How do I browse this site?

From the main page, click on a month. Then click on a date. 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.

Is this information under copyright?

Yes, but my intent is to use this copyrighted data 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 purchase your own #1 birthday song from iTunes.

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 their books. I especially recommend Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. And if you want to explore a specific point in history, look at their 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?

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.

What if the song isn't available on iTunes?

The link then goes 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 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 older 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!

I'd love it if water cooler conversations went something like this:

"Can you believe Rihanna went to #1 this week? Boy, that was a surprise."

"Oh, I wasn't surprised. The excitement for that single has been building for weeks, so the floodgates opened. What surprised me was that the American Idol winners didn't do as well on the charts this year. Usually they open at #1 and #2, but Jordin and Blake debuted at #15 and #18. Is that because fans of that show are more likely to buy singles from stores than online?"

"I think so. I bet if RCA chooses to release terrestrial singles, they'll go to #1 and #2 that week."

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.

On February 12, 2005, Billboard unveiled the Pop 100, a new chart that combines sales of downloaded and terrestrial singles with radio airplay from Mainstream Top 40 radio stations. This is the chart I use to program my Live365.com internet radio station, The Billboard Pop 40. Since the Pop 40 is a more focused chart, its #1 song is not always the same as the #1 song in America overall.

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.