February 21, 2026 In the wake of his Super Bowl halftime show performance, Bad Bunny's "DtMF" (sung in Spanish) hits #1 in America. It's the first predominantly foreign-language to top the chart since "Despacito" in 2017.
November 1, 2025 Xania Monet makes history as the first-known AI artist to appear on a Billboard airplay chart when her viral R&B ballad "How Was I Supposed To Know?" debuts at #30 on Adult R&B Airplay - a sign that radio stations are playing AI-generated music.More
October 3, 2025 Taylor Swift hypes her latest album, The Life Of A Showgirl, with an extreme marketing campaign that entices fans to unlock musical clues hidden behind orange doors in 12 cities around the world.More
June 9, 2025 Sly Stone dies from COPD at 82. With his group Sly & the Family Stone he brought lively funk grooves to the charts with songs like "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "I Want To Take You Higher." The band fell apart in the mid-'70s when he battled drug addiction, and Stone remained reclusive and erratic the rest of his life, sabotaging various comeback opportunities.
March 15, 2025 Shinedown's "Dance, Kid, Dance" goes to #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart, making them the first act with 20 chart toppers on that tally. Their run started with "Save Me" in 2005.
May 4, 2024 The top 14 songs on the Hot 100 are all from Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, with "Fortnight" taking the top spot. All 31 songs from the album are on the chart in addition to an earlier song, "Cruel Summer."
May 4, 2024 After 10 weeks at the top of the Country chart, Beyoncé's "Texas Hold 'Em" gives way to "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey, a singer who came to the fore when Beyoncé featured him on her Cowboy Carter album.
March 29, 2024 Beyoncé drops Cowboy Carter, a sassy country album (mostly) with 27 tracks and appearances by Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and an unheralded Black country singer named Linda Martell, whose only album was released in 1970. When Cowboy Carter tops the Country chart, it makes Beyoncé the first Black woman to do so.More
February 24, 2024 Beyoncé becomes the first Black woman to top the Country chart when "Texas Hold 'Em," a song she surprised released the night of the Super Bowl, hits #1 on that tally.
January 27, 2024 Max Martin breaks Beatles producer George Martin's record for most #1 hits as a producer when "Yes, And?," which he helmed for Ariana Grande, becomes his 24th chart-topping production. His first was "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears in 1999.
December 9, 2023 Thanks to a new music video, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee, originally released in 1958, goes to #1 in America, making Lee, 78, the oldest artist ever to top the chart. And at 65 years, it's the longest a song has ever taken to reach the top spot.
September 8, 2023 Olivia Rodrigo releases her sophomore album, Guts. Featuring the chart-topping lead single, "Vampire," it's her second album to reach the summit of the Billboard 200 albums chart.
August 26, 2023 Oliver Anthony becomes the first artist with no chart history to debut at #1 in America when "Rich Men North Of Richmond," recorded outdoors in one take with his dogs nearby, shoots to the top.More
May 27, 2022 Season 4 of the Netflix series Stranger Things airs with a scene featuring the 1985 Kate Bush song "Running Up That Hill." The song starts trending and enters the Top 10 in 34 different territories, including America, where it lands at #8. Bush's previous chart peak in the US was #30 when the song was first released.
November 27, 2021 Taylor Swift's extended version of "All Too Well," with a running time of 10:13, hits #1 on the Hot 100, becoming the longest song ever to top the chart. Don McLean held the record since 1972, when "American Pie," running 8:36, went to the top.
December 5, 2020 BTS hit #1 in America with "Life Goes On." Most of the lyric is Korean, making it the first chart-topper since "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco with lyrics predominantly in a language other than Spanish or English.
September 5, 2020 Metallica become the first act with #1 songs on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart in four different decades when their live version of "All Within My Hands," recorded with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, takes the top spot.
August 8, 2020 Taylor Swift becomes the first artist to debut at #1 on both the Hot 100 and US albums chart when Folklore and its lead single, "Cardigan," both go to the top. Folklore is her seventh consecutive #1 album.
June 26, 2020 At 79, Bob Dylan becomes the oldest artist to top the UK albums chart with an album of original songs when Rough And Rowdy Ways hits the top spot.
May 30, 2020 The remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" featuring Beyoncé goes to #1 in America, giving Megan her first chart-topper. The song got a huge boost on TikTok, where it soundtracked a viral dance challenge during the pandemic.
April 11, 2020 Bob Dylan, 78, lands his first #1 on a Billboard chart when "Murder Most Foul" tops the Rock Digital Song Sales tally. The epic song, which is nearly 17 minutes long, finds Dylan reflecting on John F. Kennedy's assassination and its impact on history.
August 17, 2019 Tool's "Fear Inoculum" enters the Hot 100 at #93, becoming the longest song ever to hit that chart. Running 10:22, it outlasts David Bowie's "Blackstar," which clocks in at 9:57. "Fear Inoculum" drops off the chart the following week.
March 16, 2019 "Old Town Road" by the rapper Lil Nas X makes the Country chart, but is removed the following week when Billboard declares it ineligible for the tally. The attention leads to a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus that goes to #1 on the genre-agnostic Hot 100.More
August 16, 2018 Aretha Franklin dies after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at age 76.More
September 21, 2017 To thwart low payouts on YouTube, Post Malone releases a version of his latest single, "Rockstar," that is just the chorus looped five times. Comments are disabled, and users are offered a link to hear the full version on more profitable platforms.More
August 5, 2017 Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road" lands at #1 on the Country chart for the 25th week, breaking the record previously held by Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise." It ends up spending 34 weeks at the top, but is overtaken the next year by "Meant to Be" by... Florida Georgia Line, which stays for 50.
May 27, 2017 "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber tops the Hot 100, becoming the first #1 on the chart sung mostly in Spanish since "Macarena" in 1996.
April 24, 2017 Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You" tops Australia's singles chart (ARIA) for the 14th week, breaking the record set by Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" in 1995.
March 4, 2017 The Katy Perry song "Chained to the Rhythm" hits #4 on the Hot 100, making guest vocalist Skip Marley the first of the Marleys to land a Top 10 on that tally.More
November 2, 2016 Beyoncé goes country, performing her song "Daddy Lessons" with the Dixie Chicks at the CMA Awards. Eight years later, she becomes the first Black woman to top the Country chart when "Texas Hold 'Em" goes to #1.
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