Introduction
Oh Happy Day (not to be confused with the gospel hit of the same name) was known as the "people's hit" since it became a national United States hit song as well as an international hit without any initial support from the music industry. The song reached US #3 in Cashbox and #4 & #3 in Billboard's two national charts, respectively), United Kingdom #4, and Australia singles charts #1. Time Magazine called it the "Mystery Hit" and described it as the "rarest kind of hit, unplanned and unplugged." It was first released on record by Don Howard in early November 1952. Within two months, Don Howard's Oh Happy Day was still going up the charts, when two other versions of the same song by Lawrence Welk and The Four Knights, respectively, also went up the US hit charts, Lawrence Welk's version reaching #5 (Billboard US national charts) and the Four Knights' version reaching #8 (Billboard US national charts).
Oh Happy Day by Don Howard only reached #4 on The Billboard Chart. It did reach #3 on The Cashbox Chart. The Billboard confusion arises from the fact that Billboard printed two charts. One ranking for individual artist recordings of a song and one for combined sales of a song by all of the recorded versions. The #3 ranking for "Oh Happy Day" in Billboard came from the Billboard "Honor Roll of Hits" listing. That ranking included all version of "Oh Happy Day" and not just the Don Howard version. The #4 ranking in Billboard came from the chart listing "The Best Sellers In Stores" and only included sales of the Don Howard version.
Read more about this topic: Oh Happy Day (1952 Song)
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