What is the first number one billboard song by a black in history?

Question

What is the first number one billboard song by a black in history?

Answer 1

There have been several Billboard charts over the years; however, if you are asking for the first Black to have a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 chart (i.e., first published in August of 1958), the artist was Tommy Edwards; the song was "It's All in the Game"; and it reached the top spot on September 29, 1958.  The record was a re-release of a record first released in 1951.

Prior to the creation of the Hot 100 in 1958, Billboard published multiple singles charts each week by genre, but the three charts that were regarded as Billboard's national charts were "Best Sellers in Stores" (i.e., ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country);  "Most Played by Jockeys" (i.e., ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys and radio stations); and "Most Played in Jukeboxes" (i.e., ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States).

The "Best Sellers in Stores" chart was regarded as the most important of the national charts.  The first Black artists to reach the top of that chart were the Mills Brothers, whose recording of "Paper Doll" reached number 1 on November 9, 1943.

The first solo Black artist to reach the top spot on the Billboard "Best Sellers in Stores" chart was Nat "King" Cole, whose single, "Nature Boy," topped that chart on May 15, 1948.

Answer 2

Off the top of my head, it might have been a Chuck Berry song.....just guessin'....Chuck was the first black artist to truly

cross over and integrate the pop charts......