about the #1 song on this date in history ...

© 2009 Billboard/Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.

How do I browse this site?

From the main page, click on a month. Then click on a day of the month. You will see a list of the #1 songs from that date in each year.

Where does this information come from?

Billboard magazine is the most authoritative source for determining the most popular songs in the U.S.A. For the years 1958 to the present, this information comes from the Hot 100 chart, a weekly compilation of the 100 most popular songs in the U.S.A., based on radio airplay and sales of singles. More detailed data here.

I've found another source that disagrees with you. Are you wrong?

There may be a difference for one of two reasons. One is that the other source you've found is not referencing the Billboard Hot 100 chart; that's easy enough to discover.

The other potential reason is nitpicky and complicated, but I get more emails about this than about nearly anything else. Here goes ...

The Hot 100 is a weekly chart, not a daily chart. So, looked at daily, a song remains at #1 for at least seven consecutive days. But which seven? If the chart is dated December 3, 1983, one would assume the dates represented were December 3-9.

But no: the chart is actually dated "the week ending December 3," which means that it covers the dates November 27-December 3. Other sources on the Web may have gotten this wrong. But the "week ending" method is the method agreed upon by the most serious chart fanatics.

If, after all this footwork, you find that I'm really truly in error, please point it out to me.

Is this information under copyright?

Yes: I have a contract with Billboard magazine. The intent of my site is to teach people about the Billboard charts and to promote the legal purchase of more detailed Billboard data, such as the books produced by Record Research or Billboard's own research services site. Also, you can find most of these #1 hits for purchase on iTunes or Rhapsody.

What is Record Research?

For many years, Joel Whitburn's Record Research has had exclusive rights to reproduce Billboard's historical chart data. So if the #1 song doesn't go deep enough to satisfy your curiosity, check out some of Whitburn's books. I especially recommend Top Pop Singles 1955-2008. And if you want to explore a specific point in history, look at Whitburn's week-by-week reproductions of the original Billboard Hot 100 charts, decade by decade. Please buy these books directly from Record Research rather than from any other source.

So if I want to know more than just the #1 song ... ? The entire Top 40, for instance?

That's right: buy the book.

What about other charts? Why don't you post Country #1s, for instance?

That's too much information for me to post! Buy the book.

How about #1 songs from other countries?

You're on your own. There are some good sources for historical charts from the U.K., but I'm not sure about other countries.

How did you find the time to put all this together?

I built the bulk of this website during a two-month period of unemployment in 2004. It's very easy to keep up every week.

How can I listen to the songs I find here?

I've been going through the site creating several options for you. Most likely, you can listen in iTunes or Rhapsody. (The Rhapsody links are coming over time; not every page has them yet.)

The iTunes method: First, install Apple's free iTunes software on your computer. Then keep the program open while you browse this site. Clicking on a song will take you directly to that song's entry on iTunes. Then double-click on the song and you'll be able to hear a snippet of it. If you like it, you can buy it for 99 cents.

The Rhapsody method: Get a username and password from Rhapsody. When you're logged in, you can listen to the entire song without buying it!

What if the song isn't available on iTunes or Rhapsody?

If I can't find the song (or an original version of the song) through either source, I put in a link to Amazon, where you can usually hear a snippet of the song and then consider ordering the full-length CD. I say "usually" because not all CDs on Amazon have listening samples -- including all Beatles songs, for some weird legal reason. But I've done my best to find CD sources you can listen to.

And if it's not on Amazon?

Some of the older songs listed on my site just aren't available from a mass retail source. I've tried to locate these somewhere on the Web for you to listen to, buy, or even download for free. If I can't find any specific evidence of the song, I've linked to sites that can at least teach you about the artist who performed them.

Have you double-checked all these links?

No, of course not! Please email me if you find a broken or erroneous link.

When will you get all the links on the pre-1935 songs done?

When I find time. The older eras will take more extensive research, so please be patient.

Really, though ... why are you doing this?

Since I was 12 years old, the pop charts have filled the role of sports in my life. I miss the days when Casey Kasem was counting down the top 40 songs "straight from the official Billboard chart." I'd like to get people as excited as I am about finding out how my favorite songs stack up against their competitors in the pop music arena.

I'll never forget how upset I was when my little brother's favorite song, Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill," hit #1, while my favorite song, "The Search Is Over" by Survivor, peaked at #4. But later that year, my new favorite song did go all the way to #1: "Take on Me" by a-ha. The thrill of victory ... the agony of defeat!

Actually, you can listen to the current top 40 songs in countdown form online. Check out my Live365 show, the Billboard Pop 40.

Did you really meet Lionel Richie?

Yes, at my former place of employment ... just long enough for a photo and an autograph.

May I have a little more Billboard chart history, please?

In 1958, Billboard magazine unveiled the weekly "Hot 100" chart, incorporating sales and radio airplay data into a single chart. From 1940 to 1958, Billboard ran a chart of top-selling records. The #1 hits from these years are available from Joel Whitburn's Record Research.

For the dates prior to 1940, I have relied on the research of Joel Whitburn and Jim Walsh as laid out in the book Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music. (In some of these eras, Whitburn and Walsh tracked more than one chart, which made for simultaneous #1 songs in a given week. I have made sure that every one of those songs appears at #1 at some point on this site, although sometimes for less than a single week.) To be honest, the research from these years is squirrelly at best, but it's what we have.

What was the #1 song on the day YOU were born?

Ugh! I was worried this would come up. OK ... brace yourself ... "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry. What kills me is that none of his really classic songs ever made it to #1.