History of Billboard Hot 100 in Timeline
The Billboard Hot 100 is the main song chart in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Its rankings are determined by a combination of sales, online streaming activity, and radio airplay data within the U.S. It serves as the industry benchmark for the popularity of songs in America.
July 1913: First chart published
In July 1913, Billboard published its first chart, "Last Week's Ten Best Sellers Among the Popular Songs", which was a list of best-selling sheet music.
1928: "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders" chart appeared
In 1928, Billboard introduced the chart "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders", which included radio performances in addition to in-person performances.
January 4, 1936: "Ten Best Records for Week Ending" published
On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published "Ten Best Records for Week Ending", a list of the top 10 selling records from three leading record companies.
October 1938: "The Week's Best Records" retitled
In October 1938, Billboard's review list, "The Week's Best Records", was retitled "The Billboard Record Buying Guide", incorporating airplay and sheet music sales.
July 20, 1940: Billboard Music Popularity Chart
For the week ending July 20, 1940 Billboard launched the "Billboard Music Popularity Chart", which covered jukebox play, retail sales, sheet music sales, and radio play.
March 24, 1945: Honor Roll of Hits launch
On March 24, 1945, Billboard's lead popularity chart became the Honor Roll of Hits, ranking songs based on record and sheet sales, disk jockey, and jukebox performances.
November 12, 1955: The Top 100 debut
On November 12, 1955, Billboard published The Top 100 chart for the first time, combining sales, airplay, and jukebox activity and the first No. 1 was "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" by The Four Aces.
1955: Start of the rock era
In 1955, at the start of the rock era, Billboard used three charts to measure songs by individual metrics.
June 17, 1957: Most Played in Jukeboxes chart discontinued
On June 17, 1957, Billboard discontinued the Most Played in Jukeboxes chart due to the waning popularity of jukeboxes and the increased incorporation of rock music on radio stations.
July 28, 1958: Final Most Played by Jockeys and Top 100 charts
The week of July 28, 1958, marked the final publication of the Most Played by Jockeys and Top 100 charts. Perez Prado's instrumental version of "Patricia" topped both charts.
August 4, 1958: "Poor Little Fool" first number-one song
On August 4, 1958, "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson became the first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100.
October 13, 1958: Best Sellers In Stores chart discontinued
On October 13, 1958, Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart after the premiere of the Hot 100 in August 1958.
1958: Hot 100 Initiation
With the initiation of the Hot 100 in 1958, A- and-B-sides charted separately, as they had on the former Top 100.
November 29, 1969: Two-sided singles rule alteration
Starting with the Hot 100 chart for the week ending November 29, 1969, Billboard altered its rule for "two-sided singles"; if both sides received significant airplay, they were listed together.
1972: Trend to put the same song on both sides of singles
By 1972, major record labels solidified a trend of putting the same song on both sides of the singles provided to radio.
November 30, 1991: American Top 40 ended relationship
On November 30, 1991, American Top 40 ended its relationship with the Hot 100 as a data source and started using the airplay-only side of the Hot 100.
1991: Nielsen starts tracking sales
In 1991, Nielsen began tracking sales, initially using a Monday–Sunday tracking period.
1991: Recurrent criteria since 1991
Since 1991, Billboard has removed titles from the Hot 100 that have reached certain criteria regarding current rank and number of weeks on the chart.
1994: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" release
In 1994, Mariah Carey released the song "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
December 5, 1998: Hot 100 changed to a "songs" chart
On December 5, 1998, the Hot 100 changed from being a "singles" chart to a "songs" chart, making songs eligible even without a commercially available single.
December 1998: First major overhaul of chart formula since December 1998
Since February 12, 2005, with the introduction of digital downloads in the Billboard Hot 100, this was the first major overhaul of the Hot 100's chart formula since December 1998.
2003: Billboard started tracking downloads
In 2003, Billboard initially started tracking downloads with the Hot Digital Tracks chart, which did not count towards the Hot 100 and counted each version of a song separately.
February 12, 2005: Paid digital downloads tracked
Since February 12, 2005, the Billboard Hot 100 has tracked paid digital downloads from internet services like iTunes, Musicmatch, and Rhapsody.
February 2005: Pop 100 chart created
In February 2005, Billboard created the Pop 100 chart to address criticism that the Hot 100 was too dominated by hip hop and R&B.
2006: Record for biggest single-week upward movement broken
Since 2006, the all-time record for the biggest single-week upward movement was broken nine times.
June 16, 2007: Canadian Hot 100 launched
On June 16, 2007, the Canadian Hot 100 was launched, using sales and airplay tracking compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and Broadcast Data Systems.
August 11, 2007: Streaming data incorporated into Hot 100
In the issue dated August 11, 2007, Billboard began incorporating weekly data from streaming media and on-demand services into the Hot 100, with AOL Music and Yahoo! Music providing statistics.
May 31, 2008: Billboard Japan Hot 100 launched
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 was launched in the issue dated May 31, 2008, using the same methodologies as the Hot 100 charts for the U.S. and Canada.
June 2009: Pop 100 chart discontinued
In June 2009, the Pop 100 chart was discontinued because the charts had become increasingly similar.
March 24, 2012: On-Demand Songs chart premiered
On March 24, 2012, Billboard premiered its On-Demand Songs chart, ranking web radio streams from services such as Spotify, and its data was incorporated into the Hot 100 compilation.
January 2013: Expanded Streaming Songs chart introduced
In January 2013, Billboard expanded its On-Demand Songs chart to a broader Streaming Songs chart, incorporating its data into the Hot 100 equation.
February 2013: YouTube views added to Hot 100 formula
In February 2013, U.S. views for a song on YouTube were added to the Hot 100 formula, with "Harlem Shake" becoming the first song to reach number one after the changes were made.
June 2015: Global Release Date
Billboard altered its tracking-week for sales, streaming and radio airplay in order to conform to a new Global Release Date, which now falls on Fridays in all major-market territories (United States product was formerly released on Tuesdays before June 2015).
July 2015: Sales tracking period changed
In July 2015, the weekly tracking period for sales and online streaming data was changed from Monday–Sunday to Friday–Thursday.
July 25, 2015: Modified tracking schedule
The modified tracking schedule for sales, streaming, and radio airplay took effect in the issue dated July 25, 2015.
2015: Song recurrent status criteria
As of 2015, a song is permanently moved to "recurrent status" if it has spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100 and fallen below position number 50.
December 2019: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reached No. 1
In December 2019, Mariah Carey's 1994 recording "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reached No. 1 on the chart.
July 2020: Billboard no longer allows sales of physical/digital bundles to be reported as digital sales
In July 2020, Billboard announced that they would no longer allow sales of physical/digital bundles to be reported as digital sales, stating that this was a tactic generally used by certain artists to boost their chart positions.
July 17, 2021: Radio airplay tracking cycle change
Effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021, radio airplay tracking began using a Friday–Thursday cycle to align with sales and streaming data. Previously, radio airplay was tracked Monday–Sunday.
January 14, 2022: Billboard Vietnam Hot 100 launched
The Vietnamese edition of Hot 100, Billboard Vietnam Hot 100, was launched on January 14, 2022.
August 2, 2025: Billboard Hot 100 milestones
As of the issue for the week ending on August 2, 2025, the Billboard Hot 100 has had 1,182 different number-one entries and the current number-one song on the chart is "Ordinary" by Alex Warren.
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