10 Best Billboard Hot 100 Number Ones of All Time

Published Aug 19, 2026, 3:19 PM EDT

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For a quick bit of history and context, even if you probably already know, the Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that’s updated weekly, showing the songs that are officially the most popular in the U.S. every week. As ways of listening to music have changed, so too have factors that go into determining a song’s popularity, since a lot has changed since 1958, which was when the first Hot 100 was published in Billboard magazine.

There are almost 1200 songs that have hit number one on this chart since 1958, so trying to pick out the best of the best isn't easy. The songs below don’t even make up the top 1%, since that 1% would have 12 songs (well, 11.94, technically, at the time of writing), so if you're angry about omissions… hell, when you're angry about omissions, that’s probably why. This is just an honest attempt to highlight the best songs that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Also, sorry in advance for not giving the 1990s any representation, but there weren’t all that many super appealing songs that hit number one in that decade, honestly. It was a better decade for non-pop music, to frame things a little more positively.

10 "Runaway" (1961)

Del Shannon

It wouldn’t be entirely accurate to call “Runaway” a creepy song, yet there is something eerie about it. Part of that might come down to knowing about how Del Shannon’s life ended, some decades later, which is hindsight playing some role, perhaps, but even without that, what you have here is a very melancholic song that’s melancholic in an unusual way for a track so old.

“Runaway” is desperate with its lyrics that touch on loneliness and longing, and then the production adds to that almost haunted and eerie sound. It’s probably fair to call it ahead of its time in some regards, and it really stands out among other chart-topping songs of the early 1960s (there were some other massively impressive songs from around the same time that neared the top of the chart, rather than hitting it, including “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes and “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King).

9 "Say It Right" (2006)

Nelly Furtado

There were two songs off Nelly Furtado’s Loose that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100: “Promiscuous” and “Say It Right.” They're very different-sounding songs, to put it mildly, but they're both excellent in their own way (for their time, sure, and then beyond it as well). “Maneater” and “All Good Things (Come to an End)” were more popular in other territories, with the former hitting similar beats to “Promiscuous” and the latter being more in line with “Say It Right.”

As for “Say It Right,” it’s cool that it did as well as it did, and wasn’t deemed too moody or slow. Putting it here feels a little wild, but it has aged unusually well overall. The whole of Loose has, really. With hindsight, it easily feels like one of its decade’s best pop albums.

8 "With or Without You" (1987)

U2

U2 have had two songs hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and both were from the same album: The Joshua Tree. “With or Without You” is the best of the two, but an honorable mention should go to their other number one, “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.” “Where The Streets Have No Name,” also from The Joshua Tree, made it to #13.

It speaks to how strong (or maybe front-loaded) that album is when you see that those three songs are the first three on it, so nothing that follows can really live up to that opening stretch. But hey, when it opens like that, maybe that’s okay. “With or Without You” might not convert a U2 naysayer, and there are definitely people who say nay very strongly about this band, but if you’re not in the camp, then… well, you probably know about “With or Without You” already.

7 "Come on Eileen" (1982)

Dexys Midnight Runners

If you're going by the charts in the U.S., then Dexys Midnight Runners are technically a one-hit wonder, but that hit is “Come On Eileen,” at least. There are other great songs by the band, and in the UK, “Come On Eileen” was their second number one (“Geno,” from two years earlier, was the first), yet this is the best, deserving that spot at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, even if it’s a fairly unusual hit song.

It caught on. People couldn’t really resist it. Even if it’s a Celtic rock/folk song, to some extent, it’s got that hook that probably overwhelms any potential weirdness. Like with U2, you'll find some people who just don’t like what Dexys Midnight Runners are putting down here, but oh well. Their loss.

6 "Blinding Lights" (2019)

The Weeknd

“Blinding Lights” was released as a single in 2019, ahead of After Hours, which was released in 2020 and does indeed house “Blinding Lights.” What’s remarkable is that it fits into that album so perfectly, even if it’s a masterful track on its own, maybe even to the extent where it’s hard to imagine it not sticking out (in some kind of detrimental or glaring manner) when placed on an album.

The song itself feels like the best one to top the Billboard Hot 100 in recent memory, even if, though a fairly recent song, it definitely feels like a throwback to the 1980s (in a good way). The Weeknd hasn’t found as much success outside music, if you've seen some of the TV shows and movies he’s been involved with, but “Blinding Lights,” with him in his element, is immense.

5 "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970)

Simon & Garfunkel

It’s a bit wild to think about how “Blinding Lights” and “Bridge over Troubled Water” can both count themselves among the Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers, though they are separated by almost half a century. The important thing is they're both great songs in their own right. “Bridge over Troubled Water” is understandably one of the songs for which Simon & Garfunkel are most well-known, yet it’s not the duo’s only number one.

It’s a ballad that gradually grows into something huge as it goes along, and it’s an undeniably beautiful song and all that.

“Bridge over Troubled Water” is their only number one not tied to The Graduate, for what that’s worth, considering their other two chart-toppers were “The Sound of Silence” and “Mrs. Robinson.” It’s a ballad that gradually grows into something huge as it goes along, and it’s an undeniably beautiful song and all that. A more than worthy number one song, in other words.

4 "Dancing Queen" (1976)

ABBA

The popularity of ABBA worldwide is almost overwhelming, and yes, the band was still popular in the U.S., but did only have one song that reached number one, somewhat surprisingly. At least that song was “Dancing Queen,” which is as close to a signature song as a band like ABBA can have, just because there are an (again) overwhelming number of great songs to consider if you want to try and highlight the best of the best.

You can reject disco music and frown upon most pop if you really want to, but doing so feels particularly hard when you have something like “Dancing Queen” placed in front of you. It’s pretty much as perfect as pop gets, and there’s such a rush to it all, compositionally and lyrically, that it’s easy to see why it dominated the Billboard Hot 100 the way it did.

3 "Something" (1969)

The Beatles

There are 20 songs by The Beatles that topped the Billboard Hot 100, and of those, “Something” might well be the best, because there’s just something about it. No, that’s silly. It’s easy to break down what really works about this, since it’s a perfectly written love song lyrically speaking, it’s very strong on a compositional front, and it’s also got that great bridge.

It is also one piece of an overall great album, Abbey Road, though it works great on its own and is a highlight of the whole thing, and being a highlight on an album like Abbey Road is high praise. Well, again, it’s definitely something. If you want to argue that George Harrison was secretly the best/most talented member of the band, then “Something” makes for some remarkable ammunition.

2 "Good Vibrations" (1966)

The Beach Boys

With The Beach Boys, you’ve got four number one songs to choose from, and “Kokomo” is the easiest to throw away. Okay, okay, maybe it gets a bit over-hated, but there is also this mild feeling of nausea that hits when you realize songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows” didn’t chart as high (they hit #8 and #39, respectively).

So, of the other three, the best is “Good Vibrations,” with the other two being “Help Me, Rhonda” and “I Get Around.” “Good Vibrations” is well and truly one of the band’s most impressive achievements, and it was also surprisingly boundary-pushing for its time beyond its composition, since a pop/radio sort of song exceeding three minutes, back in 1966, was genuinely unusual.

1 "Heart of Glass" (1978)

Blondie

With singles, you sometimes get shorter versions of songs. It even happened with the previously mentioned “Good Vibrations,” since there was The Smile Sessions version that’s over four minutes long, but it happens more dramatically here, with “Heart of Glass.” The arguable best version of the song is nearly six minutes long, and that wasn’t the version that hit number one.

Still, that shorter version of “Heart of Glass” remains incredible and gets the point across, of course. It’s more that the longer version just stays equally great for a bit longer. This is the definitive Blondie song, despite not entirely representing Blondie’s sound, if the band’s sound can even be defined (it’s not usually too disco-y, for what that’s worth). “Call Me” is another great number one song by the band, and then “The Tide Is High” and “Rapture” might not be quite as excellent, but they topped the Billboard Hot 100, too.