For its 55th anniversary, Billboard released a list of the
All-Time Top 100 Hot 100 Artists and
All-Time Hot 100 Singles. However, they only vaguely documented their methodology and have never calculated and released similar countdowns for the top albums, album artists, or overall artists.
Recently, Billboard made their
Hot 100 archives (stretching back to September 1958) and
Billboard 200 archives (stretching back to November 1983) publicly available on their website. Using these archives, and additional archives of Billboard album charts dating back to 1963, I will host a countdown of the most successful Billboard chart phenomena of all time.
I will host three countdowns (starting on 7/24/2015):
All-Time Top 100 Billboard Artists
All-Time Top 100 Hot 100 Songs
1 | The Twist | CHUBBY CHECKER |
2 | Uptown Funk! | MARK RONSON |
3 | I Gotta Feeling | BLACK EYED PEAS |
4 | Hey Jude | THE BEATLES |
5 | Mack The Knife | BOBBY DARIN |
6 | Smooth | SANTANA |
7 | Macarena | LOS DEL RIO |
8 | Tossin' And Turnin' | BOBBY LEWIS |
9 | Party Rock Anthem | LMFAO |
10 | It's All In The Game | TOMMY EDWARDS |
11 | Too Close | NEXT |
12 | I Want To Hold Your Hand | THE BEATLES |
13 | Rolling In The Deep | ADELE |
14 | Low | FLO RIDA |
15 | You Light Up My Life | DEBBY BOONE |
16 | How Do I Live | LEANN RIMES |
17 | End Of The Road | BOYZ II MEN |
18 | Candle In The Wind | ELTON JOHN |
19 | We Found Love | RIHANNA |
20 | Physical | OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN |
21 | A Summer Place | PERCY FAITH |
22 | We Belong Together | MARIAH CAREY |
23 | Yeah! | USHER |
24 | I Will Always Love You | WHITNEY HOUSTON |
25 | To Sir With Love | LULU |
26 | Somebody That I Used To Know | GOTYE |
27 | Blurred Lines | ROBIN THICKE |
28 | Endless Love | DIANA ROSS & LIONEL RICHIE |
29 | I Can't Stop Loving You | RAY CHARLES |
30 | Boom Boom Pow | BLACK EYED PEAS |
31 | The Battle of New Orleans | JOHNNY HORTON |
32 | No One | ALICIA KEYS |
33 | I'm A Believer | THE MONKEES |
34 | Bette Davis Eyes | KIM VARNES |
35 | Un-Break My Heart | TONI BRAXTON |
36 | All About That Bass | MEAGHAN TRAINOR |
37 | Call Me Maybe | CARLY RAE JEPSEN |
38 | Irreplaceable | BEYONCE |
39 | Tik Tok | KESHA |
40 | Aquarius | 5TH DIMENSION |
41 | Everything I Do (I Do It For You | BRYAN ADAMS |
42 | Le Freak | CHIC |
43 | Gangsta's Paradise | COOLIO |
44 | Are You Lonesome Tonight? | ELVIS PRESLEY |
45 | The Boy Is Mine | BRANDY & MONICA |
46 | I Heard It Through The Grapevine | MARVIN GAYE |
47 | Sugar Shack | JIMMY GILMER |
48 | Big Bad John | JIMMY DEAN |
49 | Sugar, Sugar | THE ARCHIES |
50 | Ballad of the Green Berets | GREEN BERETS |
51 | Night Fever | BEE GEES |
52 | Alone Again | GILBERT O'SULLIVAN |
53 | Truly, Madly, Deeply | SAVAGE GARDEN |
54 | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face | ROBERTA FLACK |
55 | Happy | PHARRELL WILLIAMS |
56 | Tonight's The Night | ROD STEWART |
57 | Royals | LORDE |
58 | Shadow Dancing | ANDY GIBB |
59 | Thrift Shop | MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS |
60 | Apologize | TIMBALAND |
61 | Big Girls Don't Cry | FERGIE |
62 | Moves Like Jagger | MAROON 5 |
63 | Whatever You Like | T.I. |
64 | The Letter | THE BOX TOPS |
65 | Groovin' | YOUNG RASCALS |
66 | (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction | THE ROLLING STONES |
67 | To Know Him Is To Love Him | TEDDY BEARS |
68 | Stayin' Alive | BEE GEES |
69 | Say You Say Me | LIONEL RICHIE |
70 | That's What Friends Are For | DIONNE WARWICK |
71 | Rush, Rush | PAULA ABDUL |
72 | You Were Meant For Me | JEWEL |
73 | Hot Stuff | DONNA SUMMER |
74 | Dilemma | NELLY |
75 | Call Me | BLONDIE |
76 | Eye Of The Tiger | SURVIVOR |
77 | Gold Digger | KANYE WEST |
78 | One More Night | MAROON 5 |
79 | Daydream Believer | THE MONKEES |
80 | Let Me Love You | MARIO |
81 | Bleeding Love | LEONA LEWIS |
82 | How Deep Is Your Love | BEE GEES |
83 | Just The Way You Are | BRUNO MARS |
84 | I Just Want To Be Your Everything | ANDY GIBB |
85 | Another One Bites The Dust | QUEEN |
86 | Every Breath You Take | THE POLICE |
87 | Dark Horse | KATY PERRY |
88 | Sherry | FRANKIE VALLI |
89 | Live Your Life | T.I. |
90 | Monster Mash | BORIS PICKETT |
91 | Maggie May | ROD STEWART |
92 | She Loves | THE BEATLES |
93 | We Are Young | FUN. |
94 | Shake It Off | TAYLOR SWIFT |
95 | Say Say Say | PAUL MCCARTNEY & MICHAEL JACKSON |
96 | It's Only Make Believe | CONWAY TWITTY |
97 | Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head | BJ THOMAS |
98 | Whoomp! (There It Is) | TAG TEAM |
99 | Breaking Up Is Hard To Do | NEIL SEDAKA |
100 | One Sweet Day | MARIAH CAREY |
All-Time Top 100 Billboard 200 Albums
After the countdowns, I will also post these lists, which are components of the overall Artist list:
All-Time Top 100 Hot 100 Artists
All-Time Top 100 Billboard 200 Artists
Notes & Methodology
General Notes- For the combined Top Artists list, the raw points from the Hot 100 totals and Billboard 200 totals are combined without any additional scaling. The two points systems were made to give approximately equal weight to the Hot 100 and Billboard 200. However, you may notice that the biggest albums of all time have accumulated significantly more points than the biggest Hot 100 songs. This is because major albums typically have longer Billboard 200 runs than songs do Hot 100 runs and often feature several successful singles. Since Billboard 200 success is typically not independent of Hot 100 success, the apparent discrepancy does not appear to be too significant.
- Several chart weeks are missing from Billboard's online archives, including numerous weeks from 1985.
Hot 100
Base Hot 100 Point System
1 | 75.0 |
2 | 45.0 |
3 | 40.0 |
4 | 25.0 |
5 | 23.0 |
6 | 21.0 |
7 | 20.0 |
8 | 19.0 |
9 | 18.0 |
10 | 17.0 |
11 | 16.0 |
12 | 15.5 |
13 | 15.0 |
14 | 14.5 |
15 | 14.0 |
16 | 13.5 |
17 | 13.0 |
18 | 12.5 |
19 | 12.0 |
20 | 11.5 |
21 | 11.0 |
22 | 10.8 |
23 | 10.6 |
24 | 10.4 |
25 | 10.2 |
26 | 10.0 |
27 | 9.8 |
28 | 9.6 |
29 | 9.4 |
30 | 9.2 |
31 | 9.0 |
32 | 8.8 |
33 | 8.6 |
34 | 8.4 |
35 | 8.2 |
36 | 8.0 |
37 | 7.8 |
38 | 7.6 |
39 | 7.4 |
40 | 7.2 |
41 | 7.0 |
42 | 6.8 |
43 | 6.6 |
44 | 6.4 |
45 | 6.2 |
46 | 6.0 |
47 | 5.8 |
48 | 5.6 |
49 | 5.4 |
50 | 5.2 |
51 | 5.0 |
52 | 4.9 |
53 | 4.8 |
54 | 4.7 |
55 | 4.6 |
56 | 4.5 |
57 | 4.4 |
58 | 4.3 |
59 | 4.2 |
60 | 4.1 |
61 | 4.0 |
62 | 3.9 |
63 | 3.8 |
64 | 3.7 |
65 | 3.6 |
66 | 3.5 |
67 | 3.4 |
68 | 3.3 |
69 | 3.2 |
70 | 3.1 |
71 | 3.0 |
72 | 2.9 |
73 | 2.8 |
74 | 2.7 |
75 | 2.6 |
76 | 2.5 |
77 | 2.4 |
78 | 2.3 |
79 | 2.2 |
80 | 2.1 |
81 | 2.0 |
82 | 1.9 |
83 | 1.8 |
84 | 1.7 |
85 | 1.6 |
86 | 1.5 |
87 | 1.4 |
88 | 1.3 |
89 | 1.2 |
90 | 1.1 |
91 | 1.0 |
92 | 0.9 |
93 | 0.8 |
94 | 0.7 |
95 | 0.6 |
96 | 0.5 |
97 | 0.4 |
98 | 0.3 |
99 | 0.2 |
100 | 0.1 |
- Hot 100 figures include charts in the Billboard Archive from August 16, 1958 to July 18, 2015.
- Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system similar to the system Billboard used for their own all-time Hot 100 songs list, with weeks at #1 earning the most points and weeks at #100 earning the least. The system is top-heavy because most major hits are defined by the portion of their chart run spent near the top of the chart and are disadvantaged by the recurrent rule which removes them from the Hot 100 after dropping out of the Top 50.
- To account for changes in Billboard chart methodology and single sales trends across different eras, base points are multiplied by a year-specific "turnover rate" weight. The approximation for turnover rate used is a calculation of the number of unique titles in the Top 20 positions of the Hot 100 chart each year (the Top 20 appears to be more effective than using the entire chart, for the same reasons that the point system is top-heavy) which is then normalized by dividing by the average turnover rate across all years.
- Unlike Billboard's All-Time Hot 100 Artists chart, this All-Time Hot 100 Artist chart will include all songs on which is an artist is featured.
- The All-Time Hot 100 Artists chart only counts the titles released while an artist bears a particular artist name. For instance, the scores for Beyonce and Destiny's Child, or Paul McCartney and The Beatles, or Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 will not be combined.
Billboard 200
Base Billboard 200 Point System
1 | 155.0 |
2 | 55.0 |
3 | 50.0 |
4 | 35.0 |
5 | 33.0 |
6 | 31.0 |
7 | 30.0 |
8 | 29.0 |
9 | 28.0 |
10 | 27.0 |
11 | 26.0 |
12 | 25.5 |
13 | 25.0 |
14 | 24.5 |
15 | 24.0 |
16 | 23.5 |
17 | 23.0 |
18 | 22.5 |
19 | 22.0 |
20 | 21.5 |
21 | 21.0 |
22 | 20.8 |
23 | 20.6 |
24 | 20.4 |
25 | 20.2 |
26 | 20.0 |
27 | 19.8 |
28 | 19.6 |
29 | 19.4 |
30 | 19.2 |
31 | 19.0 |
32 | 18.8 |
33 | 18.6 |
34 | 18.4 |
35 | 18.2 |
36 | 18.0 |
37 | 17.8 |
38 | 17.6 |
39 | 17.4 |
40 | 17.2 |
41 | 17.0 |
42 | 16.8 |
43 | 16.6 |
44 | 16.4 |
45 | 16.2 |
46 | 16.0 |
47 | 15.8 |
48 | 15.6 |
49 | 15.4 |
50 | 15.2 |
51 | 15.0 |
52 | 14.9 |
53 | 14.8 |
54 | 14.7 |
55 | 14.6 |
56 | 14.5 |
57 | 14.4 |
58 | 14.3 |
59 | 14.2 |
60 | 14.1 |
61 | 14.0 |
62 | 13.9 |
63 | 13.8 |
64 | 13.7 |
65 | 13.6 |
66 | 13.5 |
67 | 13.4 |
68 | 13.3 |
69 | 13.2 |
70 | 13.1 |
71 | 13.0 |
72 | 12.9 |
73 | 12.8 |
74 | 12.7 |
75 | 12.6 |
76 | 12.5 |
77 | 12.4 |
78 | 12.3 |
79 | 12.2 |
80 | 12.1 |
81 | 12.0 |
82 | 11.9 |
83 | 11.8 |
84 | 11.7 |
85 | 11.6 |
86 | 11.5 |
87 | 11.4 |
88 | 11.3 |
89 | 11.2 |
90 | 11.1 |
91 | 11.0 |
92 | 10.9 |
93 | 10.8 |
94 | 10.7 |
95 | 10.6 |
96 | 10.5 |
97 | 10.4 |
98 | 10.3 |
99 | 10.2 |
100 | 10.1 |
101 | 10.0 |
102 | 9.9 |
103 | 9.8 |
104 | 9.7 |
105 | 9.6 |
106 | 9.5 |
107 | 9.4 |
108 | 9.3 |
109 | 9.2 |
110 | 9.1 |
111 | 9.0 |
112 | 8.9 |
113 | 8.8 |
114 | 8.7 |
115 | 8.6 |
116 | 8.5 |
117 | 8.4 |
118 | 8.3 |
119 | 8.2 |
120 | 8.1 |
121 | 8.0 |
122 | 7.9 |
123 | 7.8 |
124 | 7.7 |
125 | 7.6 |
126 | 7.5 |
127 | 7.4 |
128 | 7.3 |
129 | 7.2 |
130 | 7.1 |
131 | 7.0 |
132 | 6.9 |
133 | 6.8 |
134 | 6.7 |
135 | 6.6 |
136 | 6.5 |
137 | 6.4 |
138 | 6.3 |
139 | 6.2 |
140 | 6.1 |
141 | 6.0 |
142 | 5.9 |
143 | 5.8 |
144 | 5.7 |
145 | 5.6 |
146 | 5.5 |
147 | 5.4 |
148 | 5.3 |
149 | 5.2 |
150 | 5.1 |
151 | 5.0 |
152 | 4.9 |
153 | 4.8 |
154 | 4.7 |
155 | 4.6 |
156 | 4.5 |
157 | 4.4 |
158 | 4.3 |
159 | 4.2 |
160 | 4.1 |
161 | 4.0 |
162 | 3.9 |
163 | 3.8 |
164 | 3.7 |
165 | 3.6 |
166 | 3.5 |
167 | 3.4 |
168 | 3.3 |
169 | 3.2 |
170 | 3.1 |
171 | 3.0 |
172 | 2.9 |
173 | 2.8 |
174 | 2.7 |
175 | 2.6 |
176 | 2.5 |
177 | 2.4 |
178 | 2.3 |
179 | 2.2 |
180 | 2.1 |
181 | 2.0 |
182 | 1.9 |
183 | 1.8 |
184 | 1.7 |
185 | 1.6 |
186 | 1.5 |
187 | 1.4 |
188 | 1.3 |
189 | 1.2 |
190 | 1.1 |
191 | 1.0 |
192 | 0.9 |
193 | 0.8 |
194 | 0.7 |
195 | 0.6 |
196 | 0.5 |
197 | 0.4 |
198 | 0.3 |
199 | 0.2 |
200 | 0.1 |
- Billboard 200 figures include charts in the Billboard Archive from August 16, 1958 to July 18, 2015 AND transcribed lists of the Top 20 charts pulled from Billboard Magazine from August 17, 1964 to December 29, 1979. Because of this, albums from the 1960s and 1970s are disadvantaged because these totals do not include time spent in the Top 200 outside of the Top 20. Additionally, the charts from the 1960s and 1970s were transcribed by hand and are subject to additional error.
- Albums are ranked based on an inverse point system similar to the system Billboard used for their own all-time Hot 100 songs list, with weeks at #1 earning the most points and weeks at #100 earning the least. The point system is top-heavy, even more than the Hot 100 chart, as an attempt to provide balance by rewarding both albums that spent an enormous amount of their time near the very top of the charts (for instance, Michael Jackson's Thriller) and albums that spent an enormous amount of time more modestly near the top of the charts (for instance, Shania Twain's Come On Over) without giving too much weight to albums that have just spent ridiculously long amounts of time on the chart (for instance, Taylor Swift's Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey's Born To Die). Though this appears successful in most cases, it punishes a few long-charting albums with tremendous sustained success, like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits, as well as a few albums that witnessed truly atypical top-heavy chart success like 1 by the Beatles.
- To account for changes in Billboard chart methodology and album sales trends across different eras, base points are multiplied by a year-specific "turnover rate" weight. The approximation for turnover rate used is a calculation of the number of unique titles in the Top 20 positions of the Billboard 200 chart each year (the Top 20 appears to be more effective than using the entire chart, for the same reasons that the point system is top-heavy) which is then normalized by dividing by the average turnover rate across all years.
- The All-Time Billboard 200 Artists chart only counts the titles released while an artist bears a particular artist name. For instance, the scores for Beyonce and Destiny's Child, or Paul McCartney and The Beatles, or Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 will not be combined.
- I am missing all chart data from 1975, 1980, 1981, and 1982. In some cases, such as for Michael Jackson's Thriller, I have manually gone through to correct for the missing data.