History of Billboard Hot 100 in Timeline

The Billboard Hot 100 is the premier music chart in the U.S., published weekly by Billboard magazine. It ranks songs based on a combination of sales, streaming activity, and radio airplay within the United States. Essentially, it represents the most popular songs in the country each week, providing a snapshot of current musical tastes and trends.

July 1913: Billboard's first chart

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" appeared

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

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 from three leading record companies.

October 1938: "The Billboard Record Buying Guide" retitled

In October 1938, Billboard retitled its review list as "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"

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

March 24, 1945: Billboard's lead popularity chart

Starting on March 24, 1945, Billboard's lead popularity chart was the Honor Roll of Hits, which ranked the most popular songs regardless of performer.

November 12, 1955: Billboard published The Top 100

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

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1955: Start of the rock era

In 1955, at the start of the rock era, Billboard had 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 as jukeboxes declined in popularity.

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

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

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August 4, 1958: "Poor Little Fool" tops Billboard Hot 100

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

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October 13, 1958: Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart

On October 13, 1958, Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart.

1958: Hot 100 and A- and B-sides

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: Billboard altered Hot 100 rule

Starting with the Hot 100 chart for the week ending November 29, 1969, Billboard altered its rule to list both sides of a single together if both received significant airplay.

1972: A- and B-sides trend

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

November 30, 1991: End of relationship between Billboard and American Top 40

On November 30, 1991, the relationship between the Hot 100 and the weekly radio countdown show American Top 40 ended, with American Top 40 switching to using the airplay-only side of the Hot 100.

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1991: Billboard has removed titles that have reached certain criteria

Billboard, in an effort to allow the chart to remain as current as possible and to give representation to new and developing artists and tracks, has (since 1991) removed titles that have reached certain criteria regarding their current rank and number of weeks on the chart.

1991: Nielsen began tracking sales

In 1991, Nielsen began tracking sales, with the weekly tracking period set to Monday–Sunday.

1994: "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

The Christmas song, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was recorded in 1994 by Mariah Carey.

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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 if they weren't available for purchase as a single.

December 1998: First major overhaul of the Hot 100's chart formula

Since December 1998, the change in methodology has shaken up the chart considerably, with some songs debuting solely on the strength of robust online sales and others making drastic leaps.

2003: Billboard started tracking downloads

Billboard initially started tracking downloads in 2003 with the Hot Digital Tracks chart. However, these downloads did not count towards the Hot 100.

February 12, 2005: Billboard Hot 100 tracks paid digital downloads

Since February 12, 2005, the Billboard Hot 100 tracks paid digital downloads from internet services.

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: New record for the largest single-week upward movement

Since 2006, the record for the largest single-week upward movement has been broken nine times.

June 16, 2007: Canadian Hot 100 Launch

On June 16, 2007, the Canadian Hot 100 was launched, utilizing sales and airplay data from Nielsen SoundScan and Broadcast Data Systems, similar to the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

August 11, 2007: Billboard incorporated streaming media data

In the issue dated August 11, 2007, Billboard began incorporating weekly data from streaming media and on-demand services into the Hot 100, initially using statistics from AOL Music and Yahoo! Music.

May 31, 2008: Billboard Japan Hot 100 Launch

On May 31, 2008, the Billboard Japan Hot 100 was launched, employing sales and airplay data from SoundScan Japan and Plantech, mirroring the methodology of the U.S. and Canadian Hot 100 charts.

June 2009: Pop 100 chart discontinued

In June 2009, Billboard discontinued the Pop 100 chart because the charts became increasingly similar.

March 24, 2012: Billboard premiered its On-Demand Songs chart

On March 24, 2012, Billboard premiered its On-Demand Songs chart, ranking web radio streams from services such as Spotify, with this data incorporated into the Hot 100 compilation.

January 2013: Broader Streaming Songs chart created

In January 2013, Billboard expanded its On-Demand Songs chart to a broader Streaming Songs chart, continuing to incorporate streaming data 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, with "Harlem Shake" being the first song to reach number one after these changes.

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June 2015: Billboard altered its tracking week

Billboard altered its tracking week for sales, streaming, and radio airplay 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 changed to Friday–Thursday.

July 25, 2015: Modified tracking schedule took effect

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

2015: Relaxation of recurrent rules

Since the relaxation of recurrent rules in 2015, Christmas songs started to become a regular presence on the Hot 100 each December.

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.

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July 2020: Billboard disallowed physical/digital bundles

In July 2020, Billboard announced that it would no longer allow physical/digital bundles to be reported as digital sales, a tactic used by some artists to boost chart positions.

July 17, 2021: Radio airplay tracking cycle change

Effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021, radio airplay, previously tracked Monday–Sunday, began being tracked on a Friday–Thursday cycle, aligning it with sales and streaming data.

January 14, 2022: Billboard Vietnam Hot 100 Launch

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

October 25, 2025: Song removed to recurrent status

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.

2025: New Recurrent rule enacted

In late 2025, Billboard instituted the new recurrent rule due to the takeover of streaming. Teddy Swims' "Lose Control" left the October 25 chart after a record 112-week stay.

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May 16, 2026: 1,191 number-one entries on the Billboard Hot 100

As of the issue for the week ending on May 16, 2026, the Billboard Hot 100 had 1,191 different number-one entries, with the current number-one song being "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley.

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