Bookmark this one for the next time you hit rock trivia night. Billboard is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Hot 100 charts! The celebration consists of framing the archival data in ways interesting to people who would be excited by the 50th Anniversary of the Hot 100 charts. This means awesome organizational tactics like Most Weeks At #2 Without Hitting #1 and Artists With Most #2 Hits and other such things that shouldn’t excite me as much as they do. With me? Here’s the first batch:
Most Weeks at No. 1
Mariah Carey (79)
The Beatles (59)
Boyz II Men (50)
Usher (43)
Michael Jackson (37)
Elton John (34)
Janet Jackson (33)
Beyonce (32)
Madonna (32)
Whitney Houston (31)
Paul McCartney/Wings (30)
Most Hot 100 Hits
Elvis Presley (108)
James Brown (89)
Aretha Franklin (73)
Ray Charles (73)
The Beatles (72)
Elton John (67)
Stevie Wonder (63)
The Rolling Stones (57)
Marvin Gaye (56)
Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons (56)
Dionne Warwick (56)
Most No. 2 Hits Without Reaching No. 1 By Artist
Creedence Clearwater Revival (5)
Blood, Sweat & Tears (3)
En Vogue (3)
Most Weeks At #2 Without Reaching #1
11/28/81: Foreigner – “Waiting For A Girl Like You” (10)
11/16/02: Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott- “Work It” (10)
08/24/96: Donna Lewis – “I Love You Always Forever” (9)
05/02/98: Shania Twain – “You’re Still The One” (9)
11/21/92: Shai – “If I Ever Fall In Love” (8)
12/05/98: Deborah Cox – “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here” (8)
11/20/99: Brian McKnight – “Back At One” (8)
04/24/04: Mario Winans (Feat. Enya & P. Diddy) – “I Don’t Wanna Know” (8)
Each week there will be another set of lists at billboard.com/hot100. One day there will be a way to meaningfully track MP3 downloads in order to make numbers like these relevant again. Until then, there’s nostalgia. And trivia nights.
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eh
The first list is probably the “Most Consecutive Weeks at No. 1.” For cumulative total weeks, I have to imagine Elvis is pretty close to the top of the list.
Also, it’s great that they’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100, but we all know rock n roll started before 1958. What, we’re not going to count all those Elvis hits in 1956 and 1957 just because Billboard wants to promote itself? Seems about as incomplete as putting out a Best Of album for Sam Cooke without “A Change is Gonna Come”.
I think it’s cumulative weeks, sir. I think it’s pretty fucking safe to say that Mariah Carey didn’t spend 1.5 years consecutively at #1.
Well For that Matter I think it’s safe to say that any of these artists didnt. Because out of all of them She has two songs that have spent Longer at #1 than any other songs…
Shai!!
I got my slow dance on with some fine 6th grade honeys to that song…
and ‘knockin’ the boots’ by h-town too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVHpsgvBxlw
http://www.spike.com/video/h-town-knockin-da/2794872
i wish mariah carey never existed
Ha! When I was 12 I told my mom I wish Mariah Carey got throat cancer and she yelled at me
Wait, you wish Mariah Carey yelled at you with a cancerous throat?
Wishing anybody had throat cancer shows what kind of person you are. I hope you get everything you deserve.
I wish you never existed.
Funny how little overlap there is between those first two lists. Makes me wonder how meaningful lists like this are in the first place. As someone said, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.
I might be wrong here, but I am under the impression that labels pay out to radio stations to get their songs played initially, thus negating Mariah Carey, since no self respecting DJ would ever start playing that on his or her own accord.
ww.elephantwhale.blogspot.com
Which is funny because she didnt sell over 200 million albums for people not liking her stuff. I guess that means your assumption is wrong, and invalid.
That’s true, but it’s illegal and one of those laws they actually police. There was a big thing a couple years ago where a bunch of label people and DJs got caught doing that and everyone was like, “Radio still exists?”
Anyway, radio does still exist, and it’s also still the most popular common entertainment/information system because everyone can afford it and most people have like five of them.
And say what you want about Mariah’s latter day sins, but no one will ever negate Vision of Love.
I can’t even come close to naming 89 James Brown songs. Shame on me. Ah, the singles era. Please bring it back, Grizzly Bear!
thanks for this is for no other reason than it made me remember that Shai existed and now i get to make fun of my friend Matt for having that CD when we were in middle school.
Mariah died after Daydream.
Come on, no one likes the Fantasy remix with ODB???
Is it just me, or did all the innovative people on those lists stop recording before 1970?
Is that indicative of the drivel that is Billboard or the empathy of the masses to quality music?
You are not right.