Top 10 Greatest Songs of All Time – Billboard Hot 100
The song that rules over the Billboard Top 100’s best songs of all time is almost as old as the chart himself.
For sixty years, Twisting Time is here!
How does it work?
In August 1958, Billboard published for the first time, the Hot 100 chart, changing forever how song’s performance is measured. The rankings of the Top Hot 100’s greatest songs of all time are based on the actual performance on the Hot 100 chart, since its inception through the current decade.
- The greatest songs of history are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at #1 earning the biggest value and weeks at #100 earning the least.
10. Hey Jude by The Beatles
- “Hey, Jude” was the Beatles’ 16th number-one song on Hot 100 chart, tying Preasley’s then-record for most #1 singles in the US.
- The pop-rock ballad is the #1 song of 1968 and the biggest selling single of the year in the US, in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
- “Hey, Jude” was the Beatles longest song with a running time of 7:11, and at that time was the longest-playing song to reach #1 in the US.
- “Hey, Jude” reached #1 on Hot 100 single chart in September ’68 and reigned the chart for nine-weeks, becoming Beatles’s longest Billboard Hot 100 run.
9. You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone
- Released in August 1977, “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone set a then-record for longest reign at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for 10 successive weeks.
- Forty-three years later, Bonne’s hit single its still maintaining his spot among the greatest songs ever, ranking at #9 on Billboard’s All-Time Top 100 chart.
Debby Boone’s biggest song reigned at #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart for 12 weeks, and peaked at #4 on the Country Songs chart.
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8. Physical by Olivia Newton-John
Released in September 1981 as the lead single of her twelfth album with the same name, “Physical” is Newton-John’s most successful record and currently rules the Billboard’s Top Songs of the 1980s chart.
- At the time, both song and music video of Physical were very controversial due to the provocative and sexual content, despite this, it ended up winning a Grammy for Video of the Year in 1983.
- It reigns as the #1 song on Billboard’s Top 50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time and the number-one pop song of 1982.
7. Macarena Mix by Bayside Boys
The Bayside Boys remix is one of the biggest dance-craze trends of the 20th century and the first remix (chronologically speaking) from Billboard’s Hot 100 all-time list.
The dance remix spent a record of 60 weeks in the Hot 100 chart, the longest reign among #1 songs – fifteen years later was overthrown by Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”
“Macarena (Bayside Boys remixed version)” peaked at number-one in August 1996, and stayed atop the Hot 100 singles chart for 14 consecutive weeks.
6. I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
- Produced by Davit Guetta, the song debuted at #2 on the Canadian and US Hot 100 chart, behind their own song “Boom Boom Pow.”
- By doing so, The Black Eyed Peas became one of the only 11 artists from history who occupied the top two spots of the Hot 100 chart at the same time.
Is the first song ever in digital history to reach the sale marks for 6, 7, 8 and 9 million sold copies in the US.
Currently, The Black Eyed Peas holds the record for the longest uninterrupted time at #1 on Hot 100 chart, with a total of 26 successive weeks from April to October 2009.
5. Party Rock Anthem by LMFO
- “Party Rock Anthem” reigned for 6 consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot 100 chart.
- The song spent a then-record of 68 weeks in the chart, being the 3rd longest-charting #1 song of all time.
LMFAO’s recording is one of the best selling singles of all time with over 10 million copies sold in the US.
4. How Do I Live by LeAnn Rimes
- Despite being the only song of this top not peaking at #1, in December 1997 and early 1998, “How Do I Live” reached #2 for five non-consecutive weeks.
- It spent ten weeks at #3 and seven weeks at #4, all non-consecutive.
- LeAnn Rimes’ song set a then-record of 69 weeks spent on the Hot 100 single chart.
Margaret LeAnn’s famed record version of “How Do I Live” stands as the most successful song of the 1990s.
- It spent a record time of 25 consecutive weeks in top-five and held the record until in 2017 when was broken by The Chainsmokers’s track “Closer.
- It spent an amaze record time of 32 consecutive weeks in the top ten until was overtaken by “Shape of You.”
3. Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin
- Bobby Darrin’s 1959 cover version is the third biggest song ever from Billboard’s Hot 100 chart history.
- “Mack the Knife” reached #1 on US and UK charts, being Bobby Darrin’s first and only number one song.
- It spent a total of 52 weeks in the top ten, nine of those at No.1 and is Bobby’s 4th song certified gold.
In 1959, at the 2nd edition of Grammys, Bobby Darrin won the trophies for Best New Artist and Record of the Year.
2. Smooth by Santana ft Rob Thomas
- Smooth is ranked by Billboard as the second biggest song of Hot 100’s all-time and the #1 rock single in 60 years of chart history.
- In October 1999, Santana’s single “Smooth” reigned for 12 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 song chart.
- It ranks as the last No.1 song of the 1990s and the first No.1 song of the new millennium.
- According to Nielsen Music, the song currently generates around one million on-demand streams per week.
1. The Twist by Chubby Checker
- In September 1960, Checker’s song version of “The Twist” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reigned for one week.
- In 1962, after the twist dance craze caught on high society, Chubby’s song hit again number one (reigning for two weeks).
- By doing so, “The Twist” song became the first recording to reach #1 in two separate chart runs.
- The Twist hits again in October 2012, when Chubby Checker set a Guinness world record for most people twisting in the streets.
