"Paper Doll" was a hit song for The Mills Brothers.

In the United States it held the number-one position on the Billboard singles chart for twelve weeks, from November 6, 1943, to January 22, 1944.

The success of the song represented something of a revival for the group after a few years of declining sales.

It is one of the fewer than 40 all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide.

On February 18, 1942, The Mills Brothers recorded "I'll Be Around" by Alec Wilder as their new single, with "Paper Doll" as the B-side.

It is rumored that it took less than fifteen minutes to record the latter.

Harry Mills recalled that he and his brother Herbert did not initially like the song, although their brother Donald did. However, Harry said, "as we went along rehearsing it, we got to feeling it."

It was released by Decca Records in May but generated little interest.

A review in Billboard on May 16 called the song "more pleasing" than the A-side of the record but ended, "Little here save for Mills fans at particular locations."

It did make number 9 in the South Region on October 24, 1942, for one week, then reappeared on May 22, 1943.

It finally hit number 10 on August 7 and number 1 on November 6, which is where it stayed through January 22, 1944, charting forty weeks in all.