14 Hot 100 Records that Have Continued to Hold Strong
Aug 13, 2020 12:18:40 GMT -5
Post by Baby Yoda Hot100Fan on Aug 13, 2020 12:18:40 GMT -5
Let's see how soon how before one of these is broken. They forgot to include the "Radioactive" record:
8/13/2020 by Andrew Unterberger
With the streaming era continuing to accelerate the rate at which Billboard chart achievements are notched, the past few years have seen a number of prestigious and long-standing Billboard Hot 100 records toppled.
Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day," which held for over two decades as the longest-running Hot 100 No. 1 after spending 16 weeks on top in 1995-96, was tied in 2017 by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's Justin Bieber-featuring "Despacito" -- and then passed last year by the 19-week reign of Lil Nas X's Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring "Old Town Road." After standing alone for 55 years, The Beatles were joined by Ariana Grande in early 2019 as the only artists to occupy the top three spots of the Hot 100 simultaneously. And of course, Drake has been a one-man record-book wrecking crew, passing the Glee Cast's mark for total Hot 100 hits (207; he's now up to 224) in April, then taking down Madonna's record for most top 10 hits (38; he's now up to 40) in July.
Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day," which held for over two decades as the longest-running Hot 100 No. 1 after spending 16 weeks on top in 1995-96, was tied in 2017 by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's Justin Bieber-featuring "Despacito" -- and then passed last year by the 19-week reign of Lil Nas X's Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring "Old Town Road." After standing alone for 55 years, The Beatles were joined by Ariana Grande in early 2019 as the only artists to occupy the top three spots of the Hot 100 simultaneously. And of course, Drake has been a one-man record-book wrecking crew, passing the Glee Cast's mark for total Hot 100 hits (207; he's now up to 224) in April, then taking down Madonna's record for most top 10 hits (38; he's now up to 40) in July.
Even with all this turnover in the all-time Hot 100 archives, there are still plenty of records that have gone unmatched for many years -- multiple decades, in many cases. Here are 12 Hot 100 records that have still yet to be tied or beaten in the past 10 years.
Most Hot 100 No. 1s: The Beatles (20, record set in 1965)
From February 1964, when they first topped the chart with "I Want to Hold Your Hand," to June 1970, when they did so for the 20th and final time with "The Long and Winding Road," The Fab Four laid siege to the Hot 100 like no artist before or since. It only took them a little over a year to pass the previous record of seven Hot 100 No. 1s -- held by Elvis Presley, though many of his biggest hits came before the Hot 100's 1958 debut -- and they've held it for the 55 years since.
Most Hot 100 No. 1s by a solo artist: Mariah Carey (19, record set in 1999)
The closest challenger to The Beatles' supremacy is arguably the most successful solo artist in Hot 100 history. Mariah Carey passed Michael Jackson at the end of the last millennium with her 14th No. 1, the Jay-Z-featuring "Heartbreaker," to become the solo artist with the most No. 1s on the chart -- a record she's tacked another five chart-toppers onto since, most recently with the holiday perennial "All I Want For Christmas Is You" finally climbing to No. 1 at the end of 2019. (Rihanna stands today as the next-closest solo artist, with 14 Hot 100-toppers to her credit.)
Most total weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100: Mariah Carey (82, record set in 1999)
One all-time Hot 100 mark that Mariah Carey owns for both solo artists and groups is in total endurance atop the chart: a whopping 82 weeks across her 19 No. 1s, adding up to over a year-and-a-half combined at pole position. Mariah also set this record at the end of the 20th century, passing The Beatles themselves and their 59 weeks atop the chart. (The Fab Four has since been passed by Rihanna and her 60 total weeks for the runner-up spot for this stat.)
Most separate runs to No. 1 on the Hot 100 with the same single: Chubby Checker (two, record set in 1962)
Of the 1,107 No. 1s in Hot 100 history, there's still just one that reached the apex in two separate chart runs: Chubby Checker's "The Twist" -- which climbed to No. 1 for one week in 1960, and then, after falling off the chart completely, returned for another two weeks in early 1962. For its two separate journeys to the top, it landed at No. 1 on the All-Time Billboard Hot 100 on the chart's 60th anniversary in 2018.
Most Hot 100 No. 1s: The Beatles (20, record set in 1965)
From February 1964, when they first topped the chart with "I Want to Hold Your Hand," to June 1970, when they did so for the 20th and final time with "The Long and Winding Road," The Fab Four laid siege to the Hot 100 like no artist before or since. It only took them a little over a year to pass the previous record of seven Hot 100 No. 1s -- held by Elvis Presley, though many of his biggest hits came before the Hot 100's 1958 debut -- and they've held it for the 55 years since.
Most Hot 100 No. 1s by a solo artist: Mariah Carey (19, record set in 1999)
The closest challenger to The Beatles' supremacy is arguably the most successful solo artist in Hot 100 history. Mariah Carey passed Michael Jackson at the end of the last millennium with her 14th No. 1, the Jay-Z-featuring "Heartbreaker," to become the solo artist with the most No. 1s on the chart -- a record she's tacked another five chart-toppers onto since, most recently with the holiday perennial "All I Want For Christmas Is You" finally climbing to No. 1 at the end of 2019. (Rihanna stands today as the next-closest solo artist, with 14 Hot 100-toppers to her credit.)
Most total weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100: Mariah Carey (82, record set in 1999)
One all-time Hot 100 mark that Mariah Carey owns for both solo artists and groups is in total endurance atop the chart: a whopping 82 weeks across her 19 No. 1s, adding up to over a year-and-a-half combined at pole position. Mariah also set this record at the end of the 20th century, passing The Beatles themselves and their 59 weeks atop the chart. (The Fab Four has since been passed by Rihanna and her 60 total weeks for the runner-up spot for this stat.)
Most separate runs to No. 1 on the Hot 100 with the same single: Chubby Checker (two, record set in 1962)
Of the 1,107 No. 1s in Hot 100 history, there's still just one that reached the apex in two separate chart runs: Chubby Checker's "The Twist" -- which climbed to No. 1 for one week in 1960, and then, after falling off the chart completely, returned for another two weeks in early 1962. For its two separate journeys to the top, it landed at No. 1 on the All-Time Billboard Hot 100 on the chart's 60th anniversary in 2018.
Most consecutive Hot 100 hits going to No. 1: Whitney Houston (seven, record set in 1988)
Whitney Houston simply couldn't miss in the mid-to-late '80s, embarking on a chart run that saw her send seven consecutive singles -- three from 1985's Whitney Houston album ("Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," "The Greatest Love of All") and then another four from 1987's Whitney ("I Wanna Dance With Somebody [Who Loves Me]," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," "Where Do Broken Hearts Go") to No. 1, before the No. 5-peaking "Love Will Save the Day" finally snapped the streak in '88. She passed two groups who had previously notched six straight -- The Beatles from 1964 to 1966 and the Bee Gees from 1977 to 1979 -- and might hold this record for a pretty long while still, given the far greater volume of songs released and charted by artists in 2020.
Most consecutive Hot 100 entries hitting the top 10: Janet Jackson (18, record set in 1998)
After "The Pleasure Principle," her sixth and final charting single off breakout album Control, peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100, Janet Jackson went on an absurd run of her next 18 Hot 100 entries (from Rhythm Nation leader "Miss You Much" in 1989 to The Velvet Rope's "I Get Lonely" in 1998) all hitting the top 10. That passed Madonna's record of 17 straight top 10 hits from 1984 to 1989, and was snapped only by Janet's featured appearance on Shaggy's "Luv Me, Luv Me," which peaked at No. 76 later that year. (As a lead artist, Janet wouldn't miss the top 10 until 2001's No. 28-peaking "Son of a Gun .")
Most simultaneously occupied spots in the Hot 100's top five by the same artist: The Beatles (five, record set in 1964)
Most back-to-back Hot 100 No. 1s by the same artist: The Beatles (three, record set in 1964)
Most Hot 100 No. 1s in a calendar year: The Beatles (six, record set in 1964)
The Beatles' 1964, when they first arrived in America and kicked off Beatlemania in earnest, remains the most historic calendar year for any artist on the Hot 100. The British Invaders became the first artist to replace themselves twice in a row atop the chart (with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" giving way to "She Loves You," which handed off to "Can't Buy Me Love"). And while Ariana Grande did match their simultaneous holding of all top three spots in 2019, no artist yet has matched their occupation of the entire top five on April 4, 1964 (with "Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "Loves," "Hand" and "Please Please Me").
And then, of course, the band's mark of six No. 1s in the same calendar year -- "Hand," "Loves," "Buy," "Love Me Do," "A Hard Day's Night" and "I Feel Fine" -- remains largely unchallenged, with no other artist scoring more than four Hot 100-toppers in the same year in the five-and-a-half decades since.
Whitney Houston simply couldn't miss in the mid-to-late '80s, embarking on a chart run that saw her send seven consecutive singles -- three from 1985's Whitney Houston album ("Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know," "The Greatest Love of All") and then another four from 1987's Whitney ("I Wanna Dance With Somebody [Who Loves Me]," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," "Where Do Broken Hearts Go") to No. 1, before the No. 5-peaking "Love Will Save the Day" finally snapped the streak in '88. She passed two groups who had previously notched six straight -- The Beatles from 1964 to 1966 and the Bee Gees from 1977 to 1979 -- and might hold this record for a pretty long while still, given the far greater volume of songs released and charted by artists in 2020.
Most consecutive Hot 100 entries hitting the top 10: Janet Jackson (18, record set in 1998)
After "The Pleasure Principle," her sixth and final charting single off breakout album Control, peaked at No. 14 on the Hot 100, Janet Jackson went on an absurd run of her next 18 Hot 100 entries (from Rhythm Nation leader "Miss You Much" in 1989 to The Velvet Rope's "I Get Lonely" in 1998) all hitting the top 10. That passed Madonna's record of 17 straight top 10 hits from 1984 to 1989, and was snapped only by Janet's featured appearance on Shaggy's "Luv Me, Luv Me," which peaked at No. 76 later that year. (As a lead artist, Janet wouldn't miss the top 10 until 2001's No. 28-peaking "Son of a Gun .")
Most simultaneously occupied spots in the Hot 100's top five by the same artist: The Beatles (five, record set in 1964)
Most back-to-back Hot 100 No. 1s by the same artist: The Beatles (three, record set in 1964)
Most Hot 100 No. 1s in a calendar year: The Beatles (six, record set in 1964)
The Beatles' 1964, when they first arrived in America and kicked off Beatlemania in earnest, remains the most historic calendar year for any artist on the Hot 100. The British Invaders became the first artist to replace themselves twice in a row atop the chart (with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" giving way to "She Loves You," which handed off to "Can't Buy Me Love"). And while Ariana Grande did match their simultaneous holding of all top three spots in 2019, no artist yet has matched their occupation of the entire top five on April 4, 1964 (with "Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "Loves," "Hand" and "Please Please Me").
And then, of course, the band's mark of six No. 1s in the same calendar year -- "Hand," "Loves," "Buy," "Love Me Do," "A Hard Day's Night" and "I Feel Fine" -- remains largely unchallenged, with no other artist scoring more than four Hot 100-toppers in the same year in the five-and-a-half decades since.
Longest continuous stay by an artist atop the Hot 100: The Black Eyed Peas (26 weeks, record set in 2009)
As great as The Beatles' 1964 was, their 14 consecutive weeks atop the chart with their first three No. 1 singles only got a little over halfway to the record set by The Black Eyed Peas 45 years later, when the group spent a full half-year straight at No. 1 with their back-to-back smashes "Boom Boom Pow" (12 weeks) and "I Gotta Feeling" (14 weeks). They passed the 19-week mark set by Usher in 2004, and no other artist has notched more than 19 weeks in a row since -- which, of course, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus did with "Old Town Road" in 2019.
Most consecutive years with a Hot 100 No. 1 hit: Mariah Carey (11, record set in 1997)
Yet another notch for Mariah in the Hot 100 record books came with her stretch of 1990 (starting with her debut single and first Hot 100-topper, "Vision of Love") to 2000 (ending with her 15th, "Thank God I Found You," featuring Joe and 98 Degrees), in which she had at least one No. 1 in each calendar year. Her run broke the mark previously held by The Beatles (who scored No. 1s in seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970), and has not even been approached since, with Rihanna coming the closest with her five consecutive years of ranking at No. 1 from 2010 to 2014.
As great as The Beatles' 1964 was, their 14 consecutive weeks atop the chart with their first three No. 1 singles only got a little over halfway to the record set by The Black Eyed Peas 45 years later, when the group spent a full half-year straight at No. 1 with their back-to-back smashes "Boom Boom Pow" (12 weeks) and "I Gotta Feeling" (14 weeks). They passed the 19-week mark set by Usher in 2004, and no other artist has notched more than 19 weeks in a row since -- which, of course, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus did with "Old Town Road" in 2019.
Most consecutive years with a Hot 100 No. 1 hit: Mariah Carey (11, record set in 1997)
Yet another notch for Mariah in the Hot 100 record books came with her stretch of 1990 (starting with her debut single and first Hot 100-topper, "Vision of Love") to 2000 (ending with her 15th, "Thank God I Found You," featuring Joe and 98 Degrees), in which she had at least one No. 1 in each calendar year. Her run broke the mark previously held by The Beatles (who scored No. 1s in seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970), and has not even been approached since, with Rihanna coming the closest with her five consecutive years of ranking at No. 1 from 2010 to 2014.
Most consecutive years with a Hot 100 Top 40 hit: Elton John (30, record set in 1991)
The Rocket Man's commercial endurance was officially minted as historic in 1991, when he scored a top 40 hit with the Hot 100-topping George Michael duet rendition of his '70s smash "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." That marked '91 as the 22nd straight year he'd reached the top 40 -- dating back to his breakout with ballad "Your Song" in 1970 -- passing Elvis Presley's Hot 100 top 40 record of 21 straight years, set from 1958-78. John's streak would extend another eight years to 1999, making for an even 30, before 2000 would finally see him chart no higher than No. 49 (with The Road to El Dorado soundtrack single "Someday Out of the Blue").
Most top five Hot 100 hits from the same album: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (seven, record set in 1990)
While Michael Jackson's long-standing record for the most Hot 100 No. 1s from the same album (five, from 1987's Bad) was finally tied in the last decade by Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, sister Janet's similarly historic mark of seven top five hits from her 1989 blockbuster LP Rhythm Nation 1814 -- "Miss You Much," "Rhythm Nation," "Escapade," "Alright," "Come Back to Me," "Black Cat," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" -- has still stood tall. Teenage Dream, and its six top five hits, has come the closest in the decades since.
Most weeks spent with a single at No. 2 on the Hot 100 without hitting No. 1: Foreigner ("Waiting For a Girl Like You," 1981-1982) and Missy Elliott ("Work It," 2002-2003), 10 weeks
For our final long-standing record, here's one that's a little more of a mixed blessing -- but still a major distinction in the Hot 100 history books. In the early '80s, Foreigner spent 10 weeks at No. 2 with its gleaming power ballad "Waiting For a Girl Like You," stuck behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" -- a record unmatched for two decades, until Missy Elliott spent a likewise length at the runner-up spot with her classic banger "Work It," held off by Eminem's "Lose Yourself." Their mutual mark has stood since -- though it was threatened last year by Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy," which spent nine weeks at No. 2 behind "Old Town Road" before finally ascending to the top spot.
The Rocket Man's commercial endurance was officially minted as historic in 1991, when he scored a top 40 hit with the Hot 100-topping George Michael duet rendition of his '70s smash "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." That marked '91 as the 22nd straight year he'd reached the top 40 -- dating back to his breakout with ballad "Your Song" in 1970 -- passing Elvis Presley's Hot 100 top 40 record of 21 straight years, set from 1958-78. John's streak would extend another eight years to 1999, making for an even 30, before 2000 would finally see him chart no higher than No. 49 (with The Road to El Dorado soundtrack single "Someday Out of the Blue").
Most top five Hot 100 hits from the same album: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (seven, record set in 1990)
While Michael Jackson's long-standing record for the most Hot 100 No. 1s from the same album (five, from 1987's Bad) was finally tied in the last decade by Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, sister Janet's similarly historic mark of seven top five hits from her 1989 blockbuster LP Rhythm Nation 1814 -- "Miss You Much," "Rhythm Nation," "Escapade," "Alright," "Come Back to Me," "Black Cat," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" -- has still stood tall. Teenage Dream, and its six top five hits, has come the closest in the decades since.
Most weeks spent with a single at No. 2 on the Hot 100 without hitting No. 1: Foreigner ("Waiting For a Girl Like You," 1981-1982) and Missy Elliott ("Work It," 2002-2003), 10 weeks
For our final long-standing record, here's one that's a little more of a mixed blessing -- but still a major distinction in the Hot 100 history books. In the early '80s, Foreigner spent 10 weeks at No. 2 with its gleaming power ballad "Waiting For a Girl Like You," stuck behind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" -- a record unmatched for two decades, until Missy Elliott spent a likewise length at the runner-up spot with her classic banger "Work It," held off by Eminem's "Lose Yourself." Their mutual mark has stood since -- though it was threatened last year by Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy," which spent nine weeks at No. 2 behind "Old Town Road" before finally ascending to the top spot.
