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 data, and radio airplay in the U.S., reflecting the most popular and trending songs across the nation each week.

July 1913: First chart published

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

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

In 1928, Billboard introduced "Popular Numbers Featured by Famous Singers and Leaders", adding radio performances to in-person performances in its charting methodology.

January 4, 1936: "Ten Best Records for Week Ending" published

On January 4, 1936, Billboard magazine published "Ten Best Records for Week Ending", which listed the top selling records of three leading record companies, according to the companies themselves.

October 1938: "The Billboard Record Buying Guide" created

In October 1938, Billboard retitled its review list to "The Billboard Record Buying Guide", incorporating airplay and sheet music sales.

July 20, 1940: "Billboard Music Popularity Chart" published

Billboard published the full-page "Billboard Music Popularity Chart" for the week ending July 20, 1940 in the July 27 issue, featuring lists for jukebox play, retail sales, sheet music sales, and radio play.

March 24, 1945: Honor Roll of Hits introduced

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 published

On November 12, 1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, combining sales, airplay, and jukebox activity. 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 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 declining popularity of jukeboxes.

July 28, 1958: Final Most Played by Jockeys and Top 100 charts

The week of July 28, 1958, featured the final Most Played by Jockeys and Top 100 charts, with Perez Prado's instrumental version of "Patricia" at the top of both charts.

August 4, 1958: "Poor Little Fool" number one

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 Hot 100 became the industry standard.

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 sides listed together rule altered

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 same song on both sides of singles

By 1972, most major record labels solidified a trend of putting the same song on both sides of singles provided to radio.

November 30, 1991: American Top 40 changes data source

On November 30, 1991, American Top 40 stopped using the Hot 100 as its data source and started using the airplay-only side of the Hot 100.

1991: Nielsen begins tracking sales

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

1991: Recurrent criteria implemented

Since 1991, Billboard has removed titles that have reached certain criteria regarding its current rank and number of weeks on the chart to allow the chart to remain current.

1994: "All I Want for Christmas Is You" released

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

December 5, 1998: Hot 100 becomes a 'songs' chart

On December 5, 1998, the Hot 100 changed from being a 'singles' chart to a 'songs' chart, allowing songs not available as singles to chart.

December 1998: Hot 100 chart change

Since December 1998, the Hot 100's chart formula had its first major overhaul.

2003: Billboard started 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.

February 12, 2005: Digital downloads tracked

Since February 12, 2005, the Billboard Hot 100 began tracking paid digital downloads from internet services, such as iTunes, Musicmatch, and Rhapsody.

February 2005: Pop 100 created

In February 2005, Billboard created the Pop 100 chart in response to criticism that the Hot 100 was too dominated by hip hop and R&B.

2006: Record broken for biggest single-week upward movement

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 BDS.

August 11, 2007: Streaming data incorporated

On August 11, 2007, Billboard began incorporating weekly data from streaming media and on-demand services into the Hot 100. AOL Music and Yahoo! Music provided statistics to Nielsen BDS.

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 discontinued

In June 2009, Billboard discontinued the Pop 100 chart 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, as well as on-demand audio titles. The data was incorporated into the Hot 100.

January 2013: Streaming Songs chart expanded

In January 2013, Billboard expanded its On-Demand Songs chart to a broader Streaming Songs chart, incorporating more streaming data into the Hot 100 calculation.

February 2013: YouTube views added

In February 2013, U.S. views for a song on YouTube were added to the Hot 100 formula.

June 2015: Tracking-week alteration

In June 2015, Billboard altered its tracking-week for sales, streaming, and radio airplay to align with the new Global Release Date on Fridays.

July 2015: Sales tracking period change

In July 2015, Billboard changed the weekly sales tracking period to Friday–Thursday.

July 25, 2015: Modified tracking schedule

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

2015: Song removal criteria modified

As of 2015, Billboard has permanently moved a song 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" reaches No. 1

In December 2019, Mariah Carey's 1994 recording "All I Want for Christmas Is You" reached No. 1 on the chart, benefiting from relaxed recurrent rules.

July 2020: Billboard disallowed physical/digital bundles 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 to prevent artists from boosting chart positions.

July 17, 2021: Radio airplay tracking cycle change

Effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021, Billboard's radio airplay tracking cycle aligned with sales and streaming, running from Friday to Thursday.