For more than half a century, the Billboard Hot 100 has been documenting the biggest, most commercially successful hits in the U.S.
The chart—compiled by Billboard magazine using record sales, radio airplay and now digital streaming—first appeared on August 4, 1958, when "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson took the inaugural top spot.
Since then there have been 1,117 different No.1s.
Below, Newsweek highlights 50 tracks that have come to define the chart in the last five decades. Many of these are included in Billboard's own 100 biggest hits of all-time list.
1. "Me and Bobby McGee" (March 1971)
by Janis Joplin
On this day 50 years ago, the song at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 was the posthumously released track by Janis Joplin. The song was written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and originally performed by Roger Miller.
Janis Joplin had died six months earlier from a drug overdose.
2. "You're So Vain (January 1973)
by Carly Simon
While the title's subject matter has sparked debate for many years, Carly Simon revealed in 2015 that it is actually about a number of men, one of whom is actor Warren Beatty.
3. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" (April 1973)
by Dawn feat. Tony Orlando
The group were apparently ready to split up towards the end of 1972 because of lack of commercial success, before this track reached number one just a few months later.
4. "Let's Get it On" (September 1973)
by Marvin Gaye
The Motown legend hit the top of the charts with the title track from his 13th album, which would eventually become one of his most well known tracks.
5. "Silly Love Songs" (May 1976)
by Wings
Former Beatle Paul McCartney scored a Billboard Hot 100 top spot in 1976 with his new band. The track was famously an attack he received from John Lennon and music journalists about his songwriting credentials.
6. "Play That Funky Music" (September 1976)
by Wild Cherry
Wild Cherry started out as a rock band in the early '70s, and split up before reforming in 1975. They switched to a more funk sound and released one of the decade's defining songs, which remained the band's only hit.
7. "You Light Up My Life" (October 1977)
by Debby Boone
This track spent more time at number one than any other in the 1970s, spending a total of 10 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
8. "Staying' Alive" (February 1978)
by Bee Gees
The British trio were one of the most successful acts of the 1970s, with their track "Stayin' Alive" helping to define the disco era after it was in the soundtrack for the move Saturday Night Fever.
9. "Le Freak" (December 1978)
by Chic
Written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, the track would go on to see more than four million copies in the U.S.
10. "I Will Survive" (March 1979)
by Gloria Gaynor
Yet another disco classic from the era, the track was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2016 after the Library of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."
11. "My Sharona" (August 1979)
by The Knack
Containing one of the all-time catchy guitar riffs, The Knack's first single was Capitol Records' fastest gold status debut since The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1964.
12. "Call Me" (February 1980)
by Blondie
The New Wave band scored their second Billboard Hot 100 with "Call Me," with the track later named No. 1 on Billboard magazine's 1980 year-end chart.
13. "Another One Bites The Dust" (October 1980)
by Queen
While Freddie Mercury and Brian May wrote most of Queen's records, bassist John Deacon is credited as the sole songwriter for this track, which scored the British group their second number one hit.
14. "Lady" (November 1980)
by Kenny Rogers
This Lionel Richie-written track is a rare appearance by a country singer in the 1980s. Kenny Rogers' song, which spent six week on top of the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the pop, R&B and country charts.
15. "Bette Davis Eyes" (May 1981)
by Kim Carnes
The track was actually written in and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974, but did not become a hit until it was recorded by Kim Carnes and went on to spend nine non-consecutive weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.
16. "Endless Love" - (August 1981)
by Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Billboard named this song the greatest duet of all time in 2011. As well as spending nine weeks at number one, it spent more than half a year in the charts and at the time became the most successful Motown single of all time and biggest hit from a soundtrack.
17. "Physical" (November 1981)
by Olivia Newton-John
Although certainly tame by today's standards, this Olivia Newton-John track was banned from being played on certain radio stations due to its risqué lyrics.
Despite, or maybe because, of this the track was an instant smash, spending 10 weeks at number one (the most of any single in the 1980s) and becoming certified platinum.
18. "Eye of the Tiger" - (July 1982)
by Survivor
This song reached number one after being used as the main track for the boxing movie, Rocky III. Sylvester Stallone was keen on using Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" until his brother played him an album by Survivor.
19. "Billie Jean" (March 1983)
by Michael Jackson
One of two number one singles from Michael Jackson enormously successful album Thriller, along with "Beat It."
The album Thriller saw a total of seven top-ten singles appear on the Billboard Hot 100, cementing Michael Jackson's place as the biggest star on the planet.
20."Flashdance...What a Feeling" (May 1983)
by Irene Cara
This track taken from the film Flashdance also won the Oscar for Best Original Song, defeating "Maniac" from the same movie.
21. "Every Breath You Take" (July 1983)
by The Police
Despite often being mistaken for a cute love song, the group's lead singer Sting described the "nasty little song" as being about "jealousy and surveillance and ownership." The song still went on to spend eight weeks at number one.
22. "All Night Long (All Night)" (November 1983)
by Lionel Ritchie
This smash hit from the former Commodores singer reached number one on three Billboard charts (pop, R&B and adult contemporary.)
Ritchie later admitted that the lyrics "Tom bo li de say di moi ya, yeah jumbo jumbo" lyrics in the track are gibberish, and are not translated from any traditional African dialect.
23. "Nothing Compares 2 U" (April 1990)
by Sinead O'Connor
The haunting track which spent four weeks at the top of the charts was originally written by Prince and was named by Billboard named as the "#1 World Single" at the magazine's first award ceremony in 1990.
24. "I Will Always Love You" - (November 1992)
by Whitney Houston
One of a number of smash hit ballads which dominated the 1990s charts, Whitney Houston's version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" featured in the soundtrack for the film The Bodyguard and spent 14 weeks at number one.
25. "I'll Make Love to You" (August 1994)
by Boyz II Men
Another ballad which spent 14 weeks at the top of the charts was track from the R&B group Boys II Men. At the time, it held the record with Whitney Houston for the most weeks at number one. The band would go on to break their own record performing with Mariah Carey.
26. "Gangsta's Paradise" (September 1995)
by Coolio featuring L.V.
The track from the movie Dangerous Minds reworks Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise." Coolio is said to have removed some "vulgarities" that were in the original version in order to please Wonder. It went on to spend three weeks at number one.
27. "One Sweet Day" (December 1995)
by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
One of the biggest singles of all time, this song spent a whopping 16 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, a record which lasted more than 20 years but has since been surpassed twice.
28."Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" (August 1996)
by Los Del Rio
The song was not only a worldwide smash, but spawned a popular dance craze too. The track is a remix of an entirely Spanish version, which then included English vocals and helped it spend 14 weeks at number one.
29. "Wannabe" (January 1997)
by Spice Girls
The song which helped make the British pop group one of the defining bands of 1990s, the track spent four weeks at number one and was an instant smash hit across the world.
30. "Candle in the Wind 1997"(October 1997)
by Elton John
Originally written about Marilyn Monroe, Elton John performed the track with new lyrics at Princess Diana's funeral. The track sold more than 33 million copies, making it the biggest best-selling single since the UK and U.S. singles charts began in the 1950s. B
Bing Crosby's White Christmas is believed to be the overall biggest selling song ever, selling more than 50 million copies in a pre-chart era.
31. "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (January 1998)
by Savage Garden
The track form the Australian pop duo helped propel them to worldwide superstardom. It spent two weeks at number one in 1998 and was named the 36th second most successful song of all time by Billboard in 2018.
32. "...Baby One More Time" (February 1999)
by Britney Spears
The debut single from the teen icon is one of the best-selling singles of all time, with more than ten million copies sold.
The video for "...Baby One More Time" was also voted by Billboard to be the best of the 1990s.
33. "Smooth" (October 1999)
by Santana feat Rob Thomas
The smash hit featuring the Matchbox Twenty vocalist spent a total of 12 weeks at number one, making it the final number one hit of the 1990s and the first number one of the 2000s. In 2018, Billboard listed "Smooth" as the second most successful song of all time, just behind "The Twist" by Chubby Checker.
34. "Independent Women Part 1" (November 2000)
by Destiny's Child
This track was the first time the girl group topped the chart as a three-piece consisting of Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. It also appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film adaptation of Charlie's Angels.
35. "How You Remind Me" - (December 2001)
by Nickelback
Rock music climbed back to the top of the Hot 100 chart with this track from the Canadian group. The song was named the number-one most played song on U.S. radio of the 2000s by Nielsen Soundscan, estimated to have aired more than 1.2 million times between 2001 and 2009.
36. "Dilemma" (August 2002)
by Nelly Featuring Kelly Rowland
The track that samples Patti LaBelle's 1983 song "Love, Need and Want You", spent 10 non-consecutive weeks at number, replacing Nelly's previous single "Hot in Herre."
37. "Crazy in Love" (July 2003)
by Beyonce
The first solo record from Beyonce Knowles was declared it the greatest song of the 2000s by VH1. It managed to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 before it was physically released in the stores due to its airplay alone.
38. "Hey Ya" (December 2003)
by Outkast
The single from the Grammy-award record Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is specifically performed by Andre 3000, as the hip hop duo essentially released two solo efforts as one double album for their fifth release.
39. "Yeah!" (February 2004)
by Usher feat. Lil John and Ludacris
One of the defining pop songs of the decade, "Yeah!" spent 12 consecutive weeks at number, and was only pumped off the top by Usher's follow-up single "Burn".
"Yeah!" also subsequently topping the year-end chart on the Hot 100.
40. "Bleeding Love" (April 2008)
by Leona Lewis
After being voted the winner of the third series of the British reality singing competition The X Factor, Leona Lewis' single was a smash across the world, resulting in it becoming the best-selling single of 2008.
41. "I Gotta Feeling" (July 2009)
by The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas were inescapable during the later part of the 2000s. Their single "Boom Boom Pow" was number one for 12 weeks and was immediately succeeded by "I Gotta Feeling," which spent 14 weeks at the top of the charts.
The combined 26-week reign is the longest for any artist in Hot 100 history.
42. "We Found Love" (November 2011)
by Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
The dance track featuring the Barbadian singer and the Scottish DJ spent 10 weeks at number one in 2011 and also surpassed "Umbrella" to become Rihanna's longest running number one single.
43. "Blurred Lines" (August 2013)
by Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams
Despite receiving criticism due to its questionable lyrics and video featuring Emily Ratajkowski, Robin Thicke's track spent 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
44. "Happy" (March 2014)
by Pharrell Williams
Whether you wanted to or not, the song from Pharrell William could be heard absolutely everywhere in 2014 and beyond. The catchy song peaked at the top of the charts April and stayed there for 10 weeks.
45. "Uptown Funk" (January 2015)
by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
This massive hit is both the most successful song by British-American producer Mark Ronson and singer Bruno Mars, with the 11-time platinum certified song spending 14 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and seven weeks on the top of the UK Singles Chart.
46. "Hello" (November 2015)
by Adele
The lead single from the British singer's third album 25, "Hello" stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 consecutive weeks and was also the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a week.
47."Shape of You" (January 2017)
by Ed Sheeran
The worldwide smash from Ed Sheeran was only ever released as a digital download, but it still became the best selling song of 2017 and the first song to hit 2 billion streams on Spotify.
48. "Despacito" (May 2017)
by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
As well as becoming a massive hit single despite almost being sung in Spanish, the video for the single was at one time the most watched in YouTube's history and currently has more than 7.2 billion views.
"Despacito" was also the first Spanish-language song to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
49. "God's Plan" (January 2018)
by Drake
One of the most successful artists of all time, this 2018 single from Canadian rapper Drake is the one that has spent the longest at the top at the chart, spending 11 weeks there.
50. "Old Town Road" (April 2019)
by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
The track which currently holds the record for longest time spent at the top of the Billboard chart with 19 consecutive weeks is also one of the shortest number one records ever, clocking in at just one minute and 53 seconds.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
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