Sunday, December 31, 2023

USA’s Biggest #1 Pop Songs by Year, 1890-2023

USA’s Biggest #1 Pop Songs:

1890-2023

These are the songs from each year from 1890 to 2023 which spent the most weeks at #1 on the pop charts in the United States. Songs could have hit #1 on any of the following charts:

Billboard Charts:

Non-Billboard Charts:

Cashbox (1950-1996) (CB)
Edward Foote Gardner Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century (1900-1949) (GA)
The Gavin Report (1958-2000) (GR)
Hit Records (Music Vendor/Record World) (1954-1982) (HR)
Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) (SM)
Radio & Records/Mediabase (1973-present) (RR)
Joel Whitburn Pop Memories (1890-1954) (PM)
Your Hit Parade (1935-1959) (HP)

After the song title, the chart on which it reached #1 for the most weeks, and the total weeks at #1, is noted. The year indicates when the song was first released, not necessarily the same as the year when it hit #1. You can also check out the biggest #1 pop songs all-time here.

Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.

2023: Miley Cyrus “Flowers” (BA: 18)
2022: Harry Styles “As It Was” (BB: 15 wks)
2021: BTS “Butter” (DG: 13)
2020: BTS “Dynamite” (DG: 18)
2019: The Weeknd “Blinding Lights” (BA: 26)
2018: Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus “Old Town Road” (ST: 20 wks)
2017: Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber “Despacito” (DG: 17 wks)
2016: The Chainsmokers with Halsey “Closer” (DG: 13 wks)
2015: Desiigner “Panda” (ST: 14 wks)
2014: Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk!” (BB: 14 wks)
2013: Miley Cyrus” Wrecking Ball” (ST: 13 wks)
2012: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Wanz “Thrift Shop” (DG: 10 wks)
2011: Rihanna with Calvin Harris “We Found Love” (BA: 12 wks)
2010: Eminem & Rihanna “Love the Way You Lie” (BA: 8 wks)
2009: Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling” (BB: 14 wks)
2008: Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow” (BB: 12 wks)
2007: Alicia Keys “No One” (BA: 14 wks)
2006: Beyoncé “Irreplaceable” (BA: 11 wks)
2005: Mariah Carey “We Belong Together” (BA: 16 wks)
2004: Usher with Lil’ Jon & Ludacris “Yeah!” (BB: 12 wks)
2003: OutKast “Hey Ya!” (BB: 9 wks)
2002: Eminem “Lose Yourself” (BB: 12 wks)
2001: Usher “U Got It Bad” (BA: 10 wks)
2000: Destiny’s Child “Independent Women” (BB: 11 wks)
1999: TLC “No Scrubs” (BA: 13 wks)
1998: Goo Goo Dolls “Iris” (BA: 18 wks)
1997: Elton John “Candle in the Wind 1997 (Goodbye England’s Rose)” (BB: 14 wks)
1996: Celine Dion “Because You Loved Me” (BA: 14 wks)
1995: Mariah Carey with Boyz II Men “One Sweet Day” (BB: 16 wks)
1994: Boyz II Men “I’ll Make Love to You” (BB: 14 wks)
1993: Ace of Base “The Sign” (BA: 13 wks)
1992: Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” (BB: 14 wks)
1991: Paula Abdul “Rush Rush” (BA: 9 wks)
1990: Mariah Carey “Someday” (BA: 10 wks)
1989: Janet Jackson “Love Will Never Do Without You” (BA: 7 wks)
1988: Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (BA: 4 wks)
1987: George Michael “Faith” (BB: 4 wks)
1986: Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” (BB: 4 wks)
1985: U.S.A. for Africa “We Are the World” (BA: 5 wks)
1984: Madonna “Like a Virgin” (BB: 6 wks)
1983: The Police “Every Breath You Take” (BB: 8 wks)
1982: Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (BB: 7 wks)
1981: Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (BB: 10 wks)
1980: Blondie “Call Me” (CB: 7 wks)
1979: The Knack “My Sharona” (BB: 6 wks)
1978: Chic “Le Freak” (CB/HR: 7 wks)
1977: Debby Boone “You Light Up My Life” (HR: 13 wks)
1976: Rod Stewart “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” (BB: 8 wks)
1975: Captain & Tennille “Love Will Keep Us Together” (RR: 6 wks)
1974: Terry Jacks “Seasons in the Sun” (RR: 6 wks)
1973: Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (BB: 5 wks)
1972: Gilbert O’Sullivan “Alone Again (Naturally)” (BB: 6 wks)
1971: Don McLean “American Pie” (HR: 5 wks)
1970: Simon & Garfunkel “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (BB: 6 wks)
1969: The Fifth Dimension “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (BB: 6 wks)
1968: The Beatles “Hey Jude” (BB: 9 wks)
1967: Paul Mauriat “Love Is Blue” (CB: 7 wks)
1966: The Monkees “I’m a Believer” (CB: 8 wks)
1965: The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (BB: 4 wks)
1964: The Beatles “Can’t Buy Me Love” (BB: 5 wks)
1963: The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (HR: 9 wks)
1962: The Four Seasons “Sherry” (CB: 7 wks)
1961: Bobby Lewis “Tossin’ and Turnin’” (BB: 7 wks)
1960: Percy Faith “Theme from ‘A Summer Place’” (BB: 9 wks)
1959: Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” (BB: 9 wks)
1958: Domenico Modugno “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blue)” (CB/HR: 6 wks)
1957: Elvis Presley “All Shook Up” (JB: 9 wks)
1956: Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” / “Hound Dog” (BB/BS: 11 wks)
1955: Perez “Prez” Prado “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” (BB/BS: 10 wks)
1954: The McGuire Sisters “Sincerely” (PM/DJ: 10 wks)
1953: Les Paul with Mary Ford “Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)” (PM/BS: 11 wks)
1952: Jo Stafford “You Belong to Me” (PM/DJ: 12 wks)
1951: Nat “King” Cole “Too Young” (HP: 12 wks)
1950: Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz” (PM/JB: 13 wks)
1949: Vaughn Monroe “Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)” (PM/DJ: 12 wks)
1948: Dinah Shore & Her Harper Valley Boys “Buttons and Bows” (PM/HP: 10 wks)
1947: Francis Craig with Bob Lamm “Near You” (PM/DJ: 17 wks)
1946: The Ink Spots “The Gypsy” (PM/JB: 13 wks)
1945: Perry Como “Till the End of Time” (PM/BS: 10 wks)
1944 Bing Crosby “I’ll Be Seeing You” (HP: 10 wks)
1943: Harry James with Helen Forrest “I’ve Heard That Song Before” (PM: 13 wks)
1942: Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers “White Christmas” (PM: 14 wks)
1941: Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)” (PM: 10 wks)
1940: Artie Shaw “Frenesi” (PM: 13 wks)
1939: Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (PM: 13 wks)
1938: Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (PM: 10 wks)
1937: Tommy Dorsey “Once in a While” (PM/HP: 7 wks)
1936: Bing Crosby with George Stoll’s Orchestra “Pennies from Heaven” (PM: 10 wks)
1935: Leo Reisman & His Orchestra with Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers “Cheek to Cheek” (PM: 11 wks)
1934: Ray Noble with Al Bowlly “Isle of Capri” (PM: 7 wks)
1933: George Olsen with Joe Morrison “The Last Round-Up” (PM: 9 wks)
1932: Leo Reisman’s Orchestra with Fred Astaire “Night and Day” (PM: 10 wks)
1931: Wayne King “Goodnight Sweetheart” (PM: 7 wks)
1930: Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees “Stein Song (University of Maine)” (PM: 10 wks)
1929: Nick Lucas “Tip Toe Through the Tulips” (PM: 10 wks)
1928: Al Jolson “Sonny Boy” (PM: 12 wks)
1927: Gene Austin “My Blue Heaven” (PM: 13 wks)
1926: Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Franklyn Baur “Valencia (A Song of Spain)” (PM: 11 wks)
1925: Vernon Dalhart “The Prisoner’s Song” (PM: 12 wks)
1924: Al Jolson with Isham Jones’ Orchestra “California Here I Come” (PM: 6 wks)
1923: Paul Whiteman “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” (PM: 7 wks)
1922: Al Jolson “April Showers” (PM: 11 wks)
1921: Isham Jones “Wabash Blues” (PM: 6 wks)
1920: Ben Selvin “Dardanella” (PM: 13 wks)
1919: Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again” (PM: 9 wks)
1918: Henry Burr “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight (For Her Daddy Over There)” (PM: 11 wks)
1917: American Quartet “Over There” (PM: 9 wks)
1916: Henry Burr “M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me)” (PM: 6 wks)
1915: John McCormack “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (PM: 8 wks)
1914: American Quartet “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (PM: 7 wks)
1913: Al Jolson “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)” (PM: 7 wks)
1912: American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” (PM: 8 wks)
1911: Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (PM: 10 wks)
1910: American Quartet with Billy Murray “Casey Jones” (PM: 11 wks)
1909: Haydn Quartet “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet” (PM: 11 wks)
1908: Billy Murray & Haydn Quartet “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (PM: 7 wks)
1907: Bryon G. Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (PM: 11 wks)
1906: Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” (PM: 10 wks)
1905: Arthur Collins “The Preacher and the Bear” (PM: 11 wks)
1904: Haydn Quartett “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (PM: 10 wks)
1903: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime” (PM; 6 wks)
1902: Len Spencer “The Arkansaw Traveler” (PM: 11 wks)
1901: Harry MacDonough & Grace Spencer “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” (PM: 7 wks)
1900: George J. Gaskin “When You Were Sweet Sixteen” (PM: 8 wks)
1899: Arthur Collins “I’d Leave My Happy Home for You” (PM: 7 wks)
1898: George J. Gaskin “My Old New Hampshire Home” (PM: 10 wks)
1897: George J. Gaskin “On the Banks of the Wabash” (PM: 10 wks)
1896: Dan Quinn “A Hot Time in the Old Town” (PM: 7 wks)
1895: Dan Quinn “The Band Played On” (PM: 10 wks)
1894: Edward M. Favor “Say Au Revoir, But Not Goodbye” (PM: 7 wks)
1893: George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” (PM: 10 wks)
1892: Len Spencer “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” (PM: 8 wks)
1891: George W. Johnson “The Laughing Song” (PM: 10 wks)
1890: U.S. Marine Band “The Washington Post March” (PM: 6 wks)