Billboard has been publishing weekly rankings in one form or another for over a century.
Early in the 1900s, Billboard published charts detailing the popularity of sheet music in the U.S. In July 1940, Billboard unveiled its first chart ranking the sales of recorded songs, the 10-position “National List of Best Selling Retail Records,” with Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller among its ranks.
Billboard expanded its number of weekly charts over the next few years, starting recaps for R&B in 1942 and country in 1944. In March 1956, the weekly Billboard 200 albums chart premiered (at just 10 positions deep). Two years later, in August 1958, the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart began.
At the end of 1958, Billboard printed a recap of the year’s biggest songs for the first time (that year also encompassed songs’ performance on pre-Hot 100 charts leading up to the list’s August launch). Domenico Modugno’s “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)” finished as Billboard‘s first year-end No. 1 Hot 100 song. The track, which spent five total weeks at No. 1, became the second song to top the weekly Hot 100, after Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool.”
Also in the 1958 year-end issue, Billboard continued its tradition of surveying the music industry via “The Billboard Eleventh Annual Disc Jockey Poll,” which “Volare” also crowned. “[The song] was really a left-field hit … one of the few disks in recent years with a non-English lyric to reach the top,” Billboard wrote at the time. In 2023, such hits are plentiful, as seven non-English language songs reached the top 10 alone during the year — the most ever in a calendar year. Thus, this line from that 1958 issue proved prophetic, given the sonic, and geographic, scope of that year’s, and this year’s, biggest titles: “The preference in tunes indicates that no one type of song or artist reigns supreme among jockeys. The list also includes several types of songs with many extremes, ranging from an old folk song to European, Latin American and tunes by American cleffers.”
Jumping to the latest year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking — with the weekly chart now blending streaming, radio airplay and sales data — Morgan Wallen’s 16-week No. 1 “Last Night” finished as 2023’s top track. It’s the first single that topped the Hot Country Songs chart to wrap at No. 1 since Faith Hill’s “Breathe” in 2000, and the first by a male artist since Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans” in 1959.
Today, Billboard not only has the year-end Hot 100 Songs ranking, but also annual recaps for all 200-plus weekly charts, reflecting chart performance of songs, albums, artists and more over a 12-month tracking period.
From “Volare” to “Last Night” and every top title in between, here’s a look at every year-end No. 1 Hot 100 single since 1958, as published in each year-end Billboard issue.
Additional research by Gary Trust, Paul Grein and Alex Vitoulis
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2023
Morgan Wallen, “Last Night”
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2022
Glass Animals, “Heat Waves”
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2021
Dua Lipa, “Levitating”
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2020
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights”
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2019
Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road”
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2018
Drake, “God’s Plan”
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2017
Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You”
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2016
Justin Bieber, “Love Yourself”
Bieber also had the No. 2 song in 2016, with “Sorry.”
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2015
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk!”
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2014
Pharrell Williams, “Happy”
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2013
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz, “Thrift Shop”
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2012
Gotye feat. Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
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2011
Adele, “Rolling In The Deep”
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2010
Kesha, “Tik Tok”
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2009
The Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow”
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2008
Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low”
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2007
Beyoncé, “Irreplaceable”
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2006
Daniel Powter, “Bad Day”
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2005
Mariah Carey, “We Belong Together”
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2004
Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris, “Yeah!”
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2003
50 Cent, “In Da Club”
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2002
Nickelback, “How You Remind Me”
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2001
Lifehouse, “Hanging by a Moment”
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2000
Faith Hill, “Breathe”
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1999
Cher, “Believe”
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1998
Next, “Too Close”
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1997
Elton John, “Candle in the Wind 1997″ / “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”
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1996
Los Del Río, “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)”
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1995
Coolio feat. L.V., “Gangsta’s Paradise”
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1994
Ace of Base, “The Sign”
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1993
Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”
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1992
Boyz II Men, “End of the Road”
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1991
Bryan Adams, “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”
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1990
Wilson Phillips, “Hold On”
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1989
Chicago, “Look Away”
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1988
George Michael, “Faith”
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1987
The Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian”
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1986
Dionne & Friends (Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Elton John & Stevie Wonder), “That’s What Friends Are For”
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1985
Wham!, “Careless Whisper”
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1984
Prince, “When Doves Cry”
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1983
The Police, “Every Breath You Take”
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1982
Olivia Newton-John, “Physical”
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1981
Kim Carnes, “Bette Davis Eyes”
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1980
Blondie, “Call Me”
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1979
The Knack, “My Sharona”
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1978
Andy Gibb, “Shadow Dancing”
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1977
Rod Stewart, “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)”
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1976
Wings, “Silly Love Songs”
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1975
Captain & Tennille, “Love Will Keep Us Together”
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1974
Barbra Streisand, “The Way We Were”
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1973
Tony Orlando & Dawn, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”
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1972
Roberta Flack, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
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1971
Three Dog Night, “Joy to the World”
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1970
Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
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1969
The Archies, “Sugar, Sugar”
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1968
The Beatles, “Hey Jude”
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1967
Lulu, “To Sir With Love”
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1966
The Mamas & The Papas, “California Dreamin’”
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1965
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, “Wooly Bully”
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1964
The Beatles, “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
The group also had the No. 2 song, with “She Loves You.”
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1963
The Beach Boys, “Surfin’ U.S.A.”
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1962
Mr. Acker Bilk, “Stranger On The Shore”
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1961
Bobby Lewis, “Tossin’ & Turnin’”
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1960
Percy Faith, “Theme From ‘A Summer Place’”
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1959
Johnny Horton, “The Battle of New Orleans”
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1958
Domenico Modugno, “Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)”
