quartette
3. 4/02 7 Break The News To Mother... George J. Gaskin
4. 5/21 5 Uncle Josh's Arrival In New York ... Cal Stewart
5. 6/25 3 I Don't Like No Cheap Man... Len Spencer
6. 7/16 6 She Was Bred In Old Kentucky... George J. Gaskin
7. 8/27 4 She's More To Be Pitied Than Censured... Steve Porter
8. 9/24 3 I'm Old But I'm Awfully Tough (Laughing Song)...Cal Stewart
9. 10/15 4 She Was Happy Till She Met You ... Dan Quinn
10. 11/12 4 At A Georgia Camp Meeting... Dan Quinn
11. 12/10 10 My Old New Hampshire Home... George J. Gaskin

Worth discussion?    Comment?    Giggles?

John