Longest and shortest Hot 100 hits

[Gary]

The Longest Hot 100 Hits

(10:21) "Fear Inoculum," Tool, No. 93 peak, 2019

(10:13) "All Too Well (Taylor's version)" Taylor Swift No. 1 peak 2021

(9:57) "Blackstar," David Bowie, No. 78, 2016

(9:30) "Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2)," Harry Chapin, No. 86, 1976

(8:59) "Jesus Lord", Kanye West No. 26 peak 2021

(8:55) "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)," Hillsong UNITED, No. 83, 2014

(8:55) "November Rain," Guns N' Roses, No. 3, 1992

(8:50) "4 Your Eyez Only," J. Cole, No. 29, 2016

(8:37) "American Pie (Parts I & II)," Don McLean, No. 1 (four weeks), 1972

(8:16) "Untitled 07 L Levitate," Kendrick Lamar, No. 90, 2016


The Shortest Hot 100 Hits
(:37) "Beautiful Trip," Kid Cudi, No. 100 peak (to date), 2020

(:45) "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)," Piko-Taro, No. 77, 2016

(1:02) "Little Boxes," The Womenfolk, No. 83, 1964

(1:06) "Deck the Halls," Nat King Cole, No. 47 (to date), 2020

(1:13) "Pete Davidson," Ariana Grande, No. 99, 2018

(1:16) "Difference (Interlude)," XXXTentacion, No. 84, 2018

(1:17) "Some Kind-A Earthquake," Duane Eddy His Twangy Guitar and the Rebels, No. 37, 1959

(1:19) "Forward," Beyonce feat. James Blake, No. 63, 2016

(1:20) "What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)," Andrew Seeley & Vanessa Anne Hudgens, No. 67, 2006

[Gary]

'Stay' by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs is the shortest #1 ever at 1:36

As none of the above short songs even so much as crack the top 40

Bad! by XXXTentacion is top 20 at 1:34

[Gary]

The above list is two years old, let me know if there are other hits

[owenlovesmusic]

XXXTentacion- "Everybody Dies in Their Nightmares" (1:35)

[rockgolf]

Pity the track "SNL" from the new A Star Is Born soundtrack didn't make it. It consists of Alec Baldwin, in Saturday Night Live style, announcing "Ladies and gentlemen, Ally" and is 13 seconds long.

You can buy it on iTunes for $1.29.

[Deleted]

Funny how both the longest and shortest songs to chart were both from the same year...
and peaked one place away from each other

[Choco]

The "Cups" version that debuted at #93 from the Pitch Perfect film was only 1:17.

It was then re-released for radio at 2:08, which is the version that eventually reached #6.

[Gary]

Baby Shark by Pinkfong is 1:36

[rockgolf]

Jan 7, 2019 19:21:22 GMT -5 Gary said:

Baby Shark by Pinkfong is 1:36

... But it feels like 1:36:00.

[feldspar905]

make it back by juice wrld(1:46)

[feldspar905]

Nov 19, 2018 23:04:01 GMT -5 Gary said:

The Longest Hot 100 Hits

(9:57) "Blackstar," David Bowie, No. 78 peak, 2016

(9:30) "Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2)," Harry Chapin, No. 86, 1976

(8:55) "November Rain," Guns N' Roses, No. 3, 1992

(8:37) "American Pie (Parts I & II)," Don McLean, No. 1 (four weeks), 1972

(8:16) "Untitled 07 L Levitate," Kendrick Lamar, No. 90, 2016


The Shortest Hot 100 Hits

(0:45) "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)," Piko-Taro, No. 77 (to date), 2016

(1:02) "Little Boxes," The Womenfolk, No. 83, 1964

(1:17) "Some Kind-A Earthquake," Duane Eddy His Twangy Guitar and the Rebels, No. 37, 1959

(1:19) "Forward," Beyonce feat. James Blake, No. 63, 2016

(1:20) "What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)," Andrew Seeley & Vanessa Anne Hudgens, No. 67, 2006

Te boté-bad bunny,ozuna,darell,casper magico,nicky jam,nio garcia(7:01)(peak:#38)(second longest top 40 hit ever)

[willapted33]

Runaway by Kanye is 9:08 but the radio edit is about half that so idk if it would count

[Deleted]

4 Your Eyez Only by J. Cole is 8:51 (Peaked @ #29)

[kindofbiased]

Jan 10, 2019 0:47:02 GMT -5 feldspar905 said:

Nov 19, 2018 23:04:01 GMT -5 Gary said:

The Longest Hot 100 Hits

(9:57) "Blackstar," David Bowie, No. 78 peak, 2016

(9:30) "Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2)," Harry Chapin, No. 86, 1976

(8:55) "November Rain," Guns N' Roses, No. 3, 1992

(8:37) "American Pie (Parts I & II)," Don McLean, No. 1 (four weeks), 1972

(8:16) "Untitled 07 L Levitate," Kendrick Lamar, No. 90, 2016


The Shortest Hot 100 Hits

(0:45) "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)," Piko-Taro, No. 77 (to date), 2016

(1:02) "Little Boxes," The Womenfolk, No. 83, 1964

(1:17) "Some Kind-A Earthquake," Duane Eddy His Twangy Guitar and the Rebels, No. 37, 1959

(1:19) "Forward," Beyonce feat. James Blake, No. 63, 2016

(1:20) "What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)," Andrew Seeley & Vanessa Anne Hudgens, No. 67, 2006

Te boté-bad bunny,ozuna,darell,casper magico,nicky jam,nio garcia(7:01)(peak:#38)(second longest top 40 hit ever)

I think it’d be third longest right? November Rain and American Pie were top 40 hits that surpassed 8 minutes

[feldspar905]

Jan 10, 2019 12:21:16 GMT -5 kindofbiased said:

Jan 10, 2019 0:47:02 GMT -5 feldspar905 said:

Te boté-bad bunny,ozuna,darell,casper magico,nicky jam,nio garcia(7:01)(peak:#38)(second longest top 40 hit ever)

I think it’d be third longest right? November Rain and American Pie were top 40 hits that surpassed 8 minutes

Oh yeah i forgot these 2 were long

[Gary]

Short & Sweet Success: At Under 2 Minutes, Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Is Shortest Hot 100 No. 1 Since 1965

News

By Gary Trust | April 11, 2019 11:10 AM EDT

The last quickest leader? An earworm by Herman's Hermits.

As Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" charges to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated April 13), the genre-bending song becomes the shortest leader on the list by song length in over 53 years.

Per Record Research's Paul Haney, "Road," at 1:53 in length (counting its original version, not its 2:37-long remix with Billy Ray Cyrus), packs the quickest punch at No. 1 since Herman's Hermits' "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," which led the list dated Aug. 7, 1965. The latter song, the British band's hooky second No. 1, sports a 1:49 runtime.

Encompassing the Hot 100's entire 60-year history, "Road" ties David Rose's 1962 No. 1 "The Stripper" as the fifth-briefest leader.

Here is a quick look at the shortest Hot 100 No. 1s by length:

Song Length, Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1
1:38, "Stay," Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, Nov. 21, 1960
1:49, "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," Herman's Hermits, Aug. 7, 1965
1:51, "Surrender," Elvis Presley, March 20, 1961
1:52, "He's So Fine," The Chiffons, March 30, 1963
1:53, "Old Town Road," Lil Nas X, April 13, 2019
1:53, "The Stripper," David Rose, July 7, 1962

"Road" follows a trend toward shorter hit songs in recent years. In 2017, Lil Pump's "Gucci Gang," running 2:04, became the shortest Hot 100 top 10 since 1975, while, in 2016, Piko-Taro's "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen) made history as the shortest Hot 100 entry ever: a mere 45 seconds long. Still, the longest Hot 100 hit in terms of length also charted in 2016: David Bowie's "Blackstar," which wraps three seconds shy of 10 minutes.

[Gary]

The remix is 2:37 and would not be on this list

[Deleted]

Apr 11, 2019 13:07:30 GMT -5 Gary said:

Song Length, Title, Artist, Date Reached No. 1
1:38, "Stay," Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, Nov. 21, 1960
1:49, "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," Herman's Hermits, Aug. 7, 1965
1:51, "Surrender," Elvis Presley, March 20, 1961
1:52, "He's So Fine," The Chiffons, March 30, 1963
1:53, "Old Town Road," Lil Nas X, April 13, 2019
1:53, "The Stripper," David Rose, July 7, 1962

Wow, 1960s' music was short and messed-up.
It's like a bunch of colorless busted dance filler that's not complete. Were people zombies?

[rockgolf]

Apr 13, 2019 9:52:41 GMT -5 @avont said:

Wow, 1960s' music was short and messed-up.
It's like a bunch of colorless busted dance filler that's not complete. Were people zombies?

Yes, that's right. The era that produced The Beatles, The Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and a hundred other Hall of Fame acts (including the Zombies) were zombies.

[Gary]

Apr 13, 2019 9:52:41 GMT -5 @avont said:

Wow, 1960s' music was short and messed-up.
It's like a bunch of colorless busted dance filler that's not complete. Were people zombies?

Well - as Rockgolf said, some were for instance Time Of The Season by The Zombies is a classic

Anyway, songs were shorter in the 1960s and early 70s gradually getting longer, now in the last year or two they are getting shorter again.


So if the 60s music was 'short and messed up' what about today's music?

[thelegends]

Jan 7, 2019 19:21:22 GMT -5 Gary said:

Baby Shark by Pinkfong is 1:36

Literally an ANNOYING piece of shit music

[kimberly]

'pete davidson' is only 1:14 long (or 10 inches wink wink)

[insen_13]

Apr 14, 2019 0:58:15 GMT -5 kimberly said:

'pete davidson' is only 1:14 long (or 10 inches wink wink)

hahaha i think it entered at 99?

[Gary]

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10s in 2019 Are, On Average, 30 Seconds Shorter Than Last Year

6/4/2019 by Gary Trust


Streaming algorithms appear to be one factor in the reduction.

To put it succinctly, quick hits are ruling 2019.

As previously noted, Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road," atop the Billboard Hot 100 for a ninth week, became the shortest No. 1 hit by song length since 1965, running just one minute and 53 seconds in its original version. Its Billy Ray Cyrus remix still clocks in at under three minutes (2:37).

Elsewhere in the Hot 100's top 10 are such blink-and-you'll-miss-it hits (if your ears could blink) as Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower" (2:38), Post's "Wow." (2:29) and Sam Smith and Normani's "Dancing With a Stranger" (2:51).

A trend toward shorter hit songs has become evident in recent years. In 2017, Lil Pump's "Gucci Gang," running 2:04, became the shortest Hot 100 top 10 since 1975, while, in 2016, Piko-Taro's "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)" made history as the shortest Hot 100 entry ever: 45 seconds long.

The shrinking of hit songs is even more acute in 2019. Here are some notable stats about the length of Hot 100 top 10s this year (among songs that reached the region for the first time in 2019), according to Hit Songs Deconstructed, which analyzes the compositional characteristics of top 10 Hot 100 hits.

In 2019, the average length for Hot 100 top 10s is a brisk 3:07, a drop of 30 seconds from 2018's average of 3:37. That contrasts with recent years, as the average top 10 song length fluctuated by only 11 seconds (from 3:32 to 3:43) over 2015-17.

Songs under three minutes account for 39% of all Hot 100 top 10s in 2019, a major increase in share. Top 10s that concise gradually grew in prominence from 2016 through 2018, from 4% of all top 10s to 9% to 12% in those three years, before surging more than threefold year-over-year so far in 2019.

The top two longest-leading No. 1s this year both make the category, as the nine-week command (and counting) of "Road" bests Ariana Grande's eight-week reign with "7 Rings," which runs 2:58.

Among hip-hop hits exclusively, year-to-date 2019, the average length for Hot 100 top 10s has plummeted to just 2:48, a drop of 51 seconds from the 2018 average. The average length of hip-hop top 10s actually increased by 38 seconds from 2015 through 2017 (3:13 to 3:51) and then dipped by 12 seconds (to 3:39) in 2018, before its 2019 freefall.

Similar to the rise in share of all-genre top 10s under three minutes, as noted above, such hip-hop hits increased slightly in presence in recent years, from 9% of all hip-hop top 10s in 2016 to 11% in 2017 and 15% in 2018. This year? They've skyrocketed four times over to a 60% majority.

What seems to behind the stark trend? Perhaps, shorter audience attention spans in a TL;DL multimedia landscape. Also, possibly, an aim for more robust streaming totals across artist catalogs, as shorter songs translate to streams of more individual songs within a given listening period.

Additionally, streaming service algorithms appear to play a factor in the recent reduction of average hit song lengths. Those in the industry contacted suggest that digital service providers pay close attention to play-through rates, so, naturally, a shorter song has a better chance of being streamed fully than a longer one. As those stats can help determine playlist placement, artists, management and label A&R departments seek to capitalize.

Meanwhile, on-the-go listeners can enjoy the perk of squeezing in more songs in a particular session, such as a commute or workout.

"Writers and producers' time is fractured like everyone else's, and song length weighs into the tracks they're working on," says one industry source. "They are definitely taking into consideration the culture we live in."

[Naos]

Time to add Tool's "Fear Inoculum" to the list. It charted at #93 and is 10 minutes, 21 seconds.

[Gary]

Tool's 'Fear Inoculum' Breaks Record as Longest Billboard Hot 100 Hit & First to Run More Than 10 Minutes
8/13/2019 by Gary Trust

The song passes David Bowie's 9-minute, 57-second-long 'Blackstar.'
Songs are noticeably succinct in 2019, with, for instance, 19-week Billboard Hot 100 leader "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X the shortest No. 1 hit by song length since 1965.

Still, the record for the lengthiest Hot 100 hit by run time is rewritten this week, as Tool's "Fear Inoculum" debuts at No. 93 on the Aug. 17-dated tally, becoming the first song in the chart's history to make the list with a time exceeding 10 minutes. At 10 minutes and 21 seconds, it bests David Bowie's "Blackstar," which, running 9:57-long, reached No. 78 in 2016.

Here's an updated look at the longest, as well as shortest, Hot 100 hits all-time (as researched by the invaluable Paul Haney of Joel Whitburn's Record Research):

The Longest Hot 100 Hits
(10:21) "Fear Inoculum," Tool, No. 93 peak (to date), 2019
(9:57) "Blackstar," David Bowie, No. 78 peak, 2016
(9:30) "Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2)," Harry Chapin, No. 86, 1976
(8:55) "November Rain," Guns N' Roses, No. 3, 1992
(8:37) "American Pie (Parts I & II)," Don McLean, No. 1 (four weeks), 1972

The Shortest Hot 100 Hits
(0:45) "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)," Piko-Taro, No. 77, 2016
(1:02) "Little Boxes," The Womenfolk, No. 83, 1964
(1:17) "Some Kind-A Earthquake," Duane Eddy His Twangy Guitar and the Rebels, No. 37, 1959
(1:19) "Forward," Beyonce feat. James Blake, No. 63, 2016
(1:20) "What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)," Andrew Seeley & Vanessa Anne Hudgens, No. 67, 2006

"Fear" additionally debuts at No. 20 on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart, with rock radio historically known for playing long songs (such as "November Rain" and "American Pie," as noted above). On the all-rock-format Rock Airplay chart, the track starts at No. 28 with 2.6 million in first-week audience, according to Nielsen Music. It opens at No. 2 on Rock Digital Song Sales and No. 8 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart with 17,000 downloads sold and drew 3.5 million first-week U.S. streams.

The song is Tool's first new track in 13 years, as the band has made all its previous albums available on streaming and digital services for the first time.

[paulhaney]

Pete Davidson by Ariana Grande (1:13) should definitely be added to the shortest list. I just let Gary Trust know about it so they can update the list.

I also said they could add 4 Your Eyez Only by J. Cole (8:50) to the longest list.

[paulhaney]

Just uncovered another one for the shortest list:

Difference (Interlude) by XXXTENTACION runs (1:16)

[paulhaney]

Billboard will also be adding Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United to the longest list (8:55), even though there was a much shorter radio edit that accounted for the song's massive airplay at Christian radio.

[bbfan97]

i imagine Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" is the longest to ever chart if you count album versions. Album version is 22:43