How has the landscape of the Billboard Hot 100 changed over time?

proud-seal (Max Savona, Morgan Stuart, Kamran Murray)

2026-03-05

Introduction - Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 has been the premiere singles chart since 1958, ranking songs based on sales figures, radio airplay, and online streaming numbers.

How we use this dataset

  • The full TidyTuesday dataset includes 1,177 songs, each with 105 variables
  • We focus on the key ones seen here to explore historical trends
  • Interested in what factors may influence a songs staying power (how many weeks it has at #1):
    • Year of release - have music-listening habits changed?
    • Song genre - have music types changed in popularity?
Example section of billboards.csv
Song Artist Year Weeks_num_one Genre
Poor Little Fool Ricky Nelson 1958 2 Pop;Rock
Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu Domenico Modugno 1958 5 Pop
Little Star The Elegants 1958 1 Rock
It’s All in the Game Tommy Edwards 1958 6 Pop
It’s Only Make Believe Conway Twitty 1958 2 Pop

The Rise and Fall of Chart Dominance

Question 1: Has it become easier or harder to dominate the Hot 100 over time?
For this project, we use the number of weeks a song spends at number one as a proxy of to what extent they “dominated” the charts.

Consistent pacing until 1990 | Cassettes re-distribute power | CDs precede concentration staying power | Power consolidates until Spotify, then drops dramatically | Each new medium gave more choice, but Spotify makes it free

Streaming Democratizes the Chart

Question 1: Has it become easier or harder to dominate the Hot 100 over time?
Boxplots give much more insight into variance

  • The 1990s and 2000s have the highest medians and most extreme outliers, with songs holding #1 for 14–16 weeks
  • The 2020s show the tightest distribution — more artists reach #1 but very few hold it for long
    • 2020: 20 different #1 songs
    • 2024: 15 different #1 songs
  • TikTok trends and surprise album drops can push a song to the top, but the next hit is always right behind it
  • Conclusion: It has become harder to dominate the Hot 100 in the streaming era — the chart now cycles through hits more like the early vinyl years than the CD era

Do Certain Genres Last Longer at #1?

  • Songs have multiple genres listed, so we use the first as the primary genre
  • Filtered to genres with 10+ songs: Pop, Rock, Funk/Soul, Electronic/Dance, Hip Hop, Folk/Country
  • Hip Hop has the highest median weeks at #1 (4 weeks vs. 2 for most others)

Genre Breakdown: Short vs. Long Runs at #1

  • Pop and Rock: over half of their #1 songs only last a single week
  • Hip Hop: nearly 50% of its #1 songs hold for 4+ weeks
  • Folk/Country rarely breaks past 2 weeks on a mainstream chart