A History of Disses at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, From ‘You’re So Vain’ to ‘Like That’

Peak Date: Jan. 6, 1973

Rumored Target: Warren Beatty

Beef History: One of the most famous pre-hip-hop dis tracks in pop history, “You’re So Vain” has engendered entire generations of speculation about the inspiration behind its bitter tales of a careless, callous and above all narcissistic ex. Simon has never entirely given the entire game away there — though she’s confirmed at least one verse was about the song’s most frequently theorized subject matter, legendary Hollywood womanizer Warren Beatty. Regardless, no less an authority on post-breakup songs than Taylor Swift has referred to it as “the best song that’s ever been written,” during Simon’s 2023 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Biggest Bar: “You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht/ Your hat strategically dipped below one eye/ Your scarf it was apricot”

Peak Date: Nov. 2, 1974

Rumored Target: Richard Nixon

Beef History: The 37th President of the United States was hardly at the peak of his popularity in late 1974, with the fallout from the Watergate scandal rocking the nation and leading to his impeachment. Wonder was there that autumn to add insult to injury for the reeling Nixon, with the Jackson 5-featuring “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” voicing the public’s frustration with his dishonesty and poor decision-making, while allowing, “It’s not too cool to be ridiculed/ But you brought this upon yourself.” Nixon officially resigned from office two days after the song’s official single release — coincidence?

Biggest Bar: “We are sick and tired of hearing your song/ Tellin’ how you are gonna change right from wrong/ ‘Cause if you really want to hear our views/ You haven’t done nothin’”

Peak Date: May 7, 2005

Rumored Target: Courtney Love

Beef History: Stefani told the NME in 2005 that her stomp-clapping, pom-poms-throwing anthem was inspired by comments made by ’90s alt-rock icon Love to Seventeen: “I’m not interested in being the cheerleader. I’m not interested in being Gwen Stefani. She’s the cheerleader, and I’m out in the smoker shed.” Stefani responded, “I’ve never been a cheerleader. So I was, like, ‘OK, f–k you. You want me to be a cheerleader? Well, I will be one then. And I’ll rule the whole world, just you watch me.” Mission accomplished: “Hollaback Girl” reigned on the Hot 100 for four weeks.

Biggest Bar: “I’m gonna fight, gonna give it my all/ Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you/ That’s right, I’m the last one standing/ Another one bites the dust”

Peak Date: Apr. 21, 2007

Rumored Targets: Scott Storch, Fergie and Prince

Beef History: After Timbaland had conquered pop with his work on Nelly Furtado’s Loose and Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/Love Sounds albums in 2006, he invited the two stars to take a collective victory lap on the lead single from his own Shock Value album in 2007. The result was “Give It to Me,” which sees the three hitmakers in full chest-puff mode, taking shots at perceived pretenders to their shared throne. Timbaland aims at one-time protégé Scott Storch (“I’m a real producer, you’re just a piano man”), Timberlake responds to seemingly dismissive comments made by all-timer Prince (“If sexy never left then why’s everybody on my sh-i-i-it?”) and Furtado maybe side-eyes a pop-transformed Fergie (“I seen you to try switch it up, but girl, you ain’t that dope”), though she’s denied there being any specific target for her verse.

Biggest Bar: “We missed you on the charts last week/ Damn, that’s right, you wasn’t there”

Peak Date: June 6, 2015

Rumored Target: Katy Perry

Beef History: Swift and Perry allegedly had long-simmering shared animosity in the mid-’10s, started by complaints made by the former about having backup dancers stolen from her by a fellow pop star, widely believed to be the latter. The two would volley subliminal shots over the next few years, the most high-profile of which was “Bad Blood,” which bemoaned a friendship-gone-sour that “left a really deep cut.” The wounds would ultimately be healed between the two, but not before “Blood” became the third Hot 100 No. 1 hit from Swift’s 1989 album — boosted by a guest verse provided for the song’s remix by none other than Kendrick Lamar.

Biggest Bars: “Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes/ You say sorry just for show/ If you live like that, you live with ghosts”

Peak Dates: Jan. 23 & May 29, 2021

Rumored Targets: Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter

Beef History: Olivia Rodrigo’s ballad debut single “Drivers License” became the first mega-viral breakup smash of the TikTok era on impact in 2021, as fan theories widely circulated about the targets of the venomous lyrics — largely believed to be Rodrigo’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star ex Joshua Bassett (“You didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me”) and his rumored new girlfriend, multi-platform star Sabrina Carpenter (“That blonde girl”). The seething continued for Rodrigo’s second No. 1 later that year, the pop-punk rager “Good 4 U,” which lamented, “I guess that therapist I found for you, she really helped/ Now you can be a better man for your brand-new girl.” (Carpenter would later respond with her own Hot 100-charting “Skin,” quipping, “Maybe you didn’t mean it/ Maybe blonde was the only rhyme.”)

Biggest Bar: “Well, good for you, you look happy and healthy/ Not me, if you ever cared to ask/ Good for you, you’re doing great out there without me, baby/ Like a damn sociopath!”

Peak Date: Nov. 27, 2021

Rumored Target: Jake Gyllenhaal

Beef History: Film star and noted Swift ex Gyllenhaal had already allegedly inspired another No. 1 on her original Red album in 2012 with the blithely dismissive “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which is probably a little too lighthearted to be considered a proper dis track. But there was no such levity to Red deep cut “All Too Well,” which was even more brutal in its re-recorded (and much-hyped) 10-minute version for Swift’s Taylor’s Version re-release of Red, which contained extra finger-pointing lyrics like “Some actress askin’ me what happened — you/ That’s what happened, you” and debuted at No. 1 upon its late 2021 release.

Biggest Bar: “And you call me up again just to break me like a promise/ So casually cruel in the name of bein’ honest”

Peak Date: Feb. 10, 2024

Rumored Target: Nicki Minaj (among others)

Beef History: Megan Thee Stallion’s internet-dominating missive “Hiss” hardly reserved its shots for any one target, casting a wide (if not always specifically aimed) spray. But the most memorable ones were widely interpreted to be about her 2019 “Hot Girl Summer” co-star Nicki Minaj — whom Megan was rumored to have fallen out with over the course of the early ’20s — as well as Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty, who plead guilty to attempted rape of a minor decades earlier. Minaj responded a couple days later with her own “Big Foot,” taking many more direct shots at Megan, with the ensuing attention from the back-and-forth helping propel “Hiss” to a No. 1 debut.

Biggest Bars: “These h–s don’t be mad at Megan, these h–s mad at Megan’s Law/ I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start/ B—h, you a p—y, never finna check me/ Every chance you get, bet your weak ass won’t address me”

Peak Date: Apr. 6, 2024

Rumored Targets: Drake & J. Cole

Beef History: Drake and Kendrick Lamar have had issues to some extent dating back a decade now, most unforgettably fired off via the latter’s guest verse on Big Sean’s “Control” in 2013, where he included Drake (as well as Cole) on a list of rappers he was trying to “murder” on record. The animosity was apparently revived by Drake and Cole teaming up on 2023’s Hot 100-topping “First Person Shooter,” in which Cole suggested that the duo made up rap’s current “Big Three” along with Lamar — an assertion which, needless to say, Kendrick seems to be currently taking issue with on “Like That,” a No. 1 Hot 100 debut this week.

Biggest Bars: “Motherfuck the Big Three, n—a, it’s just Big Me… I’m really like that/ And your best work is a light pack”