Lin-Manuel Miranda Is the Top Hot 100 Songwriter of 2022: The Year in Charts
Written by djfrosty on December 1, 2022
Lin-Manuel Miranda has already won a slew of impressive accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize, Grammys, Tonys and Emmys and now he can add yet another distinction to his resume: he’s No. 1 on the 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songwriters chart.
The multifaceted talent finishes the year at No. 1 thanks to his work on Disney’s Encanto soundtrack, including its five-week Billboard Hot 100 leader “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” credited to Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast. Miranda is credited as the sole songwriter on the track, helping boost his chart points (as he does not split chart points with multiple writers). During its 20-week run on the chart, “Bruno” earned the distinction as the biggest Disney song of all time, based on Billboard’s Greatest Of All Time methodology.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Charts
In total, Miranda earned eight songwriting credits on the Hot 100 in the 2022 chart year, all from Encanto, which all contributed to his placement on the year-end ranking. Here’s a look at where each song peaked on the Hot 100—Miranda is the only credited writer on each song:
Peak Position, Artist Billing, Title
No. 1, Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”
No. 8, Jessica Darrow, “Surface Pressure”
No 20, Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz & Encanto Cast, “The Family Madrigal”
No. 27, Diane Guerrero & Stephanie Beatriz, “What Else Can I Do?”
No. 36, Sebastian Yatra, “Dos Oruguitas”
No. 48, Stephanie Beatriz, “Waiting On A Miracle”
No. 71, Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz, John Leguizamo, Adassa, Maluma & Encanto Cast, “All of You”
No. 100, Carlos Vives, “Colombia, Mi Encanto”
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Prior to 2022, Miranda had only landed seven songs on the Hot 100 as a songwriter (he’s billed as an artist on four of them). He first charted in July 2016 with “Love Make The World Go Round” with Jennifer Lopez (No. 72 peak), and then with four songs from Moana soon after: Opetaia Foa’l and Miranda’s “We Know The Way” (No. 93 peak), Alessia Cara’s “How Far I’ll Go” (No. 56), Dwayne Johnson’s “You’re Welcome” (No. 65) and Auli’I Cravalho’s “How Far I’ll Go” (No. 41). After that, he charted with “Almost Like Praying,” featuring Artists for Puerto Rico (No. 20) and “Found / Tonight” with Ben Platt (No. 49)
His work on the Moana songs helped Miranda finish as the No. 28 Hot 100 Songwriter of 2017.
Miranda is also credited as a producer on all eight of his Encanto chart hits. “Colombia, Mi Encanto” was produced by Miranda and Carlos Vives, while the other seven entries were produced by Miranda and Mike Elizondo.
Miranda’s production work enables his finish as the No. 12 Hot 100 Producer of 2022, while Elizondo finishes just behind him at No. 13.
Just below Miranda on the year-end Hot 100 Songwriters ranking, Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley finished at No. 2, thanks to his writing credit on the band’s “Heat Waves.” The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in March-April and spent 37 weeks in the top 10 (beginning on Nov. 13, 2021—the beginning of Billboard’s chart year). The song also made history in October when it passed The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as the longest-charting song in the Hot 100’s 64-year history, with 91 total weeks spent on the chart.
As “Heat Waves” debuted on the Hot 100 in January 2021, Bayley finished 2021 as the No. 8 songwriter of the year.
Plus, Taylor Swift finishes at No. 3 on the Hot 100 Songwriters recap, thanks to a whopping 50 songwriting credits on the Hot 100 during the chart year, which all contributed to her year-end placement. The songs encompass many of the tracks from Red (Taylor’s Version), which she released in November 2021 and her new LP Midnights, which debuted in the next-to-last week of Billboard’s 2022 chart year, helping boost her final totals.
Of the 50 songs helping Swift’s year-end placement, 11 reached the top 10 on the weekly Hot 100 and two hit No. 1: “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” and “Anti-Hero.”
Rounding out the top 5 of the year-end Hot 100 Songwriters ranking, Harry Styles finishes at No. 4 (thanks to 13 writing credits, including the No. 1, “As It Was”) and Doja Cat close out at No. 5 (eight writing credits).