I finally created the list American Musical Feature Films (2,513 titles)
and the subset American Color Musical Feature Films 1936-1963 (372 titles)
plus the companion list American omitted Musical Feature Films (1,886 titles)
Each can be restricted by year (and other criteria), and sorted in various ways.
- 1 musical in 1927
- 5 musicals in 1928
- 74 musicals in 1929
- 94 musicals in 1930
- 29 musicals in 1931
- 13 musicals in 1932
- 38 musicals in 1933
- 53 musicals in 1934
- 70 musicals in 1935; also, color vs all: 1 of 597 titles
- 64 musicals in 1936, 2 in color; also, color vs all: 7 of 579 titles
- 79 musicals in 1937, 2 in color; also, color vs all: 5 of 580 titles
- 61 musicals in 1938, 3 in color; also, color vs all: 10 of 508 titles
- 50 musicals in 1939, 3 in color; also, color vs all: 17 of 535 titles
- 53 musicals in 1940, 4 in color; also, color vs all: 15 of 528 titles
- 70 musicals in 1941, 7 in color; also, color vs all: 21 of 536 titles
- 61 musicals in 1942, 3 in color; also, color vs all: 15 of 516 titles
- 91 musicals in 1943, 13 in color; also, color vs all: 22 of 431 titles
- 92 musicals in 1944, 16 in color; also, color vs all: 30 of 411 titles
- 70 musicals in 1945, 17 in color; also, color vs all: 32 of 411 titles
- 60 musicals in 1946, 16 in color; also, color vs all: 42 of 423 titles
- 57 musicals in 1947, 12 in color; also, color vs all: 51 of 423 titles
- 44 musicals in 1948, 21 in color; also, color vs all: 70 of 423 titles
- (U.S. Supreme Court decides Paramount et al antitrust case - May 03, 1948 that studios must divest themselves of distribution and exhibition divisions; TV begins to infiltrate homes.)
- 36 musicals in 1949, 18 in color; also, color vs all: 64 of 390 titles
- 35 musicals in 1950, 18 in color; also, color vs all: 80 of 417 titles
- (Eastman Color provides alternative to Technicolor.)
- 42 musicals in 1951, 20 in color; also, color vs all: 83 of 407 titles
- 33 musicals in 1952, 26 in color; also, color vs all: 121 of 361 titles
- 52 musicals in 1953, 40 in color; also, color vs all: 154 of 370 titles
- (First modern widescreen movie, The Robe, released in December in Technicolor.)
- 24 musicals in 1954, 21 in color; also, color vs all: 168 of 292 titles
- (First TV broadcasts in color.)
- 29 musicals in 1955, 24 in color; also, color vs all: 152 of 296 titles
- 25 musicals in 1956, 17 in color; also, color vs all: 142 of 306 titles
- 26 musicals in 1957, 12 in color; also, color vs all: 106 of 349 titles
- 17 musicals in 1958, 8 in color; also, color vs all: 111 of 313 titles
- 13 musicals in 1959, 8 in color; also, color vs all: 93 of 241 titles
- 13 musicals in 1960, 12 in color; also, color vs all: 97 of 208 titles
- 16 musicals in 1961, 8 in color; also, color vs all: 108 of 240 titles
- 14 musicals in 1962, 10 in color; also, color vs all: 109 of 227 titles
- 12 musicals in 1963, 11 in color; also, color vs all: 124 of 228 titles
- 20 musicals in 1964, 17 in color; also, color vs all: 134 of 269 titles
- 19 musicals in 1965, 18 in color; also, color vs all: 157 of 309 titles
- 24 musicals in 1966, 21 in color; also, color vs all: 192 of 305 titles
- 22 musicals in 1967, 22 in color; also, color vs all: 219 of 320 titles
- 12 musicals in 1968, 12 in color; also, color vs all: 272 of 404 titles
- 10 musicals in 1969, 10 in color; also, color vs all: 351 of 464 titles
- 12 musicals in 1970, 12 in color; also, color vs all: 511 of 556 titles
- 8 musicals in 1971, 8 in color; also, color vs all: 344 of 363 titles
- 13 musicals in 1972, 12 in color; also, color vs all: 349 of 376 titles
- 14 musicals in 1973, 14 in color; also, color vs all: 341 of 365 titles
- 15 musicals in 1974, 14 in color; also, color vs all: 304 of 332 titles
I stopped inquiring about color after '74. For musicals, almost all are in color since '62. For all films, 90+% are in color since '70, and '74 is the year of Young Frankenstein, which the studio argued with Mel Brooks to be in color (as I recall).
- 11 musicals in 1975
- 9 musicals in 1976
- 10 musicals in 1977
- 21 musicals in 1978
- 12 musicals in 1979
- 19 musicals in 1980
- 13 musicals in 1981
- 14 musicals in 1982
- 16 musicals in 1983
- 28 musicals in 1984
- 14 musicals in 1985
- 26 musicals in 1986
- 24 musicals in 1987
- 17 musicals in 1988
- 12 musicals in 1989
- 16 musicals in 1990
- 22 musicals in 1991
- 16 musicals in 1992
- 17 musicals in 1993
- 13 musicals in 1994
- 13 musicals in 1995
- 14 musicals in 1996
- 11 musicals in 1997
The counts started looking inflated in 1998, so I re-ran the queries based on at least 500 votes and average user rating of at least 4. Here are both sets of numbers.
- 20 musicals in 1998, although technically 24
- 13 musicals in 1999, although technically 23
- 13 musicals in 2000, although technically 26
- 12 musicals in 2001, although technically 24
- 14 musicals in 2002, although technically 26
- 17 musicals in 2003, although technically 26
- 16 musicals in 2004, although technically 34
- 24 musicals in 2005, although technically 44
- 21 musicals in 2006, although technically 43
- 23 musicals in 2007, although technically 38
- 19 musicals in 2008, although technically 47
- 21 musicals in 2009, although technically 61
- 12 musicals in 2010, although technically 57
- 12 musicals in 2011, although technically 69
- 18 musicals in 2012, although technically 67
- 19 musicals in 2013, although technically 68
- 29 musicals in 2014, although technically 86
- 22 musicals in 2015, although technically 80
- 14 musicals in 2016, although technically 60
- 14 musicals in 2017, although technically 50
