From a commercial perspective, the early 1930s was a time of big bands and crooners, who made gentle, sophisticated sounds. Far below the surface of mainstream music, blues records were being made by Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy, and a few others with scary adjectives in their names. The charts were more diverse than one might suspect – African- American performers Louis Armstrong, the Mills Brothers, and Cab Calloway were scoring hits, while The California Ramblers were one of pop music's first integrated bands. Records sales tumbled after the Great Depression, but the popular music of the day rarely reflected society's economic realities. One exception to that was Bing Crosby's "Brother, Can You Spare Me a Dime?," which became a Hoover era soup line catch-phrase.
1930
Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians, Crying for the Carolines
Hoagy Carmichael, Georgia on My Mind
Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, Happy Days Are Here Again
Charlie Poole, If the River Was Whiskey
Bessemer Melody Boys, Motherless Children
Fred Astaire, Puttin’ on the Ritz
Blind Willie McTell, Razor Ball
Mississippi Shieks, Sitting on Top of the World
Big Bill Broonzy, Somebody’s Been Using That Thing
Ruth Etting, Ten Cents a Dance
1931
Rudy Vallee, As Time Goes By
Ted Lewis & His Band, Dallas Blues
Wayne King, Dream A Little Dream of Me
Louis Armstrong, Lazy River
Cab Calloway & His Cotton Club Orchestra, Minnie the Moocher
The California Ramblers, The Peanut Vendor
Louis Armstrong, Stardust
1932
Louis Armstrong, All of Me
Bing Crosby, Brother, Can You Spare Me a Dime?
The Mills Brothers, Chinatown, My Chinatown
The Mills Brothers, Diga Diga Doo
Duke Ellington, It Don’t Mean a Thing (If Ain’t Got That Swing)
Noel Coward, Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Fred Astaire & Leo Reisman, Night and Day
Louis Armstrong, St. James Infirmary
Bing Crosby, Sweet Georgia Brown
1933
Gene Austin, The Easter Parade
Ginger Rogers, Gold Digger’s Song (We’re in the Money)
The Delmore Brothers, I’ve Got the Big River Blues
Ethel Waters, Stormy Weather
Bing Crosby, You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me
1934
Ginger Rogers, The Continental
Fats Waller, Honeysuckle Rose
Ethel Merman, I Get a Kick Out of You
Jimmy Durante, Inka Dinka Doo
Patsy Montana, Montana Plains
Memphis Jug Band, Memphis Shakedown
Pinky Tomlin, The Object of My Affection
Sons of the Pioneers, Tumbling Tumbleweeds
Freddy Martin Orchestra, What A Difference A Day Makes