This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1952.

Specific locations

• 1952 in British music
• 1952 in Norwegian music

Specific genres

• 1952 in country music
• 1952 in jazz

Events

• February 26 – Popular American singer Jo Stafford marries bandleader/arranger Paul Weston.^[1]
• March 1 – Sun Records records its first release in Memphis, Tennessee.^[2]
• March 7 – New Musical Express is launched as a weekly newspaper in the United Kingdom.
• March 21 – First major rock and roll concert, Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
• May 31 – Sangeet Natak Akademi is set up by the government of India.^[3]
• c. July – Finnish composer Aarre Merikanto wins the Olympic hymn competition.^[4]
• August 29 – David Tudor gives the premiere of John Cage's 4′33″, during which the performer does not play, in Woodstock, New York.
• September – Bill Haley and His Saddlemen change their image to become Bill Haley & His Comets.
• October 7 – First edition of Bob Horn's Bandstand is broadcast as a local show from station WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is later renamed American Bandstand and syndicated.
• November 14 – The first UK Singles Chart is published by the New Musical Express, with Al Martino's "Here in My Heart" as number one.
• date unknown
  • Jazz singer Ernesto Bonino moves from Italy to the United States.
  • Accordionist John Serry Sr. first performs in Broadway theatre with Shirley Booth in The Time of the Cuckoo.

Publications

• Pierre Schaeffer – A la recherche d'une musique concrète (The Search for a Concrete Music), an explanation of his experimental approach to composing.
• John Serry Sr. – The Syncopated Accordionist.^[5]

Musical groups formed

• 76th Army Band
• 338th Army Band (reactivated)
• The Duke's Men of Yale (a cappella singing group)
• Steiner Brothers, tap-dancing trio and singing group^[6]

Albums released

• Anthology of American Folk Music – Various Artists
• As You Desire Me – Jo Stafford
• Billie Holiday Sings – Billie Holiday
• Bird and Diz – Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
• Christmas Day in the Morning – Burl Ives
• Christmas with Eddie Fisher – Eddie Fisher
• Eddie Fisher Sings – Eddie Fisher
• Favorite Spirituals – Ames Brothers
• Harmony Encores – The Chordettes
• Home on the Range – Ames Brothers
• Johnnie Ray – Johnnie Ray
• I'm in the Mood for Love – Eddie Fisher
• Mr. Rhythm Sings – Frankie Laine
• Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington – Oscar Peterson
• Penthouse Serenade – Nat King Cole
• Song Favorites By Frankie Laine – Frankie Laine
• Tennessee Waltz – Patti Page

US No. 1 hit singles

These singles reached the top of US Billboard magazine's charts in 1952.

Biggest hit singles

The following singles achieved the highest chart positions in the limited set of charts available for 1952.^[7]

Top hits on record

Published popular music

• "Blue Tango"   words: Mitchell Parish, music: Leroy Anderson
• "Comes A-Long A-Love"   w.m. Al Sherman
• "Delicado"   w. Jack Lawrence m. Waldyr Azevedo
• "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?"   w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Don't Laugh at Me ('Cause I'm a Fool)"   w.m. Norman Wisdom & June Tremayne
• "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes"   w.m. Barbara Trammel, Cactus Pryor & Slim Whitman
• "Faith Can Move Mountains"   w. Ben Raleigh m. Guy Wood
• "Feet Up"   w.m. Bob Merrill
• "A Fool Such As I"   w.m. Bill Trader
• "Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now"   w.m. Milton Kellem
• "A Guy Is A Guy"   w.m. Oscar Brand
• "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean"   w.m. Charles Singleton & J. H. Wallace
• "Here in My Heart"   w.m. Pat Genaro, Lou Levinson & Bill Borrelli
• "High Noon"   w. Ned Washington m. Dimitri Tiomkin
• "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo"   w. Helen Deutsch m. Bronislau Kaper
• "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me"   w.m. Harry Noble
• "Hound Dog"   w.m. Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
• "I Know a Place" w. Sammy Cahn m. Vernon Duke Introduced by Doris Day & Ray Bolger in the film April in Paris
• "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"   w.m. Tommie Connor
• "I Went To Your Wedding"   w.m. Jessie Mae Robinson
• "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive"   w.m. Hank Williams & Fred Rose
• "I'm Hans Christian Andersen"   w.m. Frank Loesser
• "Inchworm"   w.m. Frank Loesser
• "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"   w.m. J. D. Miller
• "It's In The Book"   w.m. Johnny Standley & Art Thorsen
• "Jambalaya"   w.m. Hank Williams
• "Kaw-Liga"   w.m. Hank Williams & Fred Rose
• "Keep It A Secret"   w.m. Jessie Mae Robinson
• "The King's New Clothes"   w.m. Frank Loesser
• "Lawdy Miss Clawdy"   w.m. Lloyd Price
• "Lean Baby"   w. Roy Alfred m. Billy May
• "Lullaby of Birdland"   w. B. Y. Forster (pseudonym for George David Weiss) m. George Shearing
• "Luna Rossa"   w. (Eng) Kermit Goell (Ital) V. de Crescenzo m. A. Vian
• "Mister Taptoe"   w.m. Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr & Frank Miller
• "Never Smile at a Crocodile"   F. Churchill, J. Lawrence
• "Oh Happy Day"   w.m. Donald Howard Koplow & Nancy Binns Reed
• "The Ol' Spring Fever" w. Leo Robin m. Harry Warren from the film Just For You
• "One Mint Julep"   w.m. Rudy Toombs
• "Outside of Heaven" w. Sammy Gallop m. Chester Conn
• "Petite Fleur"   m. Sidney Bechet
• "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"   w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Pretend"   w.m. Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman & Frank Levere
• "Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susie"   Kay Twomey, Fred Wise & Ben Weisman
• "Raminay (The New Orleans Chimney Sweep)" w.m. J. Lawrence, Sammy Fain
• "She Wears Red Feathers"   w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Sugar Bush"   w.m. Josef Marais
• "Take These Chains from My Heart"   w.m. Fred Rose & Hy Heath
• "Takes Two to Tango"   w.m. Al Hoffman & Dick Manning
• "That's All"   w. Alan Brandt m. Bob Haymes
• "That's Entertainment!"   w. Howard Dietz m. Arthur Schwartz
• "Till I Waltz Again With You"   w.m. Sidney Prosen
• "The Ugly Duckling"   w.m. Frank Loesser
• "To Know You (Is to Love You)"   w. Allan Roberts m. Robert Allen
• "Walkin' To Missouri"   w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Wheel Of Fortune"   w.m. Bennie Benjamin & George David Weiss
• "When I Fall in Love"   w. Edward Heyman m. Victor Young
• "Why Don't You Believe Me?"   w.m. Lew Douglas, King Laney & Roy Rodde
• "Wish You Were Here"   w.m. Harold Rome
• "You Belong to Me"   w.m. Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart & Chilton Price
• "Your Cheatin' Heart"   w.m. Hank Williams
• "Zing A Little Zong"   w. Leo Robin m. Harry Warren

Top R&B and country hits on record

• "5-10-15 Hours" – Ruth Brown
• "Daddy Daddy" – Ruth Brown
• "Hound Dog" – Big Mama Thornton
• "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" – Hank Williams
• "Juke" – Little Walter
• "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" – Lloyd Price
• "Midnight Special" – The Weavers
• "Night Train" – Jimmy Forrest
• "Wimoweh" – The Weavers
• "Worry, Worry, Worry" – Joe Houston
• "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" – Kitty Wells

Classical music

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