The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing songs in the United States. Its data, published by Billboard magazine and compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, is based collectively on each song's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as the amount of airplay received on American radio stations and streaming on online digital music outlets.
During 2018, eleven singles reached number one on the Hot 100; a twelfth single, "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran, solo or duet with Beyoncé, began its run at number one in December 2017. Of those eleven number-one singles, four were collaborations. In total, thirteen acts topped the chart as either lead or featured artists, with nine—Camila Cabello, Young Thug, Childish Gambino, Ty Dolla Sign, XXXTentacion, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Ariana Grande and Travis Scott—achieving their first Hot 100 number-one single. Drake's "God's Plan" was the longest-running number-one of the year, leading the chart for eleven weeks; it subsequently topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. Drake beat the record for most weeks at number one in a year for a single artist, with 29 weeks at number one. XXXTentacion became the first artist to have a posthumous number one since Static Major featured on Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" in 2008 and the first artist to lead the chart with a posthumous number one since The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" in 1997, and is the eighth overall.
Drake and Cardi B were the only acts to have multiple number one songs in 2018, with Drake having the most with three and Cardi B with two.
† | Indicates best-performing song of 2018 [1] |
No. | Issue date | Song | Artist(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1069 | January 3 | "Perfect" | Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé | [2] [3] |
January 6 | [4] [5] | |||
January 13 | [6] [7] | |||
January 20 | Ed Sheeran [lower-alpha 1] | [9] [8] | ||
1070 | January 27 | "Havana" | Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug | [10] [11] |
1071 | February 3 | "God's Plan" † | Drake | [12] [13] |
February 10 | [14] [15] | |||
February 17 | [16] [17] | |||
February 24 | [18] [19] | |||
March 3 | [20] [21] | |||
March 10 | [22] [23] | |||
March 17 | [24] [25] | |||
March 24 | [26] [27] | |||
March 31 | [28] [29] | |||
April 7 | [30] [31] | |||
April 14 | [32] [33] | |||
1072 | April 21 | "Nice for What" | [34] [35] | |
April 28 | [36] [37] | |||
May 5 | [38] [39] | |||
May 12 | [40] [41] | |||
1073 | May 19 | "This Is America" | Childish Gambino | [42] [43] |
May 26 | [44] [45] | |||
re | June 2 | "Nice for What" | Drake | [46] [47] |
June 9 | [48] [49] | |||
1074 | June 16 | "Psycho" | Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla Sign | [50] [51] |
re | June 23 | "Nice for What" | Drake | [52] [53] |
1075 | June 30 | "Sad!" | XXXTentacion | [54] [55] |
1076 | July 7 | "I Like It" | Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin | [56] [57] |
re | July 14 | "Nice for What" | Drake | [58] [59] |
1077 | July 21 | "In My Feelings" | [60] [61] | |
July 28 | [62] [63] | |||
August 4 | [64] [65] | |||
August 11 | [66] [67] | |||
August 18 | [68] [69] | |||
August 25 | [70] [71] | |||
September 1 | [72] [73] | |||
September 8 | [74] [75] | |||
September 15 | [76] [77] | |||
September 22 | [78] [79] | |||
1078 | September 29 | "Girls Like You" | Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B | [80] [81] |
October 6 | [82] [83] | |||
October 13 | [84] [85] | |||
October 20 | [86] [87] | |||
October 27 | [88] [89] | |||
November 3 | [90] [91] | |||
November 10 | [92] [93] | |||
1079 | November 17 | "Thank U, Next" | Ariana Grande | [94] [95] |
November 24 | [96] [97] | |||
December 1 | [98] [99] | |||
1080 | December 8 | "Sicko Mode" | Travis Scott | [100] [101] |
re | December 15 | "Thank U, Next" | Ariana Grande | [102] [103] |
December 22 | [104] [105] | |||
December 29 | [106] [107] |
Position | Artist | Weeks at No. 1 |
---|---|---|
1 | Drake | 29 |
2 | Cardi B | 8 |
3 | Maroon 5 | 7 |
4 | Ariana Grande | 6 |
5 | Ed Sheeran | 4 |
6 | Beyoncé | 3 |
7 | Childish Gambino | 2 |
8 | Camila Cabello | 1 |
Young Thug | ||
Post Malone | ||
Ty Dolla Sign | ||
XXXTentacion | ||
Bad Bunny | ||
J Balvin | ||
Travis Scott | ||
The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by Billboard magazine. Although it originally started tracking song sales the week of October 30, 2004, it officially debuted in the issue dated January 22, 2005, and merged all versions of a song sold from digital music distributors. Its data was incorporated in the Hot 100 three weeks later. Since October 2004, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboard's music singles charts. The decision was based on the dramatic increase of the digital market while commercial single sales in a physical format were becoming negligible.
The Streaming Songs chart is released weekly by Billboard magazine and lists each week's top streamed radio songs, on-demand songs and videos on leading online music services in the United States. The chart represents one of the three components, along with airplay and sales, that determine the chart positions of songs on the Billboard Hot 100, which ranks the most popular songs in the United States.