"Oh Happy Day" was a 1952 surprise hit song, one of the first whose initial popularity was driven by teenagers rather than support from the music industry.
Once it was played on the air, teenage fans besieged the disc jockey, Phil McLean of radio station WERE with requests that kept him spinning the song all week.
Time Magazine reported in 1953 that "Oh Happy Day" had a "folklike origin: Donnie heard it sung by an Ohio State girlfriend, who had picked it up on the campus.
"[2] Six weeks later, while "Oh Happy Day" was still on the pop charts, the Washington Post reported that Nancy Binns Reed, a 28-year-old housewife, had filed a lawsuit to prove that she wrote the song.
Represented by Lee Eastman (father of Linda McCartney), a New York copyright and show business attorney, Mrs. Reed obtained affidavits from persons who had heard her singing the song when serving as a counselor at various camps and when she attended the University of California in the 1940s.
The lawsuit resulted in an out-of-court cash settlement along with an agreement that Mrs. Reed and Mr. Koplow share equal credit for the song's words and music.
[3][4] Music Views magazine reported in its June 1953 edition that Koplow's girlfriend had graduated from a girl's camp, where Ms. Reed had served as a counselor.
The number 4 ranking in Billboard came from the chart listing "The Best Sellers in Stores" and only included sales of the Don Howard version.
In reaching number 1 in Australia, this feat was achieved the week of July 18, 1953, several months after Oh Happy Day charted in the United States.
Folk versions (accompaniment by acoustic guitar only) were performed by Don Howard, Mickey Baker, Dolph Dixon, and Elvis Presley.
Don Howard's version has been released on a recent CD compilation entitled Songs That Inspired the King in reference to Elvis Presley.
Elvis is known to have performed "Oh Happy Day" during the dress rehearsal for his 1968 Comeback Show and at an August 5, 1976, concert at the Sahara in Las Vegas.
Other versions demonstrate a jazz orientation or influence including those by Jimmy Giuffre, Dick Erickson and Ron Levin and Milt Levitt Orchestra.
Other artists that have recorded "Oh Happy Day" include Tab Hunter, the Four Lads, Homer & Jethro, Kamahl, Bill Buchanan, the Honey Dreamers and Don McPherson and the Hy-powers.
Not only did the teenagers set a pervasive influence in making "Oh Happy Day" a national and international hit, the song was heavily performed by local artists throughout the US.