This is a comprehensive listing that highlights significant achievements and milestones based upon Billboard magazine's singles charts, most notably the Billboard Hot 100. This list spans the period from the issue dated January 1, 1955 to present. The Billboard Hot 100 began with the issue dated August 4, 1958, and is currently the standard popular music chart in the United States.
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". These charts, which ranged from 20 to 100 slots, were phased out at different times between 1957 and 1958. Though technically not part of the Hot 100 chart history, their data are included for computational purposes, and to avoid unenlightening or misleading characterizations. All items listed below are from the Hot 100 era, unless otherwise noted (pre-Hot 100 charts).
In 2008, for the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 100 best-performing songs on the chart over the 50 years, along with the best-performing artists. In 2013, Billboard revised the rankings for the chart's 55th anniversary edition. In 2015, Billboard revised the rankings again. Shown below are the top 10 songs and top 10 artists over the 57-year period of the Hot 100, through October 2015. Also shown are the artists placing the most songs on the overall "all-time" top 100 song list.
* — re-released
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NOTE: Paul McCartney would have 5 songs if including his Beatles work and solo work together.
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The total weeks displayed in this section are total weeks the song was charted inside the top 10 portion of the chart, instead of total weeks spent on the chart. Only songs that spent 25 weeks or more in the top 10 are considered for inclusion in this section.
The year displayed is the year the songs ended their respective chart runs.
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Changes in when the eligibility of a single first begins, as well as more accurate digital download totals, have made abrupt chart jumps more commonplace. From 1955–2001, under Billboard's previous methodologies, only two singles ascended directly to #1 from a previous position beneath the Top 20: The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love", which jumped from #27 to the top slot in April 1964, and Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine" which jumped from #23 to #1 in June 1998.