The artists with the most No. 1 singles

Taylor Swift was the first artist to occupy all of Billboard's Top 10

Swift's 2022 release "Midnights" led to an unprecedented feat: For the first time in Billboard history, the entire top 10 of the Hot 100 was occupied by the same artist. Two years later, "The Tortured Poets Department" would occupy the first 14 slots on the chart.

Taylor Swift is one of the most successful artists in the world

Few musicians are more popular (or more influential) than Taylor Swift. that's not a broad generalization. The data from this music-industry report backs it up. Luminate not only breaks down Swift’s titanic streaming numbers but also analyzes the strength of her fandom, which the publication considers indicative of “influence.”

Drake has more top-five Hot 100 hits than any other artist

In 2022, the rapper’s collaboration with DJ Khaled and Lil Baby, “Staying Alive,” reached the number five slot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That was his 30th track to reach the top five, surpassing the Beatles’ record of 29, which they achieved in 1970 with “The Long and Winding Road.”

Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs' 'Stay' is the shortest song ever to hit No. 1

The single reached the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart on November 21, 1960. At just 1:38, it's the shortest number one in Billboard's history. It also didn't last long at the top: It was replaced the following week by Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

Billboard's first No. 1 single was Tommy Dorsey Orchestra's 'I'll Never Smile Again'

The song was No. 1 on Billboard’s Best Selling Retail Records chart, the predecessor to the Hot 100. The chart only measured record copies sold, excluding other indicators of popularity, like sheet music sales or jukebox plays, that were used on other charts.

2025 marked the first time in 35 years a hip-hop song wasn't in the top 40

The Billboard Hot 100 chart dated October 25, 2025, didn't have any rap or hip-hop songs in its top 40 singles, something that hadn't happened since Feb. 2, 1990. One explanation is a Billboard methodology change, and another is Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl."

'Where Did Our Love Go?' was the first of 12 number-one singles for the Supremes

Motown brought more soul and R&B into the girl group formula with acts like the Marvelettes and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Its biggest success, though, was the Supremes, who scored their first hit in 1964 with “Where Did Our Love Go?” They would go on to be the most successful American group of all time.

Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' is the longest-running No. 1 single

In 2025, the 1994 track spent 20 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The song has been a popular Christmas number since its release, but streaming has elevated it to a perennial chart-topper: Every time someone plays the song on a service like Spotify (something that’s likely to happen every holiday season), they’re effectively casting a vote for it to hit the chart.

Billboard’s Hot 100 methodology is notoriously private

The magazine’s singles chart is based on on-demand streams (from platforms like Spotify), digital sales (from stores like iTunes), and radio airplay. Not all of those sources are weighted equally, though—sales are more important than airplay, and airplay is more significant than streams. In 2018, Billboard began weighing streams from premium subscriptions more heavily than free streams (like listening to a song on Pandora).

Bob Dylan, explained

Bob Dylan has never had a Billboard No. 1 hit—but his influence on music is unmatched. This overview looks at his early protest songs, his shift to electric rock, and the cultural impact of his lyrics, performances, and legacy across generations.

Bands largely disappeared from the charts in the 21st century

Chris Dalla Riva analyzed 65 years of Billboard charts and found that bands (even those that don't play instruments) severely declined in the 21st century, largely replaced by solo artists.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Sun Records was responsible for some of rock 'n' roll's biggest artists

Memphis' Sun Records was one of the most important labels in American musical history, releasing pivotal records by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and countless others.

The Chicago Bears are the only professional sports team to score a Billboard Hot 100 hit

The 1985 track "The Super Bowl Shuffle" was recorded for charity, but the song (with its rudimentary raps and goofy taunts) became an unexpected hit, reaching No. 41 on the Hot 100 chart. This podcast digs into the history of the song and how it became an unexpected pop culture phenomenon.

Prince wrote numerous hits for other artists

Prince is renowned as a performer, but he's also one of the great American songwriters, having penned career-defining songs for acts like Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares 2 U"), the Bangles ("Manic Monday"), and many others.

Chris Stapleton's 'Tennessee Whiskey' is the best-selling country song of all time

The 2015 track has sold over 20 million units in the US, making it the third single to be certified double diamond. (The other two are Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" and Post Malone and Swae Lee's "Sunflower.") Stapleton's track is actually a standard that was written in 1981 and recorded by several other artists, including George Jones.

The 30 most popular YouTubers

From music superstars like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift to streamers like PewDiePie and MrBeast, the ranks of YouTube’s most-subscribed-to accounts includes a mix of everything from celebrities whose YouTube presence complements the rest of their persona to stars who made a name for themselves solely from the platform. This ranking from Search Engine Journal breaks down the 30 biggest YouTube accounts as of June 2004.

How the Beatles became the most influential band on Earth

Beatles geek and comedian Conan O'Brien is a special guest with the Rest is History podcast in this exploration of the quartet from Liverpool's mammoth role in global pop culture. The two-part podcast was recorded in Abbey Road Studios, the world's first dedicated recording facility, where the band recorded 190 of its 210 songs.

The Brill Building was a breeding ground for girl group classics

The Brill Building was a building in New York City that housed the working offices for over 160 music industry professionals, including some of the country’s finest songwriters, such as Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach, and George Clinton. Below is a 1959 picture of three more Brill Building pros: Carole King, Paul Simon, and Gerry Goffin.

The best female rappers of all time

Hip-hop has too many incredible female MCs to name, but this list does an admirable job of ranking the 25 greatest. Along the way, it breaks down how ‘80s artists like MC Lyte and Queen Latifah paved the way for ‘90s innovators like Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill and more contemporary names like Doechii and Micki Minaj.

The top 100 players in baseball history

More than 20,000 players have played in Major League Baseball since the 1870s, many passing in and out of the memory of even die-hard fans. While necessarily subjective, these rankings based on votes from baseball writers ranks those whose greatness left a lasting impression. From Barry Larkin (No. 100) to Babe Ruth (No. 1), explore the top 100 baseball players over more than a century.

Every world champion in F1 history

Over the last decade, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have dominated the winners podium, and their Red Bull Racing and Mercedes teams have taken every Constructors' Championship since 2010. But what team had the most championships in the 1950s? Who has the most Drivers' Championships in Formula 1's history? This article shows every Drivers' and Constructors' Champion since the start of Formula 1 in the 1950s.

Picasso is the bestselling painter of all time

Picasso’s artistic legacy remains lucrative 50 years after his death. His output was immense, and several individual works have sold at auction for over $100M. Those sales were not only jaw-dropping but also historic, leading to Picasso’s place as the top-grossing artist of all time.

People have tied for Grammy Awards at least 34 times

Because of the Grammys voting structure, it's possible for two artists (or songs or producers, etc.) to receive the same vote totals. What happens then? Two Grammys! It has led to some funny moments, including in 1981, when classical musician Itzhak Perlman tied with … himself, for best classical performance as a soloist.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The 10 best Eurovision performances

It's one thing to write a great song for Eurovision, but it's another to execute its performance on one of the world's biggest stages. This list runs through 10 of the most impressive, with memorable entries from a Finnish metal band, a Swedish crooner, and a German comedy troupe.

The Beatles once sued Nike

Nike used The Beatles' "Revolution" in an ad, sparking a $15M lawsuit over the song's use. While The Beatles and Nike ultimately reached an agreement, Nike ushered in the modern practice of using hit songs in advertisements, as opposed to jingles or covers.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Three Ebola species are responsible for most large outbreaks of the disease, yet the only approved Ebola vaccine is known to work against just one of them.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.