Leenia says: John, I believe you posted the wrong question right at the start of this thread

That was deliberate, since I wanted to avoid immediately starting another debate about "what is folk."

With the list now up here for everyone to see, that discussion is appropriate enough now that all the "evidence" is there for everyone to see, but could have stopped the whole thread if begun too quickly. Several have already noted that there is a significant difference between "what is folk" for one side of the sea and "what is folk" for those of us in the US, and that was really the puzzle I hoped would discussed - although not the only useful one to be welcomed

DO NOTE, once more, that the lists posted are ONLY THE SONGS THAT GOT TO "NUMBER ONE" ON THE CHARTS. The book does provide "all of the songs that were on the charts," The organization (or lack of it) for the book didn't present a realistic prospect of extracting more useful and more complete information from that section, or from the "Artists" section, for posting here.

The TABLE OF CONTENTS (slightly edited) for the book might be helpful:

CONTENTS
Introduction / Researching the Charts / Chart Synopsis /Chronology of Milestones in Popular Music History 1877-1954 (Approx 10 not very interesting pages)

THE ARTISTS (Approx 460 pages)
An alphabetical listing by artist of every record to make America's popular music charts from 1890 through 1954

THE SONGS (Approx 200 pages)
An alphabetical listing by song title of every record to make America's popular music charts from 1890 through 1954

THE ACHIEVEMENTS (beginning page 621)
The Top 100 Artists 1890-1954 (beginning page 623)
The Top 10 Artists By Decade (beginning page 625)
Top Artist Achievements [Most Charted Records; Most #1 Records; Longest Chart Careers] (page 626)
The Top 100 Hits 1890-1954 (page 627)
The Top 10 Hits By Decade (page 629)
The Biggest-Selling Records 1890-1954 (page 631)
The Most-Recorded Songs (Pre-1955) (page 632)
The Best-Selling Sheet Music Songs 1890-1954 (page 634)
The Academy Award-Winning Songs (page 635)
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame (page 636)
Billboard Disc Jockey Polls: All-Time Favorite Records, All-Time Favorite Songs (page 638)
Billboard College Surveys: Favorite Bands and Band Singers (page 640)
The #1 Hits (Listed Chronologically) 1890-1954 642

The last entry, The #1 Hits, is the main one posted here, and even that one looked shorter (and simpler) than it turned out to be.

The main two sections of the book, The Artists and The Songs, are listed alphabetically without regard to when the artist/song hit the charts. Organizing information from these two would have been a very large task that I'm not prepared to take on immediately.

Most of the other sections are perhaps short enough to post, if someone wants to pose an applicable (IMO) question, although I can't promise instant response.

John