"Alvin's Harmonica" is a song from the fictional musical group, Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

, which also features additional vocals by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. who plays David Seville in the song. The song was released as the second single from the group's debut album, Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks

Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks

Let’s All Sing With the Chipmunks is the debut album of Alvin and the Chipmunks. It is an interactive children's novelty album. The songs on the record are a mixture between cover versions of children's songs in the public domain and customized original musical material...

in 1959. Like "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song", it was adapted as one of the musical segments featured in The Alvin Show

The Alvin Show

The Alvin Show is an American animated television series. It was the first to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks, although a series with a similar concept The Nutty Squirrels Present had aired a year earlier...

.

Chart performance

After the group's previous single, "The Chipmunk Song", reached #1 on the charts, it was hoped that "Alvin's Harmonica" would do the same or at least reach the Top Ten. The single peaked at #3 on Billboard's Pop Singles Chart

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, becoming the group's second consecutive (and final) Top 10 single on the charts. Since the song was also credited to David Seville by Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

, the song became his third consecutive Top 10 single on the charts, although it was his first to not reach #1 on the charts.

Alvin's Harmonica sold more than 500,000 singles making it a certified gold record.

"Alvin's Harmonica" managed to re-enter the chart in 1961 and 1962, peaking at #73 and #87, respectively.