History of Billboard Hot 100 in Timeline

The Billboard Hot 100 is the primary music chart in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It ranks songs based on a combination of sales, online streaming activity, and radio airplay data within the U.S. The Hot 100 serves as the industry benchmark for measuring the popularity and success of songs in the American music market.

July 1913: Billboard's first chart published

In July 1913, Billboard published its first chart, "Last Week's Ten Best Sellers Among the Popular Songs", a list of best-selling sheet music.

1928: "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders" chart appears

In 1928, Billboard introduced "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", listing the top 10 selling records from three leading record companies.

October 1938: "The Billboard Record Buying Guide" is retitled

In October 1938, "The Week's Best Records" was retitled "The Billboard Record Buying Guide," incorporating airplay and sheet music sales to become the first trade survey of record popularity.

July 20, 1940: "Billboard Music Popularity Chart" is introduced

For the week ending July 20, 1940, Billboard introduced the full-page "Billboard Music Popularity Chart," published in the July 27 issue, covering jukebox play, retail sales, sheet music sales, and radio play. The first number one song was "I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey.

Loading Video...

March 24, 1945: Honor Roll of Hits launched

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: Billboard publishes The Top 100 chart

On November 12, 1955, Billboard published The Top 100 chart for the first time, combining sales, airplay, and jukebox activity. The first No. 1 song was "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" by The Four Aces.

Loading Video...

1955: Start of the rock era

In 1955, at the start of the rock era, Billboard used three charts that measured 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.

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, with Perez Prado's instrumental version of "Patricia" topping both.

Loading Video...

August 4, 1958: "Poor Little Fool" becomes first #1 song

On August 4, 1958, "Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Nelson became the first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100.

Loading Video...

October 13, 1958: Best Sellers In Stores chart discontinued

On October 13, 1958, Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart after premiering the Hot 100 chart on August 4, 1958.

1958: Hot 100 charts A- and B-sides separately

In 1958, with the initiation of the Hot 100, A- and B-sides of singles charted separately, similar to the former Top 100.

November 29, 1969: Rule altered to list both sides together

Starting with the Hot 100 chart for the week ending November 29, 1969, if both sides of a single received significant airplay, they were listed together on the chart.

1972: Trend of putting same song on both sides of singles solidified

By 1972, most major record labels solidified a trend of putting the same song on both sides of the singles provided to radio, which they had started in the 1960s.

November 30, 1991: Relationship with American Top 40 ended

On November 30, 1991, the Hot 100's relationship as the data source for American Top 40 ended, as American Top 40 started using the airplay-only side of the Hot 100.

Loading Video...

1991: Nielsen starts tracking sales

In 1991, Nielsen started tracking sales using a Monday–Sunday tracking period.

1991: Removal of titles that reached certain criteria

Since 1991, Billboard has removed titles that reached certain criteria to give representation to new artists.

1994: Release of "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

In 1994, Mariah Carey released "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Loading Video...

December 5, 1998: Hot 100 changes 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 if they were not available to purchase as a single.

December 1998: Change from singles chart to songs chart

December 1998 marks the last major overhaul of the Hot 100 chart before the inclusion of digital downloads in 2005.

2003: Billboard starts tracking downloads

In 2003, Billboard initially started tracking downloads with the Hot Digital Tracks chart, but these downloads did not count towards the Hot 100 at the time.

February 12, 2005: Paid digital downloads tracked

Starting February 12, 2005, the Billboard Hot 100 began tracking paid digital downloads from services like iTunes, Musicmatch, and Rhapsody.

February 2005: Billboard Created Pop 100 Chart

In February 2005, Billboard created the Pop 100 chart to address criticisms about the Hot 100 being 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 on the Hot 100 was broken nine times, due to drastic leaps from digital components being available online.

June 16, 2007: Canadian Hot 100 Launched

On June 16, 2007, the Canadian Hot 100 was launched, utilizing sales and airplay tracking by Nielsen SoundScan and Broadcast Data Systems, similar to the Hot 100 chart.

August 11, 2007: Streaming media 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. AOL Music and Yahoo! Music were the first to provide statistics.

May 31, 2008: Billboard Japan Hot 100 Launched

On May 31, 2008, Billboard Japan Hot 100 was launched using methodologies similar to the U.S. and Canada Hot 100 charts, with sales and airplay data from SoundScan Japan and Plantech.

June 2009: Pop 100 Chart Discontinued

In June 2009, Billboard discontinued the Pop 100 chart because it had become too similar to the Hot 100 chart.

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, with data incorporated into the Hot 100.

January 2013: Streaming Songs chart expanded

In January 2013, Billboard expanded the On-Demand Songs chart to a broader Streaming Songs chart, with data continuing to be incorporated into the Hot 100.

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. "Harlem Shake" was the first song to reach number one after the changes were made.

Loading Video...

June 2015: Altered tracking-week

In June 2015 Billboard altered its tracking-week for sales, streaming and radio airplay to conform to a new Global Release Date.

July 2015: Weekly tracking period change

In July 2015, the weekly tracking period for sales and online streaming data changed from Monday–Sunday to Friday–Thursday.

July 25, 2015: Modified tracking schedule took effect

The modified tracking schedule took effect in the issue dated July 25, 2015.

2015: Recurrent criteria modified

From 2015 up until October 25, 2025, a song was permanently moved to 'recurrent status' if it had spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100 and fallen below position number 50. Additionally, descending songs were removed from the chart if ranking below number 25 after 52 weeks.

December 2019: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reaches No. 1

In December 2019, Mariah Carey's 1994 recording "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reached No. 1 on the chart due to the relaxation of recurrent rules in 2015.

Loading Video...

July 2020: Billboard changes rules for physical/digital bundles

In July 2020, Billboard announced that they would no longer allow sales of physical/digital bundles (songs bought with merchandise) to be reported as digital sales until shipped to the consumer, to prevent artists from boosting chart positions.

July 17, 2021: Radio airplay tracking cycle change

Effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021, radio airplay tracking was changed to a Friday–Thursday cycle, aligning it with sales and streaming data tracking.

January 14, 2022: Billboard Vietnam Hot 100 Launched

On January 14, 2022, the Vietnamese edition of Hot 100, Billboard Vietnam Hot 100, was launched.

October 25, 2025: Recurrent criteria until

Until October 25, 2025, a song was permanently moved to 'recurrent status' if it had spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100 and fallen below position number 50. Additionally, descending songs were removed from the chart if ranking below number 25 after 52 weeks.

2025: New recurrent rule enacted

In 2025, Billboard enacted stricter changes were made to the recurrent rules due to the takeover of streaming, as the Hot 100 started reflecting repeat listening more than ever before.

March 28, 2026: Billboard Hot 100 milestone

As of the week ending on March 28, 2026, the Billboard Hot 100 had 1,189 different number-one entries, with "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley being the current number-one song.

Loading Video...

2026: New tiers for recurrency

Effective with the chart dated October 25, 2025, the start of the 2026 chart year for Billboard, the Hot 100 instituted new tiers for recurrency for the top 25 and top 50, introducing ones for the top 10 and top 5.