Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" reaches #1 1940

Glenn Miller's recording of In The Mood reached #1 in the US February 10, 1940.  Miller was the best-selling recording artist from 1939-1942 with 16 #1 hits.  

Miller released his recording in 1939 and NPR included it on its list of the "100 most important American musical works of the 20th century".  It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1983. In 2004, it was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". 

Glenn Miller records "In The Mood" 1939

Glenn Miller and his orchestra entered the RCA studios in New York City on August 1, 1939, and recorded one of the best-known, most-beloved instrumentals of all time, In the Mood. 

In the Mood was an arrangement by Joe Garland (African-American composer and arranger) based on a pre-existing melody and Andy Razaf (African-American composer and lyricist) wrote the lyrics.  Edgar Hayes and his orchestra recorded In the Mood first in 1938, and featured bari saxophones instead of tenor saxes. 

Garland sold his arrangement to Artie Shaw in 1938, who did not record it but did perform it in a concert.  The audience was under-whelmed.

Miller bought the tune in 1939, who played with the arrangement for a while, before recording on August 1.

It became an instant hit and stayed at the top of the Record Buying Guide for 13 weeks and the Billboard charts for 30 weeks. 

Glenn Miller's recording of In the Mood was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1983.