Number One Hits

1970 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-Topper The 1970 Billboard Number One Hits list opened a new decade with a huge mix of pop-soul, soft rock, protest soul, bubblegum, folk-rock, Motown, Beatles history, and early singer-songwriter classics. B.J. Thomas opened the year with Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, Simon & Garfunkel delivered […]

1969 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1969 Billboard Number One Hits list captured pop music at the end of a turbulent decade: Motown, psychedelic soul, British rock, bubblegum pop, Broadway sunshine, folk-pop, country-pop, and late-1960s rock all reached No. 1. Marvin Gaye opened the year with I Heard It Through the Grapevine,

1968 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1968 Billboard Number One Hits list captured a year of pop contrasts: British rock, blue-eyed soul, bubblegum psychedelia, instrumental pop, Motown, country crossover, Broadway-connected songs, and some of the most famous records of the decade. The Beatles opened the year with Hello, Goodbye, Otis Redding made

1967 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1967 Billboard Number One Hits list captured pop music in one of its most colorful transition years. The Monkees opened the year with I’m a Believer, The Beatles topped the chart with Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love, and Hello, Goodbye, Aretha Franklin transformed Respect

1966 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1966 Billboard Number One Hits list captured one of the most colorful pop years of the decade. Folk-rock, British Invasion, Motown, garage rock, sunshine pop, patriotic ballads, soul, teen pop, and psychedelic hints all reached No. 1. Simon & Garfunkel opened the year with The Sound

1965 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1965 Billboard Number One Hits list captured the British Invasion at full force, Motown’s golden run, folk-rock’s breakthrough, garage rock’s rise, and several early signs of the pop changes coming later in the decade. The Beatles opened the year with I Feel Fine, The Supremes kept

1964 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1964 Billboard Number One Hits list was the year the British Invasion fully arrived, and the Hot 100 never looked quite the same again. The Beatles opened America’s floodgates with I Want to Hold Your Hand, then kept replacing themselves at No. 1 through the spring.

1963 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1963 Billboard Number One Hits list captured the final full pre-Beatles year on the American pop chart. Folk-pop, girl groups, surf music, teen idols, early soul, instrumentals, novelty-leaning pop, and smooth ballads all reached No. 1 before the British Invasion changed the rules in 1964. The

1962 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1962 Billboard Number One Hits list captured American pop just before the British Invasion, with dance crazes, teen idols, soul, girl groups, country-pop, instrumentals, early Motown energy, and novelty records all reaching No. 1. The Tokens opened the year with The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Chubby Checker

1961 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1961 Billboard Number One Hits list captured early-1960s pop before the British Invasion, when teen idols, vocal groups, instrumentals, dance records, country crossover, early Motown, R&B, and story songs all reached No. 1. Elvis Presley opened the year with Are You Lonesome Tonight?, Bobby Lewis ruled

1960 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1960 Billboard Number One Hits list captured early-1960s pop just before Motown, surf music, girl groups, and the British Invasion reshaped the chart. Country story songs, teen tragedy records, instrumentals, Elvis Presley, dance records, novelty songs, R&B crossovers, and romantic ballads all reached No. 1. Marty

1959 Billboard Number One Hits: Every Hot 100 Chart-TopperThe 1959 Billboard Number One Hits list captured early rock and roll, vocal-group pop, teen idols, country crossover, novelty records, instrumentals, and the last big pre-1960s sounds before the next pop wave arrived. The Chipmunks opened the year with The Chipmunk Song, Johnny Horton delivered Billboard’s year-end

1958 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 and First Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1958 Billboard Number One Hits list is one of the most important bridge years in pop-chart history. The year began with Billboard’s pre-Hot 100 pop charts, then changed forever on August 4, 1958, when the Billboard Hot 100 officially debuted with Ricky Nelson’s

1957 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1957 Billboard Number One Hits list captures American pop just before the Hot 100 era officially began. Elvis Presley was the dominant chart force, but the year also featured teen idols, country crossover, vocal pop, early rock and roll, doo-wop, movie songs, and the first major signs

1956 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1956 Billboard Number One Hits list captures the year Elvis Presley became a national pop-culture force. The year began with Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Sixteen Tons, moved through traditional pop, instrumentals, vocal ballads, and novelty-leaning records, then exploded with Elvis’ Heartbreak Hotel, Don’t Be Cruel, Hound Dog, and

1955 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1955 Billboard Number One Hits list captures one of the biggest turning-point years in American pop history. Traditional vocal pop, orchestral instrumentals, television-driven songs, movie themes, and harmony groups still had major chart power, but Bill Haley & His Comets pushed rock and roll into the mainstream

1954 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1954 Billboard Number One Hits list captures American pop just before rock and roll fully broke into the mainstream. Traditional pop singers, vocal groups, movie songs, Broadway-connected ballads, novelty-leaning records, and early R&B crossover sounds all shared the top of Billboard’s pre-Hot 100 charts. Tony Bennett opened

1953 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1953 Billboard Number One Hits list captures American pop before rock and roll took over the conversation. Traditional pop singers, novelty records, movie themes, sentimental ballads, vocal groups, comedy records, and early studio-era stars all shared the top of Billboard’s pre-Hot 100 charts. Jimmy Boyd opened the

1952 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1952 Billboard Number One Hits list captures American pop before rock and roll, before the Hot 100, and before youth culture became the main engine of the singles chart. Traditional pop singers, orchestral instrumentals, sentimental ballads, British vocal pop, comedy records, and holiday songs all reached the

1951 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1951 Billboard Number One Hits list captures American pop before rock and roll, before the Hot 100, and before youth culture became the main driver of the singles chart. Traditional pop singers, movie-star voices, country crossover songs, studio innovators, and emotional ballads all reached the top of

1950 Billboard Number One Hits: Pre-Hot 100 Chart-ToppersThe 1950 Billboard Number One Hits list captures American pop at the start of the 1950s, years before rock and roll and the official Hot 100 era. Traditional pop singers, country crossover records, novelty songs, movie themes, folk revival, instrumentals, and vocal groups all reached the top of