Hot 100 #1s - Component Chart Positions

[badrobot]

I was curious about how various Hot 100 #1s have performed over the past few years across the component charts of Digital Sales, Radio Airplay, and Streaming, so I put together some visuals to show the performance over time.

The chart goes across indicating:

Date
#1s - How many component charts the Hot 100 #1 was also #1 in (can be 0-3)
Strength - A formula for how competitive the song was relative positionally to other songs, see details below
Song
Artist
D - Position on Digital Songs
R - Position on Radio Songs
S - Position on Streaming Songs
Digital #1 - Bolded if also current Hot 100 #1
Radio #1 - Bolded if also current Hot 100 #1
Streaming #1 - Bolded if also current Hot 100 #1

Regarding the "Strength" formula -- this is a very simple calculation. It averages the digital, radio, and streaming song positions as denominators of fractions. In other words:

( 1 / D + 1 / R + 1 / S ) / 3

For example, a song at #1 on Digital and Radio, but #10 on Streaming, would have a strength score of ( 1/1 + 1/1 + 1/10 ) / 3 = 2.1/3 = 0.700. A song gets a perfect score of 1.000 if it is #1 on all 3 component charts. If a song is absent from a component chart, I put in its position as #1000 so that it gets virtually no "strength" points from that component.

It is definitely debatable whether this is an accurate way to measure "strength" -- for instance, it takes no consideration of actual point totals (so a song that is barely #1 on Digital Songs gets the same value as a song that is #1 by a wide margin). However, it does indicate how competitive the song was with other tracks at the time. A lower strength score likely means there were quite a few songs jockeying for #1 that were possibly very close. A high strength score likely means the song had a fairly clearly lead over other songs.

Another note: I started this from 2013, as the Streaming Songs chart debuted on the 1/19/13 chart. For the first 2 weeks of 2013, I used the On-Demand Songs chart in its place.

I'm going to post the last 4 years as separate posts, and later come back to update with some notes/trivia/data points for each year.

[badrobot]

2013

[badrobot]

2014

[badrobot]

2015

[badrobot]

2016

[stetz]

This is very interesting to study, nice work!

[shoocoochoocoo]

excellent work! this kind of stuff should be done by billboard itself and presented as an alternate chart for all songs popular at the moment...

[badrobot]

Thanks guys! A few notes, first pieces of trivia:

The weakest #1 was "Work"'s last week on top, when it was #13 digital, #6 radio, and #2 streaming. The "weakest weeks":

Weakest #1s:
4/30/16 - 0.248 - "Work" Rihanna ft Drake - wk 9 of 9 (13-6-2)
8/30/14 - 0.298 - "Rude" Magic! - wk 6 of 6 (7-2-4)
7/18/15 - 0.311 - "See You Again" Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth - wk 12 of 12 (10-2-3)
8/6/16 - 0.333 - "Cheap Thrills" Sia ft Sean Paul - wk 1 of ? (2-3-6)
5/11/13 - 0.344 - "Just Give Me A Reason" Pink ft Nate Ruess - wk 3 of 3 (2-3-5)
6/15/13 - 0.344 - "Can't Hold Us" Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - wk 5 of 5 (5-2-3)

Strongest #1s:
"Uptown Funk!" Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars - 1.000 (1-1-1) for 9 of 14 wks
"Hello" Adele - 1.000 (1-1-1) for 3 of 10 wks
"All About That Bass" Meghan Trainor - 1.000 (1-1-1) for 2 of 8 wks
"The Hills" The Weeknd - 1.000 (1-1-1) for 2 of 6 wks

Each of these had one week of 1.000 (1-1-1): Happy, Fancy, Blank Space, Locked Out of Heaven* (*technically was prior to Streaming Songs chart by 2 weeks)

[Deleted]

Interesting, although I think we can all agree that Hello had several stronger weeks than Uptown Funk - if we consider the points it acquired. But objectively, based solely on metric rank, good stuff.

[badrobot]

^Yeah, all of my "strong/weak" lines are based on taking that metric at face value based just on chart positions.

I do think Uptown Funk's 9 weeks of 1-1-1 positions indicates more long-term dominance than Hello had. However, Hello's first week at #1 is probably the strongest single week for a #1 since "Candle in the Wind."

[Deleted]

I just look back and see Hello's first 5 weeks: 168410, 116190, 104170, 81810, 95410

Those weekly points were INSANE. Uptown Funk's strongest week was about 75k. UF did have more longevity making it more dominant overall, but Hello's peak weeks at the beginning made the long term a little less... well, long.

[hitseeker.]

I just LOVE this thread! Very interesting! Thanks for putting it together!

[yuh yuh]

Interesting thread indeed!

[renfield75]

It's great seeing all this information presented this way. Thank you badrobot for taking the time to compile this!

[Future Captain]

This is really cool. Also, notice how the "weakest" weeks all happen on the last week of each song's time at #1.

[badrobot]

Some more trivia! Here's my list of what I'd deem the "luckiest" #1s, singles that were #1 despite mostly not being at #1 on component charts.

"Timber" Pitbull ft Kesha - 3wks at #1
Component #1s at peak: 1 of 9 (11%)
Strongest week: 0.567
Weakest week: 0.389
Total weeks at #1 for D-R-S: 4-0-0

"Cheap Thrills" Sia ft Sean Paul - 4wks at #1 *still charting
Component #1s at peak: 2 of 12 (17%)
Strongest week: 0.454
Weakest week: 0.333
TOtal weeks at #1 for D-R-S: 0-2-0

"Love Yourself" Justin Bieber - 2wks at #1
Component #1s at peak: 1 of 6 (17%)
Strongest week: 0.583
Weakest week: 0.389
Total weeks at #1 for D-R-S: 3-11-0

"One Dance" Drake ft WizKid & Kyla - 10wks at #1
Component #1s at peak: 5 of 30 (17%)
Strongest week: 0.708
Weakest week: 0.389
Total weeks at #1 for D-R-S: 2-5-1

"Rude" Magic! - 6wks at #1
Component #1s at peak: 3 of 18 (17%)
Strongest week: 0.667
Weakest week: 0.298
Total weeks at #1 for D-R-S: 2-1-0

"Cheerleader" OMI - 6wks at #1
Component #1s at peak: 3 of 18 (17%)
Strongest week: 0.556
Weakest week: 0.389
Total weeks at #1 for D-R-S: 4-0-0

"Just Give Me a Reason" Pink ft Nate Ruess - 3wks at #1
Component #1s at peak: 2 of 9 (22%)
Strongest week: 0.500
Weakest week: 0.344
Total weeks at #1 for D/R/S: 4-1-0

[Sherane Lamar]

Awesome share. I'm glad to see stuff like this.

Is there any way to break each song up into percentages? Based on how many Hot 100 points they get from each component? I remember there was this article here: www.billboard.com/articles/columns/ask-billboard/5740625/ask-billboard-how-does-the-hot-100-work doing that for a few late 2013 early 2014 hits.

[badrobot]

I've updated the chart for the first half of 2016. Interestingly, Drake's "One Dance" Is now the 5th "weakest" #1 of the past 3.5 years based on how many of its weeks at #1 also had it at #1 on the component charts (although it is the only one of those "weak" songs to have hit #1 at some point on all 3 components, as none of the others topped the streaming chart). it joins "Cheerleader" and "Rude" as the only songs to have 3 weeks at #1 where they weren't #1 on any component chart.

[badrobot]

And now, unluckiest #2s, songs that topped 2 component charts but not the Hot 100 -- surprisingly it's only happened 4 times, and one of those was "Gangnam Style" which would've likely hit #1 had Streaming Songs been introduced a year earlier:

“Gangnam Style” Psy - 7 weeks at #2
Digital #1: 6 weeks* (all 6 weeks occurred in 2012 before the introduction of Streaming Songs)
Streaming #1: 6 weeks (11 weeks if you include 5 weeks at #1 on On-Demand Songs in 2012)

“7 Years” Lukas Graham - 4 weeks at #2
Digital #1: 3 weeks
Radio #1: 4 weeks

“Stay With Me” Sam Smith - 2 weeks at #2
Digital #1: 2 weeks
Radio #1: 6 weeks

“I Knew You Were Trouble” Taylor Swift - 1 week at #2
Digital #1: 3 weeks* (2 weeks occurred before the introduction of Streaming Songs)
Radio #1: 4 weeks

[stanr]

great job Badrobot!

wow, UF was really dominating. I know it was huge back then, but not that HUGE.
9 weeks atop of all three component!

[Deleted]

Next week One Dance will become the song with the most weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 without being #1 on any component chart

[badrobot]

Updated to show the last 2 weeks for "One Dance" -- which also becomes the first song since Streaming was added to reclaim #1 on airplay (and I believe the first to do this since "Moves Like Jagger" in 2011), and breaks its streak of not being #1 on any component charts.

Now might also be a good time for some more trivia! I'll call this group "Overachiever #1s" -- songs that hit #1, but spent a lot more time at #1 on the component charts than atop the Hot 100, and "earned" more weeks at #1 than they actually got.

“Can’t Stop the Feeling” Justin Timberlake
Earned-to-actual ratio: 5.00
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 1
Component weeks at #1: 15 (10-5-0)

“Bad Blood” Taylor Swift ft Kendrick Lamar
Earned-to-actual ratio: 3.33
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 1
Component weeks at #1: 10 (5-5-0)

“Love Yourself” Justin Bieber
Earned-to-actual ratio: 2.33
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 2
Component weeks at #1: 14 (3-11-0)

“Panda” Desiigner
Earned-to-actual ratio: 2.00
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 2
Component weeks at #1: 12 (0-0-10)

“When I Was Your Man” Bruno Mars
Earned-to-actual ratio: 2.00
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 1
Component weeks at #1: 6 (1-5-0)

“Wrecking Ball” Miley Cyrus
Earned-to-actual ratio: 1.56
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 3
Component weeks at #1: 14 (1-0-13)

“Roar” Katy Perry
Earned-to-actual ratio: 1.50
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 2
Component weeks at #1: 9 (4-4-1)

“Dark Horse” Katy Perry
Earned-to-actual ratio: 1.25
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 4
Component weeks at #1: 15 (5-2-8)

“Sorry” Justin Bieber
Earned-to-actual ratio: 1.22
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 3
Component weeks at #1: 11 (1-2-8)

“Thrift Shop” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft Wanz
Earned-to-actual ratio: 1.11
Weeks at #1: 6
Component weeks at #1: 20 (10-2-8)

“Can’t Feel My Face” The Weeknd
Earned-to-actual ratio: 1.11
Hot 100 Weeks at #1: 3
Component weeks at #1: 10 (3-7-0)

[Duca]

Can't Stop the Feeling! is having great longevity, especially among #1 debuts.

Is One Dance the weakest #1 of 2016 after Pillowtalk?

[Deleted]

Drake should finally top streaming when the video drops.

[85la]

Great chart, thanks for putting in the work!! Nice to see all of this information!

[WolfSpear]

Jul 6, 2016 13:15:00 GMT -5 @broccoli said:

Drake should finally top streaming when the video drops.

Which means he'll be in the penthouse for a few more weeks.

[badrobot]

Updated with last 2 weeks. A couple notable "achievements" --

7/23 marks the lowest score yet for "One Dance" at #1.
"One Dance" is now the second "luckiest" #1, behind only "Timber"
"Can't Stop the Feeling" continues to be far and away the most "overachiever" #1, having spent 14 weeks atop component charts and only a single week at #1 overall

[badrobot]

Updated with Sia. She claims #1 with the 4th "weakest" score ever.

We are in a very long period of heavy competition and some lopsided songs -- over the past 21 weeks, there's only been one week where the #1 had at least 2 component #1s ("One Dance"'s first week).

"Cheap Thrills" is also the first song since streaming was included to climb to #1 without ever having hit #1 on any component chart.

[badrobot]

Updated to include last 3 weeks.

We've had a different #1 on Digital Songs for 5 weeks in a row now. That's only happened once before in this era, although it was just a few months ago in April (No - 7 Years - Pop Style - One Dance - Purple Rain).

"Cheap Thrills" also has amassed 4 weeks at #1 without being in the streaming top 5. In fact, there have only been 10 weeks total in the streaming era where the #1 wasn't in the top 5 of streaming.

[forg]

great work