Pop Airplay

Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the United States. The rankings are based on radio airplay detections as measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS), a subsidiary of the U.S.' leading marketing research company. Consumer researchers, Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron), refers to the format as contemporary hit radio (CHR). The current number-one song on the chart is "Cruel Summer" by Taylor Swift.

History

The chart debuted in Billboard Magazine in its issued date October 3, 1992, with the introduction of two Top 40 airplay charts, Mainstream and Rhythm-Crossover. Both Top 40 charts measured "actual monitored airplay" from data compiled by Broadcast Data Systems (BDS). The Top 40/Mainstream chart was compiled from airplay on radio stations playing a wide variety of music, while the Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover chart was made up from airplay on stations playing more dance and R&B music. Both charts were "born of then-new BDS electronic monitoring technology" as a more objective and precise way of measuring airplay on radio stations. This data was also used as the airplay component for Hot 100 tabulations. American Top 40 with Shadoe Stevens used this chart for their show from January 1993 to January 1995.

Top 40/Mainstream was published in the print edition of Billboard from its debut in October 1992 through May 1995, when both Top 40 charts were moved exclusively to Airplay Monitor, a secondary chart publication by Billboard. They returned to the print edition in the August 2, 2003, issue. The first number-one song on the chart was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men.

Chart criteria

There are forty positions on this chart. Songs are ranked based on its total number of spins per week. This is calculated by electronically monitoring Mainstream Top 40 radio stations across the U.S. 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

Songs receiving the greatest growth receive a "bullet", although there are tracks that also get bullets if the loss in detections doesn't exceed the percentage of downtime from a monitored station. "Airpower" awards are issued to songs that appear on the top 20 of both the airplay and audience chart for the first time, while the "greatest gainer" award is given to song with the largest increase in detections. A song with six or more spins in its first week is awarded an "airplay add". If two songs are tied in spins in the same week, the one with the biggest increase that week ranks higher.

Since the introduction of the chart until 2005, songs below No. 20 were moved to recurrent after 26 weeks on the chart. Beginning the chart week of December 3, 2005, songs below No. 20 were moved to recurrent after 20 weeks on the chart. Since the chart dated December 4, 2010, songs below No. 15 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks on the chart

Whereas the Pop Airplay and Pop 100 Airplay charts both measured the airplay of songs played on Mainstream stations playing pop-oriented music, the Pop 100 Airplay (like the Hot 100 Airplay) measured airplay based on statistical impressions, while the Top 40 Mainstream chart used the number of total detections.

Source:

All-time achievements

In 2012, for the 20th anniversary of the chart, Billboard compiled a ranking of the 100 best-performing songs on the chart over the 20 years, along with the best-performing artists. "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls ranked as the #1 song on that list. In 2017, Billboard revised the rankings, including the methodologies for how they are calculated. "Another Night" by Real McCoy was the new #1 song, while the previous #1 song, "Iris", dropped to #8. Rihanna ranked as the top artist on both all-time charts. Shown below are the top 10 songs and the top 10 artists from the most recent chart.

Top 10 Pop Songs of all time (1992–2017)

Rank Single Year released Artist(s) Peak and duration
1.
"Another Night"
1994
Real McCoy #1 for 6 weeks
2.
"Smooth"
1999
Santana featuring Rob Thomas #1 for 8 weeks
3.
"Hanging by a Moment"
2000
Lifehouse #2 for 12 weeks
4.
"Apologize"
2007
Timbaland featuring OneRepublic #1 for 8 weeks
5.
"How You Remind Me"
2001
Nickelback #1 for 10 weeks
6.
"Here Without You"
2003
3 Doors Down #1 for 6 weeks
7.
"Don't Speak"
1996
No Doubt #1 for 10 weeks
8.
"Iris"
1998
Goo Goo Dolls #1 for 4 weeks
9.
"Closer"
2016
The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey #1 for 11 weeks
10.
"I Love You Always Forever"
1996
Donna Lewis #1 for 11 weeks

Source:

Top 10 Pop Songs artists of all time (1992–2017)

Rank Artist
1.
Rihanna
2.
Pink
3.
Maroon 5
4.
Katy Perry
5.
Justin Timberlake
6.
Britney Spears
7.
Taylor Swift
8.
Kelly Clarkson
9.
Mariah Carey
10.
Bruno Mars

Source:

Song records

Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift have the highest debut at number 12 with "Dreamlover" and "Shake It Off" respectively.

Highest debut

Debut
Position
Artist Song Debut Date Source
No. 12 Mariah Carey "Dreamlover" August 14, 1993
Taylor Swift "Shake It Off" September 6, 2014
No. 13 Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar "Bad Blood" June 6, 2015
No. 14 Lady Gaga "Born This Way" February 26, 2011
Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z "Suit & Tie" February 2, 2013
No. 16 Madonna "Frozen" March 7, 1998
Britney Spears "Hold It Against Me" January 29, 2011
Miley Cyrus "Flowers" January 28, 2023
No. 17 Dua Lipa "Dance the Night" June 10, 2023
Olivia Rodrigo "Vampire" July 15, 2023
No. 18 Taylor Swift "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" September 1, 2012
Maroon 5 "Maps" July 5, 2014

Most weeks at number one

Number of
weeks
Artist Song Year(s) Source
14 Ace of Base "The Sign" 1994
13 The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber "Stay" 2021
11 Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men "One Sweet Day" 1995–96
Donna Lewis "I Love You Always Forever" 1996
Natalie Imbruglia "Torn" 1998
Nelly featuring Tim McGraw "Over and Over" 2004–05
The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey "Closer" 2016
10 Dionne Farris "I Know" 1995
No Doubt "Don't Speak" 1996–97
Céline Dion "My Heart Will Go On" 1998
'N Sync "Bye Bye Bye" 2000
Nickelback "How You Remind Me" 2001–02
Mariah Carey "We Belong Together" 2005
Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell "Blurred Lines" 2013
Post Malone "Circles" 2019–20
Miley Cyrus "Flowers" 2023

Most weeks in the top 10

Number of
weeks
Artist Song Year(s) Source
41
Harry Styles "As It Was" 2022–23
40
The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber "Stay" 2021–22
39
The Weeknd "Blinding Lights" 2020
35
Post Malone "Circles" 2019–20
33
The Weeknd "Die for You" 2022–23
32 Harry Styles "Adore You" 2020
Lil Nas X "Thats What I Want" 2021–22
30
Dua Lipa "Levitating" 2020–21
28 Real McCoy "Another Night" 1994–95
Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" 1998
24kGoldn featuring Iann Dior "Mood" 2020–21
Glass Animals "Heat Waves" 2021–22

Most weeks on the chart

Number of
weeks
Artist Song Year* Source
63 Harry Styles "As It Was" 2023
60 The Weeknd "Blinding Lights" 2021
54 Glass Animals "Heat Waves" 2022
50 The Weeknd "Die for You" 2023
48 The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber "Stay" 2022
47 Lewis Capaldi "Before You Go" 2020
45 Dua Lipa "New Rules" 2018
Khalid and Normani "Love Lies" 2019
Benny Blanco, Halsey, and Khalid "Eastside"
Post Malone "Circles" 2020
Harry Styles "Adore You"
Lil Nas X "Thats What I Want" 2022

*Year when the songs ended their respective chart runs.

Prior to 2018, the song with the most weeks on the chart was "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, which spent 41 weeks on the chart in 1998. This record run held for almost two decades, but has been surpassed many times since then. Radio stations having more data points, such as streaming, to increase their accuracy at measuring what radio listeners want to hear, have made longer runs more commonplace.

Longest climbs to number one

Week reached
number one
Artist Song Date reached
number one
Source
37th week Lewis Capaldi "Before You Go" September 26, 2020
32nd week Glass Animals "Heat Waves" January 29, 2022
31st week Benny Blanco, Halsey and Khalid "Eastside" March 2, 2019
28th week Trevor Daniel "Falling" July 25, 2020
Rema and Selena Gomez "Calm Down" May 13, 2023
27th week Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby "Levitating" June 19, 2021
26th week Alessia Cara "Here" February 6, 2016
25th week CeeLo Green "Forget You" April 16, 2011
Demi Lovato "Give Your Heart a Break" September 15, 2012
24th week Alessia Cara "Scars to Your Beautiful" February 4, 2017
Khalid and Normani "Love Lies" September 22, 2018
The Weeknd "Die for You" February 11, 2023

Longest climbs to the top 10

Week reached
top 10
Artist Song Date reached top 10 Source
35th week
Lauv "I Like Me Better" June 23, 2018
31st week
Edwin McCain "I'll Be" October 17, 1998
27th week MAX featuring Gnash "Lights Down Low" February 3, 2018
Lewis Capaldi "Before You Go" July 18, 2020
AJR "Bang!" December 12, 2020
25th week MKTO "Classic" July 12, 2014
Daya "Sit Still, Look Pretty" October 15, 2016
Jon Bellion "All Time Low" March 11, 2017

Artist records

Taylor Swift holds the record for most number-one singles with 12, spanning over 14 years between her first and last hit.
With 47 weeks at number-one, Katy Perry holds the record for having spent the most weeks at the summit.

Artists with the most number-one singles

Number of Singles Artist Source
12 Taylor Swift
11 Rihanna
Katy Perry
Maroon 5
10 Justin Bieber
9 Bruno Mars
Pink
Ariana Grande
8
Justin Timberlake
7 Beyonce
Lady Gaga

Artists with the most cumulative weeks at number one

Number of Weeks Artist Source
47
Katy Perry
45
Mariah Carey
39
Maroon 5
38
Justin Bieber
36
Taylor Swift
32 Pink
Rihanna
30
Ariana Grande
29
Ace of Base
28
Bruno Mars

Artists with the most top 10 singles

Number of Singles Artist Source
30
Rihanna
22
Maroon 5
Taylor Swift
20 Justin Bieber
Ariana Grande
19 Pink
18 Justin Timberlake
17 Mariah Carey
Katy Perry
Bruno Mars

Artists with the most entries

Number of Entries Artist Source
51
Rihanna
43
Nicki Minaj
41 Justin Bieber
Taylor Swift
39 Chris Brown
Drake
37
Britney Spears
36
Pitbull
32
Lil Wayne
31 Mariah Carey
Justin Timberlake
Ariana Grande

Simultaneously occupying the top two positions

  1. "One Sweet Day" (with Boyz II Men)
  2. "Fantasy"
  • OutKast: January 31 - February 7, 2004
  1. "Hey Ya!"
  2. "The Way You Move" (featuring Sleepy Brown)
  1. "Blurred Lines" (Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell)
  2. "Get Lucky" (Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams)
  1. "Fancy" (featuring Charli XCX)
  2. "Problem" (Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea)
  • Halsey: February 23 - March 9, 2019
  1. "Without Me"
  2. "Eastside" (with Benny Blanco and Khalid)
  1. "34+35"
  2. "Positions"
  1. "Good 4 U"
  2. "Deja Vu"
  1. "I Like You (A Happier Song)" (Post Malone featuring Doja Cat)
  2. "Vegas"

Source:

Simultaneously three or more songs in the top 10

Source:

Self-replacement at number one

† Iggy Azalea is the only act in Mainstream Top 40 history to replace herself at number one with her first two chart entries.

†† Ariana Grande became the first artist to succeed herself at number one as the only act credited on both tracks.

Source:

Additional artist achievements

Lady Gaga is the only musical artist in history to have her first six singles all reach the number-one position on this chart.
  • Lady Gaga is the only artist to have her first six singles reach No. 1.
  • Britney Spears holds the record for the longest span between No. 1s at 12 years, seven months and four days between her first No.1 and her latest.
  • JoJo became the youngest (13) solo artist to have a number-one single on the chart with "Leave (Get Out)".
  • Rihanna is the youngest (22) artist to attain at least seven No. 1 singles on the chart.
  • Justin Bieber became the youngest (26) male artist to attain at least seven No. 1 singles on the chart with "Intentions" (featuring Quavo).
  • Kate Bush broke the record for the oldest song to have ever charted on the Mainstream Top 40 chart with "Running Up That Hill", originally released in 1985. It charted in 2022 after its use in the fourth season of Stranger Things. The previous record holder was Empire of the Sun, whose song "Walking on a Dream", originally released in 2008, charted in 2016 after its use in a Honda commercial.

Album records

Most number-one singles from an album

Number of Singles Artist Album Year (s) Source
6
Katy Perry Teenage Dream 2010-12
5
Taylor Swift 1989 2014-15
4 Justin Timberlake FutureSex/LoveSounds 2006-07
Lady Gaga The Fame 2009
3 Ace of Base The Sign 1993-94
Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill 1996
Avril Lavigne Let Go 2002-03
Maroon 5 Overexposed 2012-13
Justin Bieber Purpose 2015-16
Selena Gomez Revival 2015-16
Dua Lipa Future Nostalgia 2020-21
Lil Nas X Montero 2021-22
Doja Cat Planet Her 2021-22

This page was last updated at 2023-08-19 06:59 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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