Top 20 of each year since 2010 (Full chart runs)

[rockgolf]

Following the method introduced by Billboard's former Chart Beat Chat columnist Fred Bronson, I've created alternate top-of-the-year lists. These are based on the full chart run of each track, regardless of when a track started and finished it's chart run. Songs are assigned to the year in which they first reached their chart peak, so no song will appear in the list in two years or have it's chart points split. Think of it as a historical revue than a headline news review of the songs of each years. If there's interest, I can extend the list for any year including pre-2010 years.

Of course, the 2018 charts are still active, but I can't see anything catching up to the top 2 at this point.

Note: 2000-2009 charts are now listed further down on this topic.

[85la]

Very interesting chart! It would be interesting to see some pre-2010 years too. Are you using the same point system Bronson uses, whatever that is, or some other type of inverse point system?

[rockgolf]

I don't have access to Fred's system, but I'm trying to replicate it as closely as I can. It is an inverse point system with arithmetically increasing bonuses for extended runs at #1, and to a lesser extent, #2 & #3. (The philosophy being if a song spent 10 weeks at #1, it probably had a bigger lead in some of those weeks than a song that only spent a single week there. It has the effect that those first massive sales weeks aren't counted in my system until the end of that streak, so not good for snapshot, but better in the long term.)

For those with Excel skillz, here's the actual "bonus point code":

=10*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<41") + 10*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<31") + 20*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<21") + 40*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<11") + 20*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<6") + 20*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<5") + 20*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<4")+ 30*COUNTIF(weekhist,"<3") + 50*COUNTIF(weekhist,"=1") +(COUNTIF(weekhist,"=1") ^2)*5 +(COUNTIF(weekhist,"=2") ^2)*3 +COUNTIF(weekhist,"=3")^2

Net effect: A week at #1 is worth 325 points, #2 is worth 272 pts, #3 is 239 pts,

But the second week at #1 earns 335 points, the third 345 points. On a long run that adds up. The 16th week of Despacito at #1 earned it 475 points, for a total of 4800 points for its complete run at #1.

That said, I'm always looking to improve that points system.

[nickd]

Cool stuff, how close did Taylor come to making the top 20 in 2015? I'm assuming Wildest Dreams was the biggest hit compared to Style and Bad Blood?

[rockgolf]

Oct 14, 2018 10:18:48 GMT -5 nickd said:

Cool stuff, how close did Taylor come to making the top 20 in 2015? I'm assuming Wildest Dreams was the biggest hit compared to Style and Bad Blood?

I'm really glad you asked. Somehow, I only tracked Wildest Dreams original one-week appearance in Nov 2014 and missed its re-entry nearly a year later!

As it turns out all 3 of Taylor's 2015 entries are tightly bunched together:

#21 Bad Blood (4048 pts)

#25 Style (3310 pts)

#26 Wildest Dreams (3291 pts, including that one week from 2014)

There are a couple of other 2015 entries way down the list: New Romantics is #298 & You Are in Love is #337.

[nickd]

Oct 14, 2018 11:52:59 GMT -5 rockgolf said:

Oct 14, 2018 10:18:48 GMT -5 nickd said:

Cool stuff, how close did Taylor come to making the top 20 in 2015? I'm assuming Wildest Dreams was the biggest hit compared to Style and Bad Blood?

I'm really glad you asked. Somehow, I only tracked Wildest Dreams original one-week appearance in Nov 2014 and missed its re-entry nearly a year later!

As it turns out all 3 of Taylor's 2015 entries are tightly bunched together:

#21 Bad Blood (4048 pts)

#25 Style (3310 pts)

#26 Wildest Dreams (3291 pts, including that one week from 2014)

There are a couple of other 2015 entries way down the list: New Romantics is #298 & You Are in Love is #337.

Thanks, and nevermind, it makes sense that Bad Blood had more points since it's based on position. I think Wildest Dreams might have been consumed more than it's position suggests since it's airplay decreased rather slowly compared to her prior 1989 singles since she didn't have any hit singles to replace it, but that would've been after it went recurrent on the Hot 100. According to kworb Wildest Dreams was in the top 50 radio AI for twice as long as Bad Blood, and from my understanding, that recurrent airplay would've been a factor in it charting on both the 2015 and 2016 year end lists even though it wasn't reflected in its Hot 100 performance.

[brady47]

"Need You Now" actually got more raw points than "Just the Way You Are" and "Tik Tok"?

[velaxti]

Oct 14, 2018 15:46:05 GMT -5 nickd said:

Oct 14, 2018 11:52:59 GMT -5 rockgolf said:

I'm really glad you asked. Somehow, I only tracked Wildest Dreams original one-week appearance in Nov 2014 and missed its re-entry nearly a year later!

As it turns out all 3 of Taylor's 2015 entries are tightly bunched together:

#21 Bad Blood (4048 pts)

#25 Style (3310 pts)

#26 Wildest Dreams (3291 pts, including that one week from 2014)

There are a couple of other 2015 entries way down the list: New Romantics is #298 & You Are in Love is #337.

Thanks, and nevermind, it makes sense that Bad Blood had more points since it's based on position. I think Wildest Dreams might have been consumed more than it's position suggests since it's airplay decreased rather slowly compared to her prior 1989 singles since she didn't have any hit singles to replace it, but that would've been after it went recurrent on the Hot 100. According to kworb Wildest Dreams was in the top 50 radio AI for twice as long as Bad Blood, and from my understanding, that recurrent airplay would've been a factor in it charting on both the 2015 and 2016 year end lists even though it wasn't reflected in its Hot 100 performance.

They don't count airplay (or sales or streams for that matter) after a song goes recurrent on the Hot 100 for the year-end chart. However, they do count December and some of November from the year before (I forgot what time of year Wildest Dreams was charting, but that might be the reason).

It would be interesting if they did though. We probably would have seen a song make 3 year-end charts at some point if they did. Songs like I Gotta Feeling managed to do it in some other countries.

Also, thanks to the OP, it's interesting to see these charts.

[rockgolf]

Oct 14, 2018 21:58:06 GMT -5 brady47 said:

"Need You Now" actually got more raw points than "Just the Way You Are" and "Tik Tok"?

Yup. It peaked at #2 but just hung around forever (32 weeks in the top 20). Year-end charts tend to favor songs that go through several radio formats. NYN started at country, went to pop and then AOR, the latter of which will always give you a long ride on the charts.

[brady47]

Oct 15, 2018 8:21:12 GMT -5 rockgolf said:

Oct 14, 2018 21:58:06 GMT -5 brady47 said:

"Need You Now" actually got more raw points than "Just the Way You Are" and "Tik Tok"?

Yup. It peaked at #2 but just hung around forever (32 weeks in the top 20). Year-end charts tend to favor songs that go through several radio formats. NYN started at country, went to pop and then AOR, the latter of which will always give you a long ride on the charts.

Thank you for doing this - it's amazing! I don't know if it's possible, but to me, it makes sense to include a song when it had most of its points (ex: Bad Romance peaked in 2009 at #2, but it had the majority of its points in 2010, so I'd count it as 2010 instead of 2009)

Could you make a decade chart based on the points, or is it hard to compare years?

Also, I would love a 2000s version if you're up for it!!

[brady47]

Just some minor questions:

1. How was Last Friday Night a bigger hit than S&M? S&M ranked #12 and LFN ranked #14 on the year end (granted, LFN did have 1 week outside the calendar year - but it was at #67)

2. For 2013 - How is "Get Lucky" a bigger hit than "Stay"? Stay ranked #13 and Get Lucky ranked #14 on year end (and both had their entire chart runs in the Billboard Year)

Thank you for doing this! Puts so many things in perspective

[rockgolf]

Oct 15, 2018 12:50:58 GMT -5 brady47 said:

Oct 15, 2018 8:21:12 GMT -5 rockgolf said:

Thank you for doing this - it's amazing! I don't know if it's possible, but to me, it makes sense to include a song when it had most of its points (ex: Bad Romance peaked in 2009 at #2, but it had the majority of its points in 2010, so I'd count it as 2010 instead of 2009)

Could you make a decade chart based on the points, or is it hard to compare years?

Also, I would love a 2000s version if you're up for it!!

Putting songs in the year they got most points is a lot tougher to determine, but a reasonable idea. That would put "Perfect" in 2018, instead of 2017, as an example.

Comparing years isn't that difficult. I determine a factor based on the total points of the top 10 of each year, so that's possible. On this page, I've got my top 300 of all-time, kept up to date, and that compares all years. (There's also a link to the #301-600 songs.)

And, sure, I can do the same for 2000-2009. But it'll have to wait until I get access to my home computer.

[rockgolf]

Oct 15, 2018 12:55:43 GMT -5 brady47 said:

Just some minor questions:

1. How was Last Friday Night a bigger hit than S&M? S&M ranked #12 and LFN ranked #14 on the year end (granted, LFN did have 1 week outside the calendar year - but it was at #67)

2. For 2013 - How is "Get Lucky" a bigger hit than "Stay"? Stay ranked #13 and Get Lucky ranked #14 on year end (and both had their entire chart runs in the Billboard Year)

Thank you for doing this! Puts so many things in perspective

I don't have access to Billboard's point system, so the best I can ever do is try to get close. There will always be minor differences between my ranking and the official ranking.

Billboard adds the points each song scores each week, so a single exceptional week can skew the results. As an extreme example, Fred Bronson in Chart Beat Chat 20 years ago said that in it's first week on the charts, Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997 had already scored enough points to be the #3 song of the year. There's no weighted point system on earth that can account for that.

[rockgolf]

Oct 15, 2018 12:50:58 GMT -5 brady47 said:

Also, I would love a 2000s version if you're up for it!!

As promised

[brady47]

Just out of curiosity, where is "Sk8er Boi" and "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne, and "Turn Off the Light" by Nelly Furtado?

Also did "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado make the chart?

[rockgolf]

Nov 3, 2018 22:41:07 GMT -5 brady47 said:

Just out of curiosity, where is "Sk8er Boi" and "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne, and "Turn Off the Light" by Nelly Furtado?

Also did "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado make the chart?

Sk8er Boi was #70 of 2002.

My Happy Ending was #43 in 2004.

Maneater was #90 in 2006. Much bigger in the UK where it went to #1. There was one point where Furtado had 3 different #1 songs at the same time around the world. The third was a Spanish hit.

[badrobot]

This is great! This is how all historical charts should be compiled.

I would love it if you listed what the BB year end positions were for each song too (including if they were in multiple years), so it would be easier to see which songs did better/worse based on this.

(Also, just visually, the super bright blue/white switching of colors makes the charts hard to read.)

Sorry to be nit picky but this is great info!

[brady47]

Nov 4, 2018 9:27:09 GMT -5 rockgolf said:

Nov 3, 2018 22:41:07 GMT -5 brady47 said:

Just out of curiosity, where is "Sk8er Boi" and "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne, and "Turn Off the Light" by Nelly Furtado?

Also did "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado make the chart?

Sk8er Boi was #70 of 2002.

My Happy Ending was #43 in 2004.

Maneater was #90 in 2006. Much bigger in the UK where it went to #1. There was one point where Furtado had 3 different #1 songs at the same time around the world. The third was a Spanish hit.

Thank you! Do you have any of these full charts saved anywhere?

[rockgolf]

Nov 4, 2018 18:16:07 GMT -5 brady47 said:

Nov 4, 2018 9:27:09 GMT -5 rockgolf said:

Sk8er Boi was #70 of 2002.

My Happy Ending was #43 in 2004.

Maneater was #90 in 2006. Much bigger in the UK where it went to #1. There was one point where Furtado had 3 different #1 songs at the same time around the world. The third was a Spanish hit.

Thank you! Do you have any of these full charts saved anywhere?

Only on my hard drive. I prefer not to post the whole thing.

But I'm posting one or two years at a time on the complete 2017 Chart thread.

The alternative spelling makes it easy to search.