DESCRIPTION:
It's strange to think that people once jammed out to O! Susanna and The Cat Came Back in the same way that we enjoy The Beatles or Justin Timberlake. But they did.

This is an educational project permitted under fair use guidelines. I own none of the music, images, or video contained herein. Credits and thanks:

1840 (Timothy Twiss, US Marine Corps); 1841 (Family Trio, Daniel Schwen, David Blaney Brown); 1842 (Timothy Twiss, Detroit Historical Society); 1843 (2nd South Carolina String Band); 1844 (Travelgroupie); 1845 (Mark Gilston, Catherine Hall, Herbert W. Gleason); 1846 (Stella Splendens, Tennessee State Library); 1847 (Victrolaman, Rick Thorne); 1848 (Cliff's Vintage Music Shoppe, Library of Congress); 1849 (Fred Feild); 1850 (2nd South Carolina String Band, Harper's Weekly, Axon); 1851 (Jerry Garcia and David Grisman); 1852 (Edward Tarte, Library of Congress, Fredericksburg, VA); 1853 (John Prine); 1854 (Xavier Heraud); 1855 (Vi Wickam, sfo1164); 1856 (Michael O'Connor); 1857 (Earl Scruggs); 1858 (Gossamer Memories); 1859 (Londonderry Choir, John Steuart Curry); 1860 (Max Power, lauralexus); 1861 (Gloria Jane, rexlibris99); 1862 (rexlibris99, rexlibris99); 1863 (Marco Pott, rexlibris99); 1864 (ptapit733); 1865 (Arnold Mackie); 1866 (M. Ryan Taylor, Acarter of Ebay); 1867 (Library of Congress); 1868 (warholsoup100, tmcmoose); 1869 (bossyfrogband, Little Women); 1870 (SE Samonte, Mint Museum, WXXI); 1871 (Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Ken Corbett); 1872 (Tom Frøkjær, Frank Leslie's Publishing House); 1873 (Achila Amarasinghe, Charles Marion Russell, Robert Neralich); 1874 (Clarke Buehling); 1875 (duxdemontis98); 1876 (EMGColonel, George Eastman House, South Dublin Libraries); 1877 (Keeper1st); 1878 (Kurt Meyer, Rufus Anderson, Richard Woods); 1879 (Bigband Lou, kshs.org); 1880 (Andrea Boceli, Kamla Bhatt, hd4desktop.com); 1881 (kshs.org); 1882 (avrilfan2213, Historia - Bel99TV); 1883 (Andy Hoskinson, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation); 1884 (lewdite); 1885 (Orlik1946); 1886 (Paul Draper, Woods History); 1887 (santa, Cabinet Card Gallery); 1888 (raresoulcom, ProperGanderSaul); 1889 (jazzbanjorex); 1890 (monamomoneme, Glenn County Schools); 1891 (gallopingalligator, Distant Musical Memories); 1892 (jackmeboy november); 1893 (Strombo, Cabinet Card Gallery); 1894 (threelegsoman, Harper's Weekly); 1895 (dbstores, dbstores); 1896 (TheMarches09); 1897 (Doc Nosbisch); 1898 (Jolson1950, chuckgame.blogspot.com); 1899 (Keeper1st, treasurenet.com); 1900 (AndOneMillion, watchmojo.com); 1901 (pseerpianist, There Will Be Blood); 1902 (karenkek2kek, Gamingwithvariety); 1903 (Footagefile); 1904 (Bruce Victrolaman Young); 1905 (Cliff's Vintage Music Shoppe, Ford); 1906 (Bruce Victrolaman Young); 1907 (warholsoup100, Library of Congress); 1908 (myzeidi); 1909 (Nathaniel Jordon, Cabinet Card Gallery); 1910 (CatsPJamas1, Bartlett History Museum); 1911 (bsgs98, Lewis Hine); 1912 (peteranders48, Titanic); 1913 (Solstaro, Ford); 1914 (jack11anbar); 1915 (pax41); 1916 (Tom Smith, Military Channel); 1917 (Military Channel); 1918 (ryanattalahdotcom ); 1921 (Aaron1912); 1922 (2havago, watchmojo.com); 1923 (watchmojo.com); 1924 (Myfootage.com); 1925 (Onlyjazzhq); 1926 (CatsPJamas1); 1927 (edmundusrex, Lewis Hine); 1928 (blummweiss, The Great Gatsby); 1929 (edmundusrex); 1930 (eecgn2, watchmojo.com); 1931 (moontreal, KSHS); 1932 (Cliff's Vintage Music Shoppe, FDR); 1933 (Nathaniel Jordon, PBS); 1934 (PhanDCI, PBS); 1935 (katandbaby, ConverttoMetal); 1936 (megajackapp, jotazenda); 1937 (teacherbrad); 1938 (Snow White); 1939 (Wizard of Oz); 1941 (L Heitman, CVL23USSPrinceton); 1946 (catman916, cultofgiovanni); 1947 (Song of the South, Charlie Dean Archives); 1948 (Scrambled Eggs 1969, Charlie Dean Archives); 1950 (Nat King Cole); 1951 (Nat King Cole, I Want Moore Retro); 1952 (fm-base.co.uk, Squabbling Turtles); 1953 (NM Catalogue); 1954 (NoodleInc, Marilyn96Monroe); 1955 (Olivier Cotton, fishamdchips billy); 1958 (rwells47); 1970 (Steven Edson); 1971 (AmekKhmer); 1973 (The Book Archive); 1974 (Footage File); 1975 (nerisob); 1976 (Foxy Brown); 1978 (TheMGBoys19817); 1979 (crap1453); 1984 (80s fashions); 1986 (Ice T); 1988 (The New York Times); 1989 (BBC); 1991 (Johnny Faragher); 1993 (GameOverContinue); 1995 (unitedgangs); 1996 (Retrohead92); 1997 (Saul Obelliero); 1998 (Titanic); 1999 (CNN); 2003 (wwwtbi24com); 2005 (The Best of Funny Videos); 2006 (Jhon Cast); 2007 (MrVoolp); 2008 (Wolf of Wall Street); 2011 (Zero Dark Thirty).

Disclaimers: Some of the content herein is horribly racist, graphic, or otherwise offensive. So is history. Inclusion in this video does not mean endorsement. The greatest hit of any given year is somewhat subjective, especially early on. I based my selections on sales and significance. Finally, where possible, I tried to credit one artist. There's no way to credit every contributor to a song, so please accept my brevity and apologies.