According to Billboard magazine (the music industry Bible), and books from Record Research, these are, in no particular order, some of the top selling artists of the decade.  

In case you're wondering, I have all of these artists plus many more in The CEO music library.

           

         

         

NEW IN THE 40's
The Willys GPV (General Purpose Vehicle) aka "Jeep", United Nations, zoot suits, kidney dialysis machines, ball point pens, photocopying, Cannes Film Festival, Polaroid cameras, 33 1/3 rpm vinyl LPs and 45 rpm singles, nylons, bikinis, microwave ovens, television broadcasting, jet airliners, and the first McDonalds restaurant.

 MOVIES & TELEVISION
The grapes pof Wrath, Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, Citizen Kane, Fantasia, The Maltese Falcon, Mrs Miniver, Holiday Inn, Casablanca, Double Indemnity, Lost Weekend, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Samson and Delilah, the first televised World Series, Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theatre, Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town, Candid Camera and Ted Mack's Orignal Amateur Hour.

 IN THE NEWS
The Holocaust, Battle of Britain, Pearl Harbour, sinking the Bismark, D-Day and the end of World War II, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Child Dali Lama enthroned in Tibet, Mt. Rushmore completed, Thor Heyerdahl crosses the Pacific, Chuck Yaeger breaks the sound barrier, Ghandi assassinated, Germany divided into East and West.