Here Are the Artists With the Most Streaming Songs No. 1s in the 21st Century

After Billboard introduced streaming data into the Billboard Hot 100 in the 2000s, and the first streaming-based ranking, On-Demand Streaming Songs, started in 2012, the Jan. 26, 2013, issue announced the arrival of Streaming Songs, which has become Billboard’s all-encompassing streaming ranking of record since.

Incorporating on-demand and programmed streaming totals (as compiled by data tracker Luminate), Streaming Songs began affording a look into the behaviors of millions of music fans, from diehards to casual listeners, on platforms that hadn’t existed prior to the 21st century. Especially key, it showed, for the first time, repeat curated listening in a way that tracking plays of records, tapes, CDs and MP3s hadn’t previously allowed.

Streaming Songs has been ever-changing, with streaming services added to the chart’s data feed. Early on, pop and hip-hop were streaming frontrunners. Since the turn of the 2020s, genres including country and Latin, in particular, have made significant inroads. Reflecting streaming’s growth overall, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz, topped the inaugural Streaming Songs chart with 1.5 million U.S. streams. On the latest list (dated Feb. 15), Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” rules with 29.2 million official clicks.

As Billboard celebrates the top-performing artists, albums and songs of the first 25 years of the century since 2000, browse below, the acts with the most No. 1s on the Streaming Songs chart in that span.

Plus, check out Top Artists of the 21st Century, Top Billboard 200 Albums of the 21st Century and Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century charts, as well as all coverage of Billboard’s 21st Century charts here.

Billboard’s Top Artists, Top Billboard 200 Albums and Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century recaps reflect performance on weekly charts dated Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 28, 2024. The Top Artists category ranks the best-performing acts in that span based on activity on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100. (Titles released prior to mid-1999 are excluded, although such entries that appeared on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 in that span contribute to the calculation of the Top Artists chart.)

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