# List of Most Played Juke Box Folk Records number ones of 1946

From 1944 until 1957, Billboard magazine published a chart that ranked the top-performing country music songs in the United States, based on the number of times a song had been played in jukeboxes; until 1948 it was the magazine's only country music chart. In 1946, nine different songs topped the chart, which was published under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk Records. The chart was compiled based on a survey of jukebox operators nationwide, and its methodology allowed for the possibility of records tying for a position. On several occasions during 1946 two or more songs tied for the number-one spot, including the issue of Billboard dated February 2, when four songs tied for the peak position. The Juke Box Folk chart is considered part of the lineage of the current Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958.
In 1946 the top spot was dominated by two songs which each spent 16 weeks at number one and which between them topped the chart from February to September. In the issue of Billboard dated February 2, "Guitar Polka" by Al Dexter reached number one for the first time, albeit jointly with three other songs. After one week out of the top spot it returned to number one, where it spent fifteen consecutive weeks, one of them jointly with "New Spanish Two Step" by Bob Wills, widely known as the "King of Western swing". After Dexter's run at number one ended, Wills's song returned to the top spot and also spent fifteen consecutive weeks atop the chart. Wills had topped the chart earlier in the year with "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight" and "White Cross on Okinawa" and was the only artist to take three different songs to number one in 1946. Dexter, however, had the highest number of total weeks at number one, spending 21 weeks in total (including two tied weeks) atop the chart with "Guitar Polka" and "Wine Women and Song". Wills and Dexter were the only acts with more than one chart-topper during the year.
In October, Merle Travis achieved his first number one with "Divorce Me C.O.D.", which spent 11 non-consecutive weeks in the top spot in 1946 and was at number one at the end of the year. Although Travis would only experience a short spell of chart success, achieving only one further chart-topping single, he would remain active until his death in 1983 and come to be regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in the country genre. Two singers who had each topped the chart several times in its first three years of publication did so for the last time in 1946. Al Dexter's second chart-topper of the year, "Wine Women and Song", would prove to be his final appearance in the top spot. After 1948 he did not appear in the chart at all and concentrated on running his club in Dallas. Tex Ritter also topped the chart for the last time in 1946. He would be absent from the country chart altogether for more than a decade after 1950 but experience something of a career revival in the 1960s when he appeared regularly at the Grand Ole Opry.

## Chart history

Chart history :
| Issue date | Title | Artist(s) |
| January 5 | "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight" | Bob Wills |
| January 5 | "White Cross on Okinawa" | Bob Wills |
| January 5 | "You Will Have to Pay" | Tex Ritter |
| January 12 | "It's Been So Long Darling" | Ernest Tubb |
| January 19 | "You Will Have to Pay" | Tex Ritter |
| January 26 | "Sioux City Sue" | Dick Thomas |
| February 2 | "Sioux City Sue" | Dick Thomas |
| February 2 | "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight" | Bob Wills |
| February 2 | "You Will Have to Pay" | Tex Ritter |
| February 2 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| February 9 | "Sioux City Sue" | Dick Thomas |
| February 16 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| February 23 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| March 2 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| March 9 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| March 16 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| March 23 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| March 30 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| April 6 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| April 13 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| April 20 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| April 27 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| May 4 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| May 11 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| May 18 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| May 18 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| May 25 | "Guitar Polka" | Al Dexter |
| June 1 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| June 8 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| June 15 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| June 22 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| June 29 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| July 6 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| July 13 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| July 20 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| July 27 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| August 3 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| August 10 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| August 17 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| August 24 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| August 31 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| September 7 | "New Spanish Two Step" | Bob Wills |
| September 14 | "Wine Women and Song" | Al Dexter |
| September 21 | "Wine Women and Song" | Al Dexter |
| September 28 | "Wine Women and Song" | Al Dexter |
| October 5 | "Wine Women and Song" | Al Dexter |
| October 12 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| October 19 | "Wine Women and Song" | Al Dexter |
| October 26 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| November 2 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| November 9 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| November 16 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| November 23 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| November 30 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| December 7 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| December 14 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| December 21 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
| December 28 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." | Merle Travis |
a. ^ Multiple songs tied for the number one position.