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List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones

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This list highlights significant milestones, achievements and trivia based upon Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart.

This list spans from the issue dated January 1 1955 to the present. Prior to the creation of the Hot 100, Billboard published four singles charts: "Best Sellers in Stores", "Most Played by Jockeys", "Most Played in Jukeboxes" and "The Top 100" (an early version of the Hot 100). The Hot 100 began with the issue dated August 9 1958, and is currently the standard music popularity chart in the United States.

All items listed below are from the Hot 100 era, unless otherwise noted (pre-Hot 100 charts).

Songs with most weeks at number one

  • 16 weeks
Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men — "One Sweet Day" (1995 - 1996)
  • 14 weeks
Whitney Houston — "I Will Always Love You" (1992)
Boyz II Men — "I'll Make Love to You" (1994)
Los del Río — "Macarena" (Bayside Boys mix) (1996)
Elton John — "Candle in the Wind 1997" / "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" (1997)
Mariah Carey — "We Belong Together" (2005)
  • 13 weeks
Boyz II Men — "End of the Road" (1992)
Brandy and Monica — "The Boy Is Mine" (1998)
  • 12 weeks
Santana featuring Rob Thomas — "Smooth" (1999)
Eminem — "Lose Yourself" (2002)
Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris — "Yeah!" (2004)
  • 11 weeks
Elvis Presley — "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel" (1956) ("Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played in Jukeboxes" charts)
All-4-One — "I Swear" (1994)
Toni Braxton — "Un-Break My Heart" (1996)
Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112 — "I'll Be Missing You" (1997)
Destiny's Child — "Independent Women Part 1" (2000)
  • 10 weeks
McGuire Sisters — "Sincerely" (1955) ("Most Played by Jockeys" chart)
Pérez Prado — "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" (1955) ("Best Sellers in Stores" chart)
Debby Boone — "You Light Up My Life" (1977)
Olivia Newton-John — "Physical" (1981)
Santana featuring The Product G&B — "Maria Maria" (2000)
Ashanti — "Foolish" (2002)
Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland — "Dilemma" (2002)
Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx — "Gold Digger" (2005)

Songs with most weeks at number two

  • 11 weeks
Whitney Houston — "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" (1995) (after spending one week at number one)
  • 10 weeks
Foreigner — "Waiting for a Girl Like You" (1981)
Missy Elliott — "Work It" (2002)

Songs making the biggest jump to number one

Thiese songs are stupid as hell

Self-replacement at number one

Songs making the biggest drop from number one

Songs with the most total weeks on the Hot 100

Most number-one songs from an album

Songs that have hit number one by two different artists

Songs making the biggest single-week upward movement

Artists with the most Hot 100 entries

Artists with the most Top 40 hits

  • Elvis Presley (104)
  • Elton John (59)
  • The Beatles (52)
  • Stevie Wonder (49)
  • Madonna (47)

Artists with the most Top 10 singles

  • Madonna (36)
  • Elvis Presley (33)
  • The Beatles (29)
  • Michael Jackson (28)
  • Janet Jackson (27) (tie)
  • Stevie Wonder (27) (tie)

Artists with the most Top 10 sides

(A-side and B-side separated)

  • Elvis Presley (38)
  • Madonna (36)
  • The Beatles (34)
  • Janet Jackson (29)
  • Michael Jackson (28)
  • Stevie Wonder (27)

Artists with the most number-one hits

  • The Beatles (20)
  • Elvis Presley (17) (tie) (Pre-Hot 100 charts and Hot 100)
  • Mariah Carey (17) (tie)
  • Michael Jackson (13)
  • The Supremes (12) (tie)
  • Madonna (12) (tie)
  • Whitney Houston (11)

Artists with the most cumulative weeks at number one

  • Elvis Presley (79 weeks) ("Best Sellers in Stores" chart and Hot 100)
  • Mariah Carey (77 weeks)
  • The Beatles (59 weeks)
  • Boyz II Men (50 weeks)
  • Usher (40 weeks)
  • Michael Jackson (37 weeks)

Artists with the most consecutive number-one hits

  • 7 — Whitney Houston (1985-1988)
  • 6 — The Beatles (1964-1966)
  • 6 — Bee Gees (1977-1979)
  • 5 — Elvis Presley (1959-1961)
  • 5 — The Supremes (1964-1965)
  • 5 — Michael Jackson (1987-1988)
  • 5 — Mariah Carey (1990-1991 and 1995-1998)

Artists with the most number-two hits

  • 6 — Elvis Presley
  • 6 — Madonna
  • 5 — The Carpenters
  • 5 — Creedence Clearwater Revival
  • 4 — Janet Jackson
  • 4 — Elton John
  • 4 — Mariah Carey

Artists who have simultaneously occupied the top two positions

  1. "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel"
  2. "Love Me Tender" ("Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played by Jockeys" charts)
  • The Beatles: From February 22 1964 until April 25 1964 the Beatles held the top two positions, with various singles. On some weeks their domination extended past the top two. On April 4 1964, the Beatles occupied the entire top five.
  1. "Can't Buy Me Love"
  2. "Twist and Shout"
  3. "She Loves You"
  4. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
  5. "Please Please Me"
  1. "Night Fever"
  2. "Stayin' Alive"
  1. "Foolish"
  2. "What's Luv?" (Fat Joe featuring Ashanti)
  1. "Hot in Herre"
  2. "Dilemma" (songs switched positions on August 17 2002)
  1. "Hey Ya!"
  2. "The Way You Move"
  1. "Candy Shop" (50 Cent featuring Olivia)
  2. "Hate It or Love It" (The Game featuring 50 Cent)
  1. "We Belong Together"
  2. "Shake It Off"
  1. "I Wanna Love You" (Akon featuring Snoop Dogg)
  2. "Smack That" (Akon featuring Eminem)

Artists who hit number one posthumously

Producers with the most number-one hits

Songwriters with the most number-one hits

Additional Hot 100 achievements

  • The first "airplay-only" song to reach number one (no points from a commercial single release) was "Try Again" by Aaliyah (June 17 2000).
  • In the same week of April 1964 that The Beatles held the top five chart positions, they also had another nine singles scattered on the chart, bringing their total to fourteen singles on the Hot 100, a record unlikely to be surpassed at any time in the conceivable future.
  • Many songs have topped the charts, dropped down, and then returned to number one. The only number one song to climb to the top spot three separate times during its chart run is "Le Freak" by CHIC. The single was a number one hit for one week before being replaced, became number one again for two weeks, was supplanted for two weeks, and then returned for an additional three weeks, making six weeks in all.
  • The record for the most separate chart runs for the same single is nine, and is held by Bing Crosby's "White Christmas". Re-released annually by Decca Records, the song was still on the chart in January 1955, as well as 1955 through 1962. The song also had twelve previous runs on Billboard's pre-rock charts, from 1942 to 1945, and 1947 to 1953. For singles first released during the rock era, the record is five separate chart runs, and is held by three other Christmas songs: David Seville and the Chipmunks' "The Chipmunk Song", which charted for five consecutive years between 1958 and 1962, topping the Hot 100 during its original 1958 run; Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock", which charted in 1957, 1958, and 1960 through 1962; and the Harry Simeone Chorale's "Little Drummer Boy", which is the only single of the rock era to reach the top forty for five consecutive years, between 1958 and 1962. Beginning in 1963, Billboard consigned these and other seasonal rereleases to a separate Christmas chart, ending their strings of appearances on the Hot 100.
  • James Brown holds the record for most Hot 100 entries (ninety-nine) without a number-one song.
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival holds the record for the most number-two hits (five) without ever hitting number one.
  • "Control Myself" by LL Cool J featuring Jennifer Lopez holds the record for the highest re-entry into the Hot 100, when it re-appeared at number four on April 29 2006 after dropping off the chart four weeks prior.
  • The artist with the longest run on the Hot 100 is Frankie Valli. His first chart placement was as a member of the Four Lovers, whose "You're the Apple of My Eye" reached number sixty-two in 1956. In 1994, a remix of the Four Seasons' "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)" peaked at number fourteen, and finished its chart run the following year-- 38 years, 8 months and 2 weeks after the Four Lovers' single had debuted.
  • The oldest artist to hit number one on the Hot 100 is Louis Armstrong in 1964 with "Hello, Dolly!" at the age of 62. The oldest woman to top the Hot 100 is Cher with "Believe" in 1999 at the age of 53.
  • The youngest artist to chart on the Hot 100 is Jordy, a four-year-old from France whose "Dur Dur D'Être Bébé" (roughly, "It's Tough to Be a Baby") reached number fifty-eight.
  • Elton John had at least one top forty hit every calendar year from 1970 (beginning with "Your Song") until 1999 (with "Written in the Stars", a duet with LeAnn Rimes). (However, this methodology credits one late 1995 hit that extended into the January 1996 chart, and another single whose chart run covered both 1997 and 1998.)
  • The Beatles and Usher are the only two artists to have the year-end number-one and number-two songs, with the former having "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" in 1964, and the latter with "Yeah!" and "Burn" in 2004.
  • Usher holds the record for the most weeks spent at number one in a calendar year. In 2004 he spent twenty-eight weeks at number one with four different singles. This represents 54% of 2004's chart weeks.
  • The Bee Gees claimed the number one spot for 25 of 32 consecutive weeks beginning the last week of 1977, either as writers, producers, and/or backing vocalists on singles by Yvonne Elliman, their younger brother Andy Gibb, and on three singles credited to themselves.
  • High School Musical was responsible for a number of chart distinctions. Andrew Seeley had Hot 100 debuts with his first two entries ("Breaking Free" and "Get'cha Head in the Game") in the same week, making him the first artist to begin a chart career with two simultaneous debuts. This achievement was retroactive, as Seeley's name was absent from both singles until their third week on the charts. In addition, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens matched the Beatles with four Hot 100 entries within two weeks. The Beatles also had six chart debuts within three weeks; Efron and Hudgens unofficially match this total as members of the "High School Musical" cast. In February 2006, High School Musical generated the most simultaneous Hot 100 entries from any album, with nine songs in the Hot 100 simultaneously (five of them in the Top 40). All tracks charted strictly on the basis of digital downloads, as none of the songs received any radio airplay.
  • When Lisa Loeb hit number one with "Stay (I Missed You)" in 1994, she earned the distinction of being the only artist to top the Hot 100 before being signed to any record label.
  • The briefest number one hit was Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs' "Stay." Its running time is one minute, 37 seconds.
  • "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses (1992) stands as the longest-running song to reach the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100, at a length of eight minutes, fifty-seven seconds.
  • The shortest charting record of the rock era was "Little Boxes" by the Womenfolk, which was exactly one minute long. The 1964 single reached number eighty-three.
  • The instrumental artist with the most Hot 100 hits is Herb Alpert. Thirty of his thirty-five charting singles are without vocals.
  • The artist with the most novelty hits is Dickie Goodman, who placed seventeen of his "break-in" records on the Hot 100 between 1956 and 1977. A "break-in" record typically played off a topical event or trend, and featured short snippets of other Top 40 hits interwoven with dialogue.
  • Studio drummer Hal Blaine appeared on the most number one hits, thirty-nine in all, between 1961 and 1976.
  • Mariah Carey is the only artist to have a number one hit in every single year of any decade: the 1990's.
  • Paul McCartney is the only artist to have separate top-ten singles as a solo act, as half of a duo, as a third of a trio, as a fourth of a quartet, and as a fifth of a quintet. (Graham Nash also charted in these five configurations, but only in the top forty.)
  • Elvis Presley had the most double-sided hits, in which both the A-side and the B-side were charting singles (52). Presley also had the most consecutive top-ten hits, with thirty.

Sources

  • Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition (ISBN 0-8230-7677-6)
  • Christopher G. Feldman The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles (ISBN 0-8230-7695-4)
  • Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (ISBN 0-89820-155-1)
  • Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Pop Charts, 1955-1959 (ISBN 0-89820-092-X)
  • Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (ISBN 0-89820-074-1)
  • Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Seventies (ISBN 0-89820-076-8)
  • Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Eighties (ISBN 0-89820-079-2)
  • Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Nineties (ISBN 0-89820-137-3)
  • Additional information obtained can be verified within Billboard's online archive services and print editions of the magazine.

See also
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