Billboard All Time Hot 100 Artists: 1958-2015

Billboard All Time Hot 100 Artists: 1958-2015

For the 50th anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 2008, the magazine released a list of the All-Time Hot 100 Artists. They updated the list in 2016 to include all songs which had charted from the inception of the Hot 100 chart on August 4, 1958 through October 10, 2015. See other best-of lists from publications/organizations. 1. The Beatles 2. Madonna 3. Elton John 4. Elvis Presley 5. Mariah Carey 6. Stevie Wonder 7. Janet Jackson 8. Michael Jackson 9. Whitney Houston 10. The Rolling Stones 11. Paul McCartney 12. The Bee Gees 13. Rihanna 14. Usher 15. Chicago 16. The Supremes 17. Daryl Hall & John Oates 18. Prince 19. Rod Stewart 20. Olivia Newton-John 21. Aretha Franklin 22. Marvin Gaye 23. Phil Collins 24. Katy Perry 25. Billy Joel 26. Diana Ross 27. The Four Seasons 28. The Temptations 29. Donna Summer 30. The Beach Boys 31. Lionel Richie 32. Neil Diamond 33. Carpenters 34. Taylor Swift 35. Boyz II Men 36. The Jackson 5/The Jacksons 37. Connie Francis 38. Kenny Rogers 39. Beyoncé 40. Brenda Lee 41. Barbra Streisand 42. Bryan Adams 43. Cher 44. Maroon 5 45. George Michael 46. Black Eyed Peas 47. Bobby Vinton 48. John Mellencamp 49. Three Dog Night 50. Huey Lewis & the News 51. Gloria Estefan/Miami Sound Machine 52. Bon Jovi 53. Pink 54. Chubby Checker 55. Ray Charles 56. Foreigner 57. Kool & the Gang 58. Ricky Nelson 59. Duran Duran 60. The Commodores 61. Bruno Mars 62. Eagles 63. TLC 64. Paul Anka 65. Barry Manilow 66. Dionne Warwick 67. Chris Brown 68. Lady Gaga 69. Gladys Knight & the Pips 70. Heart 71. Nelly 72. The Everly Brothers 73. Bobby Darin 74. R. Kelly 75. James Brown 76. Paula Abdul 77. Alicia Keys 78. Linda Ronstadt 79. Kelly Clarkson 80. Richard Marx 81. Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship 82. Destiny’s Child 83. Celine Dion 84. The Miracles 85. Eminem 86. Jay-Z 87. Bob Seger 88. Fleetwood Mac 89. Kanye West 90. Justin Timberlake 91. Neil Sedaka 92. Bruce Springsteen 93. The Pointer Sisters 94. John Denver 95. The Four Tops 96. Tony Orlando & Dawn 97. 50 Cent 98. 5th Dimension 99. Captain & Tennille 100. Andy Gibb Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Best-of Lists from Publications/Organizations” Billboard.com: The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists (8/58 to 7/08) Billboard.com: The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists (8/4/1958 to 10/10/2015) Last updated 3/3/2026.

50 years ago: The Beatles hit #1 with “Yesterday”

Yesterday The Beatles

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The Weeknd knocks himself from #1 with “The Hills”

The Hills The Weeknd

Writer(s): Abel Tesfaye, Emmanuel Nickerson, Carlo Montagnese, Ahmad Balshe (see lyrics here) Released: May 27, 2015 First Charted: June 13, 2015 Peak: 16 US, 2 RR, 12 BA, 13 DG, 14 ST, 40 A40, 114 RB, 3 UK, 11 CN, 3 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 1.8 UK, 14.75 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1635.3 video, 1938.8 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In August 2015, Abel Tesfaye, better known as the Weeknd, reached #1 for the first time with “Can’t Feel My Face.” It spent three non-consecutive weeks on top, finally dethroned by “The Hills.” With his second single from Beauty Behind the Madness, the Weeknd outdid himself, spending six weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The “spooky-sounding song” SF is “intense musically, mixing heavy soul and rap.” PSP Hardeep Phull wrote in The New York Post that the Weekend “is in brilliantly sinister form.” WK Billboard said, “Number one hits aren’t supposed to be this sonically adventurous and dark...There’s barely a pop hook to speak of here – just a beguiling, harrowing soundscape that’s impossible to forget.” WK The Weeknd “takes the voice of a celebrity…driven by self-destructive hedonism and has no qualms about it.” SF He sings “of a secret relationship, possibly with a celebrity. The singer is all too aware that now because he is famous, the hills have eyes – i.e., everyone is watching him.” SF The title of the song and its lyrics reference the 1977 horror film The Hills Have Eyes, SF but can also be viewed as a reference to the Hollywood Hills. PFF The song is more than just an exploration of a love affair. It’s about how “people pretend to be who they aren’t and judge others for doing the same things.” PFF Pitchfork’s Hannah Giorgis called the song “a dark, almost discordant meditation on lust, drugs, and fame.” WK Resources: PSP The Pop Song Professor SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/6/2021; last updated 7/22/2023.

Squeeze released Cradle to the Grave after a 17-year gap

Cradle to the Grave Squeeze

Released: October 2, 2015 Peak: -- US, 12 UK Sales (in millions): -- Genre: new wave

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Cradle to the Grave [3:20] Nirvana [3:55] (3/17/16, --) Beautiful Game [3:25] Happy Days [4:36] (8/2/15, --) Open [3:46] Only 15 [3:11] Top of the Form [3:05] Sunny [2:59] Haywire [3:52] Honeytrap [3:30] Everything [4:06] Snap, Crackle and Pop [4:52] Songs written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook. Total Running Time: 44:32 The Players: Chris Difford (vocals, guitar) Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, keyboards, etc.) Lucy Shaw (bass) Stephen Large (keyboards) Simon Hanson (drums)

Rating: 2.503 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: In 2007, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook reunited as Squeeze but it wasn’t until 2010 that they returned to the studio for Spot the Difference, a collection of re-recorded versions of some of their best loved songs. Five years later they released Cradle to the Grave, their first set of new songs since 1998’s Domino. Surprisingly, it became their highest-charting studio release in the UK. It was their only album to feature Lucy Shaw on bass and the first to feature Stephen Large and Simon Hanson. “Remarkably, especially given its mortality-obsessed title, Cradle to the Grave doesn’t play like a revival, nor does it seem concerned with modern fashion. Difford and Tilbrook simply pick up the thread they left hanging in the ‘90s, acting as if no time has passed. Happily, the pair does not seem as knackered as they did on Domino, a record where they seemed to limp along out of habit.” AMG “Without consciously reviving any specific Squeeze era -- the closest companion this album has may be the early-‘90s efforts, such as Play and Some Fantastic Place – Cradle to the Grave relies on the sharp melodic construction of Tilbrook and Difford’s diffident wit, a combination the crackles throughout this lean 44-minute record.” AMG “Although there’s little doubt this is first and foremost a pop album constructed almost entirely out of tight three to four-minute tunes, what Squeeze celebrate is classic pop aesthetics, not sound: perhaps the Tamla-Motown bounce of the title track is expected, but the glitterball disco that follows on Nirvana is not, and the record is filled with such sly curveballs, finding a bit of earthiness in the majestic contours of the Beach Boys and splendor within boozy singalongs. When applied to such sturdy songs, these grace notes make Cradle to the Grave feel nothing less than celebratory, an affirmation of Difford and Tilbrook’s special chemistry as songwriters and bandleaders.” AMG Notes: A deluxe edition added four cover songs: Lou Reed’s “Hangin’ ‘Round,” Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley PTA,” Ray Davies’ “This Strange Effect,” and Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Squeeze AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 5/20/2022.