10-06-2016, 11:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-06-2016, 11:34 AM by Eric the Green.)
I should go back a few years forward for this one as an honorable mention: Sabre Dance from Aram Khachaturian's ballet Gayane (1942). "Sabre Dance" "has entered the realm of popular music as one of the 20th century's signature pieces." Tom Huizenga of NPR describes it as "one of the catchiest, most familiar—perhaps most maddening—tunes to come out of the 20th century." Billboard magazine calls it "a piece that's known to every pops orchestra in existence." In 1948 the "Sabre Dance" became a jukebox hit in the United States. Due to its popularity, Newsweek suggested that 1948 could be called "Khachaturian Year in the United States." In 1948, three versions of the "Sabre Dance" reached number one in the Billboard Best-Selling Records by Classical Artists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_Dance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_Dance