Top Hits And Artists

Everyone who listens to my television and radio shows knows that my source - the only source - of chart data is Billboard. As the trade paper of the record industry, it's been publishing charts of every size, shape, and significance for more than 40 years, reflecting the popularity of the music and performers that have become part of our lives.

- Casey Kasem

American Hot Wax The Life story of Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed, who introduced rock'n'roll to teenage American radio audiences in the 1950's. Freed was a source of great controversy: criticized by conservatives for corrupting youth with the "devil's music"; hated by racists for promoting African American music for white consumption; persecuted by law enforcement officials and finally brought down by the "payola" scandals.

Don Imus once said, "It ain't number one 'til it's number one in Billboard. Top hits and artists all came from Billboard. In January of 1955, Billboard published three pop singles charts: Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played By Jockeys and Most Played In Juke Boxes. These charts appeared weekly in the magazine and each focused on specific areas of the music trade. In November of 1955, Billboard introduced its first 100-position pop chart, The Top 100. On August 4, 1958, Billboard introduced the Hot 100, its first chart to fully integrate the hottest-selling and most-played pop singles. The Hot 100 has since hosted every type of music that falls under the wide umbrella of the popular song, from reggae to rock to doo-wop to country to rap to novelty and more.

Although Billboard began publishing in 1894, it wasn't until 1940 that it published its first weekly national pop chart. This first chart was a top 10 listing and the chart fluctuated in size from 10 to 30 positions until 1955, when Billboard introduced its first Top 100 chart. The Hot 100 chart, which has become recognized as America's definitive record singles chart, was first published on August 4, 1958.

From 1955 to 1958, before the introduction of the Hot 100, there were a number of charts published by Billboard, which were consulted by various members of the music trade. It wasn't until the Hot 100 chart was published in 1958 that the music industry settled down to consulting simply one chart as the definitive source for popular record chart data.

Radio airplay and record sales have always been the two combined factors of a song's ranking on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. To better reflect the hottest songs of the ever-changing radio and record industry, Billboard has continually revised its compilation method over the years. From 1958-91, Billboard compiled the Hot 100 from playlists reported by radio stations and surveys of retail sales outlets.

The data used to compile each week's Hot 100 chart is also used to compile the weekly Hot 100 Singles Sales and Hot 100 Airplay charts. The early Sales chart was compiled from the best-selling records based on reports from record stores, and the early Airplay chart was compiled from the most-played songs based on radio station playlists.

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs or albums in various categories on a weekly basis. Its most famous chart, the "Hot 100" survey, ranks the top 100 songs regardless of genre and is frequently used as the standard measure for ranking songs in the United States. The "Billboard 200" survey is the corresponding chart for album sales.

Billboard magazine was originally concerned with carnival entertainment, but music coverage grew to the point that its earlier subjects were spun off into a separate journal in the 1950s. On January 4, 1936 Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade and on July 20, 1940 the first Music Popularity Chart was calculated. Since 1958 the Hot 100 has been published, combining single sales and radio airplay. Billboard has many, many different charts with the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 just being the most famous. Billboard also has charts for the following music styles: country, bluegrass, jazz, classical, R and B, rap, electronic, latin, and christian music. The size of these charts varies from 10 positions up to 75.

#1 Hits

Top POPular Recordings

Songs With Most Charted Versions

Timothy P. Maga. To the "New Frontier". "All the Way with LBJ". The 1960s (Eyewitness History Series) Facts on File. 2003.

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