March 54: The Very First German Hit List

Although journal Der Automatenmarkt three issues earlier already reported Die Kilima Hawaiians as the very first #1 of Germany it took the editors three more months to compile a real chart survey.*
Here it is–released in the issue of April 1954 featuring most played songs of March 1954.

1. "Wir wir wir haben ein Klavier" Zehn Whiskys und ein Soda
2. "Bella Bimba" Bibi Johns
3. "Vaya con Dios (May God Be With You)" Les Paul und Mary Ford
4. "Oh Mister Swoboda" Fred Rauch
5. "Anneliese" Hans Arno Simon / Friedo Grothey & Rudolf Klaus
6. "Moulin Rouge" Mantovani
7. "Die beschwipste Drahtkommode" Der schräge Otto
8. "Dann ist er furchtbar müde" Zehn Whiskys und ein Soda
9. "Vaya con Dios" Hula Hawaiian Quartett
10. "Diesmal muß es Liebe sein" Gisela Griffel

The market clearly was dominated by songs in German. Even stars from outside from Germany as Bibi Johns recorded their material in German. Worth mentioning is #3 Vaya Con Dios in its original recording by Les Paul and Mary Ford. The song was #1 in the USA in early autum 1953. Also in Germany the English original finds its fans–the German version by the Hula Hawaiian Quartett only made it to #8.
All in all there are six songs recorded by German artists. Two songs of the list were pure music without any lyrics.



* - There is still a discussion going on which list should count as the very first. I follow the Amtage/Müller compendium from 2003 and the ARueter (emrys) opinion stated at germancharts.com on April 2009