Looking Back At a Year Of Volatile Chart Action on The Billboard Hot 100
It’s been a while since I have written anything here. I took a long breather from writing. Anyhow, 2020 has been a crazy year. It’s a year that will go down in history to be forgotten. As a way to escape the harsh realities of the year, we always have our music. Music helps us heal, relax and escape. 2020 will not be remembered as a great year. It’s comparable to a dream or even a nightmare! Even the Billboard Hot 100 reflected this crazy year.
The Billboard Hot 100 provided us with downright wacky results. There was so much volatility, while some songs also possessed amazing staying power. The turnover was unusually high at the top of the heap. How coincidental is it that there were 20 # 1 singles for 2020? I never thought that I would see this again on the Billboard 100. The crazy chart action was seen everywhere on the chart. There were many cases of here today, gone tomorrow. However, that is the nature of the business anyhow. Needless to say folks, let’s rewind through the top songs of the tumultuous year, 2020. I will be stepping through the year on a play-by-play analysis. Alright, let’s get to it!
The year kicks off with Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” at the top. This made major headlines as the holiday favorite finally hit # 1 after 25 years! However, this does not count towards 2020 as it hit number one for the week of December 21st, 2019. Mariah’s seasonal hit spent three weeks at number one. After Mariah’s seasonal hit fell off the top, Post Malone’s single “Circles” went back to the top for a third and final week. This also does not count towards 2020 since it first hit # 1 in November 2019. Post Malone achieved an amazing accomplishment, and his # 1 single spent 39 weeks in the top ten! “Circles” then made a new record for most weeks in the top ten by mid-2020. It finally left the top ten at the end of May.
Furthermore, the first proper # 1 song of 2020 goes to rapper Roddy Ricch with his song, The Box. 2020 begins with “The Box” as the first number one single of the year and of the decade. The Roddy Ricch song began its # 1 run beginning on January 18, 2020.
“The Box” maintained its strength to stay atop throughout the winter of 2020. Just as this was going on, the COVID-19 virus (a.k.a. The CoronaVirus) became a pandemic. It soon became a major crisis causing casualties, business closings and lockdowns. “The Box” kept on going. The first # 1 song of the decade banked in 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. It has gone 7 times Platinum for digital sales and streaming. Just as “The Box” slowed down, there was a song that was heating up.
Now, this single struck lightning this year. The second # 1 song of the year was by the Canadian singer, the Weeknd. The 30 year old singer amassed 5 number one singles and multiple top ten singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. “Blinding Lights” was released in December 2019. It’s an entrancing song encompassing a heavy synth arrangement with a fast tempo. “Blinding Lights,” points to a love that got away. The lyrics revolve around experiencing heartbreak while ruminating about what could have been. There are also direct references to blinding lights using Sin City, a.k.a. Vegas, in the lyrics. The Weeknd gave a insight into what his hit is about in an Esquire interview. “‘Blinding Lights’ is about how you want to see someone at night, and you’re intoxicated, and you’re driving to this person and you’re just blinded by streetlights.” Many speculate that “Blinding Lights” is about the Weeknd’s on again and off again relationship with his model girlfriend, Bella Hadid.
The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” resonated with people of all ages and became a phenomenon. His song does have a throwback feel reminiscent of 80’s synth-pop. “Blinding Lights” spent 4 nonconsecutive weeks at the top, beginning on April 4th to May 2nd while it was interrupted for one week. Radio stations just loved this interesting song and it continued to top the airplay chart for 26 weeks!
After spending four weeks at the top spot, “Blinding Lights” continued to stay in the top ten. It seemed to have an on again and off again relationship with the top ten. It moved up and moved down within the top five and then continued to stay in the top ten. Sometimes moving back into the top five. Well, it looked like “Blinding Lights” would finally leave the top ten in December, 2020. “Blinding Lights” stayed in the top ten for an incredible 42 weeks by the end of the year! The Weeknd’s song set a huge milestone for most total weeks in the top ten. It sold 3.1 million in the US in 2020. However, there is more to this. I’ll come back to that later.
On April 18, Billboard’s frequent guest at the top, Drake, debuts at # 1. The song’s title is “Toosie Slide” as the lead single from Drake’s album, Dark Lane Demo Tapes. “Toosie Slide” was sandwiched in between “Blinding Lights” during April. It spent one week at number one.
Beginning on the second week of May, the Hot 100 experienced a big cluster of # 1 singles. For the first time since 1990, six songs topped the Hot 100 in six consecutive weeks.
First, we have “The Scotts” by The Scotts, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi. “The Scotts” debuted at # 1 on the week of May 9th. The sales and streaming largely contributed to “The Scotts” number one debut. The sales also included physical singles such as 7″ vinyl, cassette and CD singles. One week later, the sales and streaming numbers saw a sharp decrease. “The Scotts” then fell out of # 1 and down to # 12!
The drop to number 12 tied “The Scotts” with multiple songs for the eighth biggest drop from the number one position. Interestingly, many of these big drops to number 12 occurred in 1974.
On the following week of May 16th, “Say So” by Doja Cat featuring Nicki Minaj organically hit the # 1 position. “Say So” climbed up the chart and hit # 1 upon it’s 18th week. Okay, so it looks like everything is back to normal.
Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande teamed up to record and release the song, “Stuck With You.” All of the net proceeds from the track would be donated to the “First Responders Children’s Foundation” due to the COVID pandemic. The two of them stuck with each other and their song debuted at # 1. It was already the second single to debut at number one for 2020. One week later, they flew down to # 13! There was definitely something very peculiar with all of this flying out of the top ten on the second week. Here’s another thing “Stuck With You” and “The Scotts” spent only 1 week inside the top 10!
This gave Megan Thee Stallion the opportunity to claim the # 1 spot on the next week. Her # 1 song “Savage” featured Beyoncé and it hit the top in its tenth week. That didn’t last too long, Lady Gaga dropped a new album with the title, Chromatica. The first song from the album “Rain On Me” has Lady Gaga teaming up with Ariana Grande. There was a major promotional campaign for her latest song, including a promo on the Weather Channel. “Rain On Me” rained on Megan Thee Stallion’s sunshine and “Rain On Me” debuted at # 1.
However, there was increasing competition in the top ten. Sneaking up behind these ladies were DaBaby featuring chart topper, Roddy Ricch. The rain was not strong enough for Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, and “Rain On Me” fell down. It was not too dramatic of a fall. “Rain On Me” went down to # 5, but it lasted longer than one week in the top ten. Meanwhile, Rockstar hits the top in its 7th week for the week ending June 13, 2020. This now makes six number one songs in six weeks.
These are very unusual occurrences in the SoundScan era for # 1 songs, which began in November, 1991. So how did this happen? Well, here is some food for thought regarding these odd occurrences. Consumers now have more time to spend online especially with COVID keeping people indoors. Fans of much of today’s artists are eager to get their favorite artists to number one. It goes beyond digital downloads and streaming. Record labels and artists are cashing on the fanfare. These new releases include big-name remixes and it also includes additional merchandise known as sales bundles. Bundles (a.k.a sales bundles) refer to songs purchased along with merchandise, either from an artists website or through another vendor. Sales can also include a variety of physical singles (CD, cassette and vinyl). The sales bundles created more than one copy of songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This has led to sales totals becoming more of a 1st week thing than usual.
Alright, let’s get back to the chart action. Well surprise, surprise, Rockstar spends more than one week at the top. It seemed to be a song that resonated with everyone. The lyrical content highlights analogies between the hip-hop gangstar lifestyles and those of rock stars. It certainly had the hit potential. DaBaby also released a remix of “Rockstar.” It includes an extra verse regarding the George Floyd protests that started in May 2020. On the week of June 27th though, Rockstar was interrupted by trollz.
No, it was not those trolls! It was a song about those annoying internet trolls. 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj collaborated together to create this song with the title, Trollz. The first week of sales accounted for over 116,000 digital downloads and the streaming numbers were also high. With such big numbers in the chart points, Trollz debuted right at the top. This is now the fourth song to debut at # 1 for 2020. Eventually though, it looked like they couldn’t contain those trollz. The second week’s sales and streams were not as successful. Trollz fell down from number one and did it ever drop. In its second week, “Trollz” took a huge dive from # 1 to # 34! That is one gargantuan dive from the top. I guess it was one of those flavor of the moment songs. It gets better though. After dropping to 34, Trollz went to 54 then to 83. After that, it was off the chart! This set a new record for the biggest drop from the number one position, while spending the least amount of time on the Billboard Hot 100 for a # 1 single. It’s probably not the milestone that they wanted, just sayin’.
So the Rockstar song went back to # 1, staying seven nonconsecutive weeks at the top. Finally, we get a number one song with staying power.
Billboard Announces New Chart Rules: No More Merch & Ticket Bundles
In July 2020, Billboard announced that they would no longer allow sales of physical/digital bundles to be reported as digital sales. This refers to songs purchased along with merchandise, either from an artists website or through another vendor. The magazine stated that this was a tactic generally used by certain artists to boost their chart positions. Instead, such physical releases are now only counted when they are shipped to the consumer.
Now getting back to our 2020 chart analysis, Taylor Swift comes out with a new album, Folklore. The single to kick it off was “Cardigan.” So on the week of August 8th, “Cardigan” debuts at # 1 on the Hot 100 and her album “Folklore” debuts at # 1 on the Billboard 200. Taylor Swift was the first artist ever to debut at number one on both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts on the same week. So what could possibly go wrong?
One week later, she fell down to # 8 on the Hot 100 and soon went out of the top ten. Her Folklore album did hold on to the # 1 spot on the Billboard 200.
The one who took over the top was Harry Styles. His song had a sweet title called “Watermelon Sugar.” His song hit the top on its 20th week. It didn’t last too long though. On the week of August 15th, Cardi B’s song “WAP” took over the # 1 position. Her song also featured Megan Thee Stallion. “WAP” spent 4 nonconsecutive weeks at the top. Sandwiched in between those four weeks, we got a blast of dynamite from the K-pop group, BTS (a.k.a. Bangtan Boys). K-pop is a genre of popular music originating from South Korea. It includes western pop elements such as dance pop, hip-hop, EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and rock while keeping a distinctively Korean tradition and flavor. The K-pop group, BTS, released “Dynamite” as a stand-alone single at the end of August, and their song was the group’s first song fully recorded in English. Pre-orders went live for 7-inch and cassette editions of the song, as well as the digital single and its instrumental for US customers; the physical versions sold out within an hour. The “Dynamite” song was intended to soothe listeners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their song is about joy and appreciation for the little things that make life valuable.
Soon enough, “Dynamite” blasted on to the Billboard Hot 100 at # 1 in September. BTS were the first K-pop group to debut and hit # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Dynamite” sold 300,000 units in its first week, including digital downloads, vinyl and cassette physical versions. It generated 33.9 million total US on-demand streams and 11.6 million radio impressions. “Dynamite” spent two weeks at # 1 in the beginning of September, and an additional week at the top on the first week of October. The K-pop supergroup attained three nonconsecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song charted in the top 10 in 25 different countries while also hitting number one in 7 different countries.
In October, Travis Scott teamed up with Young Thug and M.I.A. This single had a rather interesting name, “Franchise.” The song debuted at # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, for the week of October 10, 2020. This was Travis Scott’s fourth number-one single and third single to debut at number one. It was Young Thug’s second, and M.I.A.’s first to debut at the top. Will this song have any staying power?
Nope, The single dropped to number 25 in its second week, ouch! It marked the second biggest drop from number one in the Billboard Hot 100 chart’s history. Well Travis, at least you achieved two number one singles this year. The song that ousted “Franchise” was a single by Jawsh 685 and it also includes Jason Derulo and the hottest K-Pop group, BTS. The collaboration was named “Savage Love.” After some issues with copyrights and samples, the song was renamed to “Savage Love (Laxed-Siren beat).” The song waited patiently on the chart and it hit number one in its 17th week. “Savage Love (Laxed-Siren beat)” spent 16 weeks in the top ten.
Are you stuck in a toxic relationship and is your girlfriend’s mood keeping you down? This is what the song “Mood” by rappers and singers 24KGoldn and iann dorr is all about. With help from Tik Tok, “Mood” jumped from its humble beginnings from 84 to 26. From there, “Mood” went up modestly to reach # 1 on its 10th week. Their song was a winner on the radio, while also hitting # 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock and Alternative Songs chart. It was nice to see a new # 1 rise naturally to the top. It seems that number one debuts are the norm instead of the exception in 2020! “Mood” began its top run on October 24th. The song looked like a big hit and would accumulate some time at the top.
However, the mood boys were interrupted in November. Ariana Grande released her new album Positions and the first single released also had the same name. Interestingly, her latest single was stylized in lower case letters. So Ariana Grande did the inevitable and her song debuted at # 1 on the Hot 100. However, that was short lived as “Mood” returned to the top. The airplay and streaming kept this song at the top. Ariana’s latest single stayed in the top ten through the rest of the year. “Mood” went back # 1 for the rest of November spending five nonconsecutive weeks at the top .
Soon enough though, the K-pop supergroup BTS released a new album Be during November. On the same day, the lead single “Life Goes On” was also released. Would their latest single explode on the Billboard Hot 100 chart?
Yes it did, way to go guys! The group’s album Be also debuted at the top of Billboard’s Top 200 Albums on the same week.
On the week of December 12th of 2020, Christmas songs began to fill many of the positions in the top 50. “Life Goes On” saw an immense drop in sales and streaming while their latest full-length album saw gains. In addition to that, there was a lack of radio airplay. With that, “Life Goes On”, drops sharp and fast. It was one of the biggest drops from # 1. Well boys life goes on, get em’ on the next single! When BTS dropped, 24KGoldn and iann dorr’s “Mood” went back to # 1. Billboard’s Twitter feed predicted this and it was a fan favorite. “Mood” was now 6 weeks at # 1
Okay, it’s the final stretch. During the following week, Christmas was in full effect on the Hot 100. You know what though? We needed the holiday cheer at that time and who brought us that? The Billboard Hot 100 chart queen flew on to the chart with her perennial Christmas hit and it was Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” The revision for recurrent songs and Christmas tunes helped to make this possible. However, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” first hit # 1 in 2019, so this does not count towards this year’s # 1 singles. It does add on to the song’s time at # 1, which was then four weeks. We’re glad to have you back though, Mariah.
Okay, we are the last week of 2020. It’s the week ending December 26, 2020. We’re all eager to get this year over with. So who is going to fill in the number one slot for this week? Could it be a Christmas song? In addition to that, many well established artists were releasing new albums and new singles. I am keeping my fingers crossed for Brenda Lee’s “Rockin Around The Christmas Tree.” When the results came in for the week, the # 1 position went to Taylor Swift’s single “Willow.” When I saw that name, I immediately thought of the 1988 fantasy film of the same name. Her latest song did have a fantasy feel to it, especially with its musical arrangement. This marks Taylor Swift’s seventh number one single, while it also is the lead from her Evermore album. Both her album and the single debuted at number one. Tis’ the season though, Taylor faced steep competition from all of the holiday songs on the chart. Those Christmas songs had the strongest bullets and an impressive lead during December. With that being said, Taylor Swift’s latest song, “Willow” fell out of the top spot on the following week. It really was going down. Taylor Swift’s “Willow” crashed all the way to # 38! This makes the new record for the largest fall from # 1. Should we congratulate her?
Mariah Carey reclaimed # 1 on that same week. This puts her holiday classic at 5 nonconsecutive weeks at # 1, although this occurred in the first week of 2021. In addition to that, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” hit number one in three different years and two different decades. It is the first holiday song to spend a total of five weeks at # 1. Oh, one more thing, “Mood” came back to # 1 when I wrote this, logging in eight total weeks at # 1. “Mood” hits the top on four separate times, which is the second single to do so on the Hot 100.
With the Christmas songs going away for the season, a number of 2020’s # 1 singles re-entered the chart. “Blinding Lights” returns to the Hot 100 at # 3 marking the highest re-entry in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. This was largely due to Billboard relaxing the recurrent rule. The massive re-entry also marks another major milestone for the Billboard Hot 100. The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” now establishes a record breaking 43 weeks in the Hot 100’s top 10! This song just keeps on going. It was just a year ago, when the single was not yet in the top 40.
But wait, there’s more. “Blinding Lights” continued its non-consecutive stay in the top 10. In the spring of 2020, the single hit # 1. By the spring of 2021, “Blinding Lights” was still in the top ten. It finally finished out an astonishing 57 weeks in the top 10! The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” finally retired from the Hot 100 at 90 weeks! That is such a phenomenon. It’s amazing what could happen on the Billboard Hot 100 these days. “Blinding Lights” is the best performing single of 2020, and it is the No. 1 Hot 100 Song of the Year, and rightfully so. Well, today I found out even more. “Blinding Lights” is now the Number One Song of All Time! Your lights will shine on forever Mr. Weeknd, you are a superstar. Here is the exclusive article from Billboard on this phenomenal happening.
The New No. 1 Single of All Time
Rockstar, Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat), and Watermelon Sugar have returned back on to the Hot 100 chart as re-entries. Positions and Dynamite have both made rebounds back into the top ten
Dynamite – BTS, 44-5
positions – Ariana Grande, 14-2.
It’s amazing what can happen on the Billboard charts. From week to week, song titles can fly up or down and make a huge rebound.
Here is a look at 2020’s number one singles. I have ranked it by length of time at the number one position. The peak date is included, and the last three columns are arranged by length of time on the Hot 100, top 40 and top 10. These results are as of the week ending January 9, 2021.
Wow, wow, wow folks, this was a year not to remember. It was a crazy and chaotic year and even the Billboard Hot 100 chart reflected it. Interestingly, 2020 had exactly 20 songs that hit # 1 for the year. The last time that were 20 or more # 1 singles was in 1991. 1990 also contained 20 + number one singles. The huge drops from the top became a strange phenomenon. It almost resembled a time period in 1974, which experienced big drops. However, 2020 had some very extreme falls from the top. It was not just limited to number one singles but it was everywhere on the Hot 100. The all encompassing chart became heavily fixated on first week sales, which caused the erratic chart movement. Although it was mainly by sales bundles which prompted Billboard Magazine to make a change to this tactic.
In addition to the drops, 2020 had 12 # 1 debuts. This is most that the Hot 100 has ever experienced in a calendar year. Another thing to note is that there seven number one singles that ran nonconsecutively at the number one position. Talk about odd results. There are also the sharp constants with these number one hits. Even though, it hit # 1 in 2019, Post Malone’s “Circles” stayed within the top ten into 2020 and logged in 39 weeks in the top ten. Then, there is the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”, 57 weeks in the top ten. Billboard relaxed the recurrent rules and Christmas songs flooded the top 40. On the last week of the year, the top ten was filled Christmas songs except for 3 songs. Former number one hits have also re-entered the chart. Furthermore, we leave behind 2020 now just like in the opening photo. We certainly hope for better times and we shall see what the Billboard Hot 100 chart brings us in 2021. On that note, have a happy new year!
Billboard Chart Rewind 
WooooooooW, Billboard Guy! This post is really EXCELLENT! I just got finish watching a Xmas house lights exhibition with the Weekend’s song, “Blinded By The Lights”! I love your article closing out the year 2020! These Top Tier Songs have Great backstories which you captured in an interesting and stimulating way! I really love all the details, as usual. I don’t know how you do it. But this is another Slam Dunk! I’m glad to know music is still HOT! An’ folks is into it! Keep up the excellent work Billboard Guy! Looking forward to your next Brilliant, piece!
Happy New Year! Things are lookin’ up in 2021!!!
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I just fell onto your site. Your wrap-up of 2020 was excellent and a great read. Even though I still follow the weekly charts, this was a great reminder of what had happened. Please keep it up! I can’t to read the 2021 year-end. In the meantime, I’ll go back and look at your other reads.
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Hello, thank you for checking out my blog. So far there are 10 number one songs this year. 2021 marks the first calendar year since 1991 that at least 10 songs reached number one on the Hot 100 by the end of May. So we’ll see what happens for 2021.
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