I was doing some research today and thought it would be fun to review the Billboard All-Time Hot 100 top songs of Billboard’s 50th Anniversary.

The songs in the “50th Anniversary” charts had to appear on the Hot 100 in order to be counted. This may create some confusion (for example: many great country artists and songs are not on the “50th Anniversary” chart because, while very popular on the country charts they didn’t cross over to the Hot 100). Also, keep in mind the Hot 100 started in August 1958 so any prior songs are not listed, including some popular Elvis Presley songs.

The “50th Anniversary” chart is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100. The artist chart utilizes the same methodology, with weighted points applied to all titles charted by each artist during that 50-year span. They are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at number one earning the greatest value and weeks at number one hundred earning the least.

Hot 100’s 50th Anniversary award relative points for every week that a title spent on the chart, regardless of rank. For the Hot 100’s 50th Anniversary, Billboard’s charts department ensured a more balanced representation of hits from all 50 years, by analyzing the length of chart runs in earlier decades, as well as the average weeks that titles spent in the top 10 and at number one. Weights for earlier spans were then formulated, to compensate for the shorter chart runs that titles experienced before the 1991 conversion to precise and objective sales and radio data from Nielsen Music.

Billboard All-Time Hot 100 top songs

1. “The Twist” – Chubby Checker
2. “Smooth” – Santana featuring Rob Thomas
3. “Mack the Knife” – Bobby Darin
4. “How Do I Live” – LeAnn Rimes
5. “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)” – Los del Río
6. “Physical” – Olivia Newton-John
7. “You Light Up My Life” – Debby Boone
8. “Hey Jude” – The Beatles
9. “We Belong Together” – Mariah Carey
10. “Un-Break My Heart” – Toni Braxton
11. “Yeah!” – Usher featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris
12. “Bette Davis Eyes” – Kim Carnes
13. “Endless Love” – Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
14. “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” – Rod Stewart
15. “Foolish Games” / “You Were Meant for Me” – Jewel
16. “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” – Bryan Adams
17. “I’ll Make Love to You” – Boyz II Men
18. “Theme from A Summer Place” – Percy Faith & His Orchestra
19. “Le Freak” – Chic
20. “How Deep Is Your Love” – The Bee Gees
21. “Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
22. “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” – Andy Gibb
23. “Low” – Flo Rida featuring T-Pain
24. “Too Close” – Next
25. “Every Breath You Take” – The Police
26. “Flashdance… What a Feeling” – Irene Cara
27. “Tossin’ and Turnin’” – Bobby Lewis
28. “The Battle of New Orleans” – Johnny Horton
29. “One Sweet Day” – Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
30. “Truly Madly Deeply” – Savage Garden
31. “Silly Love Songs” – Paul McCartney & Wings
32. “Let’s Get It On” – Marvin Gaye
33. “Night Fever” – The Bee Gees
34. “Another One Bites the Dust” – Queen
35. “Say Say Say” – Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
36. “How You Remind Me” – Nickelback
37. “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” – Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando
38. “It’s All in the Game” – Tommy Edwards
39. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” – The Beatles
40. “Shadow Dancing” – Andy Gibb
41. “Candle in the Wind 1997” / “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” – Elton John
42. “No One” – Alicia Keys
43. “End of the Road” – Boyz II Men
44. “Call Me” – Blondie
45. “Let Me Love You” – Mario
46. “Stayin’ Alive” – The Bee Gees
47. “Lady” – Kenny Rogers
48. “I’m a Believer” – The Monkees
49. “Gold Digger” – Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx
50. “Apologize” – Timbaland featuring OneRepublic
51. “The Sign” – Ace Of Base
52. “Centerfold” – The J. Geils Band
53. “(Just Like) Starting Over” – John Lennon
54. “The Boy Is Mine” – Brandy & Monica
55. “Because I Love You (The Postman Song)” – Stevie B
56. “I Love Rock N’ Roll” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
57. “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” – The 5th Dimension
58. “Whoomp! (There It Is)” – Tag Team
59. “Ebony and Ivory” – Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder
60. “Rush, Rush” – Paula Abdul
61. “That’s What Friends Are For” – Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder
62. “Upside Down” – Diana Ross
63. “Sugar, Sugar” – The Archies
64. “Dilemma” – Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
65. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” – Marvin Gaye
66. “You’re Still the One” – Shania Twain
67. “Hot Stuff” – Donna Summer
68. “I Will Always Love You” – Whitney Houston
69. “Gangsta’s Paradise” – Coolio featuring L.V.
70. “Abracadabra” – Steve Miller Band
71. “Billie Jean” – Michael Jackson
72. “You’re So Vain” – Carly Simon
73. “Play That Funky Music” – Wild Cherry
74. “Say You, Say Me” – Lionel Richie
75. “My Sharona” – The Knack
76. “All Night Long (All Night)” – Lionel Richie
77. “Nothing Compares 2 U” – Sinéad O’Connor
78. “I Swear” – All-4-One
79. “Family Affair” – Mary J. Blige
80. “Waiting for a Girl Like You” – Foreigner
81. “Are You Lonesome Tonight” – Elvis Presley
82. “Killing Me Softly with His Song” – Roberta Flack
83. “Hurts So Good” – John Mellencamp
84. “I’ll Be Missing You” – Puff Daddy & Faith Evans featuring 112
85. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” – B.J. Thomas
86. “Another Day in Paradise” – Phil Collins
87. “Best of My Love” – The Emotions
88. “You Make Me Wanna…” – Usher
89. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – Fergie
90. “The Way We Were” – Barbra Streisand
91. “Another Night” – The Real McCoy
92. “It’s Now or Never” – Elvis Presley
93. “Do That to Me One More Time” – Captain & Tennille
94. “A Fifth of Beethoven” – Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
95. “Like a Virgin” – Madonna
96. “Maria Maria” (Album Version) – Santana featuring The Product G&B
97. “I Will Survive” – Gloria Gaynor
98. “I Can’t Stop Loving You” – Ray Charles
99. “U Got It Bad” – Usher
100. “Joy to the World” – Three Dog Night

I am very surprised by all of the top ten, except maybe “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. It is not that I think they are not good or popular songs, I just did not conceptualize them as the ones that have had the most success on Billboard’s Hot 100 Charts of all time.

At the other end, I would have thought Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” would have been near the top of the list. The exclusion of songs like “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin, as described below, stand out as clear missing by popularity over time.

Prior to December 1998, songs did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100 until a retail single became available (which, incidentally, is why hits like Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven” and No Doubt‘s “Don’t Speak” never appeared on the Hot 100). In earlier years, retail singles came to market fairly early in a song’s life-usually shortly after, or even before, a song came to radio.

But, during the 1990s, when labels would strategize number-one chart bows by significant hits, the retail release of some priority singles were withheld until radio audience reached maximum levels. Although some of these songs spent significant numbers of weeks at number one or in the top ten, the delay of the sales component ultimately shortened the spans these songs would spend on the chart. With the new methodology rewarding points for a song’s entire chart run, rather than confining points to weeks spent in the top ten, the shorter chart lives recorded by the songs that debuted at number one impact their all-time standings.

Which songs are you most surprised about high, low or omitted on the Billboard All-Time Hot 100 Top Songs?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & Boston DJ

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