The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing songs in the United States. The chart was first issued in the magazine issue of August 4, 1958. Prior to that, Billboard published four popular song charts; the Top 100, the first Billboard chart to feature a combined tabulation of sales, airplay and jukebox play; Best Sellers in Stores, ranking the best-selling singles in retail stores; Most Played by Jockeys, ranking the most played songs on US radio stations; and the leading song chart, Honor Roll of Hits, which ranks the most popular songs (not singles) in the country. With the foundation of the Hot 100, Top 100 and Most Played by Jockeys were discontinued. Best Sellers in Stores continued until October 13, 1958, while Honor Roll of Hits continued until 1963. In 1958, twenty-five different songs were able to top one of the four charts. A majority of the songs which topped the Best Sellers in Stores, which Billboard considered the predecessor of the Hot 100, [1] were able to also top the two other singles-tracking charts. The first song to top all three charts was Danny & the Juniors' "At the Hop".
On the Hot 100, eight acts hit the top, which were also their first. Those acts include Ricky Nelson, Domenico Modugno, The Elegants, Tommy Edwards, Conway Twitty, The Kingston Trio, The Teddy Bears, and The Chipmunks (even though David Seville went to number one earlier this year with “Witch Doctor“, which hit prior to the creation of the Hot 100).
NOTE: The Hot 100 Era officially began on Monday, August 4, 1958, which would be the week ending August 10 (issue date August 4). The Best Sellers in Stores list issued through October 13.
Issue date | Best Sellers in Stores [2] | Most Played by Jockeys [3] | Honor Roll of Hits | Top 100 [2] | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
January 6 | "At the Hop" Danny & the Juniors with Artie Singer | "April Love" Pat Boone with Billy Vaughn | "April Love" | "At the Hop" Danny & the Juniors with Artie Singer | [4] |
January 13 | [5] | ||||
January 20 | [6] | ||||
January 27 | "At the Hop" Danny & the Juniors | "At the Hop" | [7] | ||
February 3 | |||||
February 10 | "Don't"/I Beg of You" Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires | [8] | |||
February 17 | "Sugartime" The McGuire Sisters with Neil Hefti | [9] | |||
February 24 | ""Sugartime" | "Get a Job" The Silhouettes | [10] | ||
March 3 | [11] | ||||
March 10 | "Don't" Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires | [12] | |||
March 17 | "Tequila" The Champs | "Don't" Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires | "Catch a Falling Star" | "Tequila" The Champs | [13] |
March 24 | "Catch a Falling Star" Perry Como with Mitchell Ayres and The Ray Charles Singers | "Tequila" | [14] | ||
March 31 | "Tequila" The Champs | [15] | |||
April 7 | [16] | ||||
April 14 | "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" Laurie London with Geoff Love | [17] | |||
April 21 | "Twilight Time" The Platters | "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" | "Twilight Time" The Platters | [18] | |
April 28 | "Witch Doctor" David Seville | "Witch Doctor" David Seville | [19] | ||
May 5 | "Witch Doctor" | [20] | |||
May 12 | "All I Have to Do Is Dream"/"Claudette" The Everly Brothers | "Twilight Time" The Platters | [21] | ||
May 19 | "All I Have To Do Is Dream" The Everly Brothers | "All I Have To Do Is Dream" | "All I Have To Do Is Dream" The Everly Brothers | [22] | |
May 26 | [23] | ||||
June 2 | [24] | ||||
June 9 | "The Purple People Eater" Sheb Wooley | "The Purple People Eater" Sheb Wooley | [25] | ||
June 16 | "The Purple People Eater" | [26] | |||
June 23 | "The Purple People Eater" Sheb Wooley | [27] | |||
June 30 | [28] | ||||
July 7 | [29] | ||||
July 14 | [30] | ||||
July 21 | "Hard Headed Woman"/"Don't Ask Me Why" Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires | "Hard Headed Woman" Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires | "Hard Headed Woman" | "Yakety Yak" The Coasters | [31] |
July 28 | "Patricia" Pérez Prado and His Orchestra | "Patricia" | "Patricia" Pérez Prado and His Orchestra | [32] | |
August 4 | "Poor Little Fool" Ricky Nelson | Chart discontinued | Chart discontinued | [33] | |
August 11 | |||||
August 18 | "Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)" Domenico Modugno | "Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)" | [34] | ||
August 25 | "Bird Dog" The Everly Brothers | [35] | |||
September 1 | "Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)" Domenico Modugno | [36] | |||
September 8 | |||||
September 15 | [37] | ||||
September 22 | |||||
September 29 | "It's All in the Game" Tommy Edwards | [38] | |||
October 6 | "It's All in the Game" | [39] | |||
October 13 | [40] | ||||
October 20 | Chart discontinued | [41] | |||
October 27 | [42] | ||||
November 3 | [43] | ||||
November 10 | [44] | ||||
November 17 | "Tom Dooley" | [45] | |||
November 24 | |||||
December 1 | |||||
December 8 | |||||
December 15 | |||||
December 22 | |||||
December 29 |
† | Indicates best-performing single of 1958 |
No. | Issue Date | Song [46] | Artist(s) | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | August 4 | "Poor Little Fool" | Ricky Nelson | [47] [33] |
August 11 | [48] [33] | |||
2 | August 18 | "Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)"† | Domenico Modugno | [49] [34] |
3 | August 25 | "Little Star" | The Elegants | [50] [35] |
re | September 1 | "Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)"† | Domenico Modugno | [51] [36] |
September 8 | [52] [36] | |||
September 15 | [53] [37] | |||
September 22 | [54] [37] | |||
4 | September 29 | "It's All in the Game" | Tommy Edwards | [55] [38] |
October 6 | [56] [39] | |||
October 13 | [57] [40] | |||
October 20 | [58] [41] | |||
October 27 | [59] [42] | |||
November 3 | [60] [43] | |||
5 | November 10 | "It's Only Make Believe" | Conway Twitty | [61] [44] |
6 | November 17 | "Tom Dooley" | The Kingston Trio | [62] [45] |
re | November 24 | "It's Only Make Believe" | Conway Twitty | [63] |
7 | December 1 | "To Know Him Is to Love Him" | The Teddy Bears | [64] |
December 8 | [65] | |||
December 15 | [66] | |||
8 | December 22 | "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" | The Chipmunks with David Seville | [67] |
December 29 | [68] |
Position | Artist | Weeks at No. 1 |
---|---|---|
1 | Tommy Edwards | 6 |
2 | Domenico Modugno | 5 |
3 | The Teddy Bears | 3 |
4 | Ricky Nelson | 2 |
Conway Twitty | ||
The Chipmunks with David Seville | ||
7 | The Elegants | 1 |
The Kingston Trio |
The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, online streaming, and radio play in the U.S.
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in Billboard magazine. Billboard biz, the online extension of the Billboard charts, provides additional weekly charts, as well as year-end charts. The two most important charts are the Billboard Hot 100 for songs and Billboard 200 for albums, and other charts may be dedicated to a specific genre such as R&B, country, or rock, or they may cover all genres. The charts can be ranked according to sales, streams, or airplay, and for main song charts such as the Hot 100 song chart, all three data are used to compile the charts. For the Billboard 200 album chart, streams and track sales are included in addition to album sales.
"Diana" is a song written and first performed by Paul Anka, who recorded it in May 1957 at Don Costa’s studio in New York City. Anka stated in his autobiography that the song was inspired by a girl named Diana Ayoub, whom he had met at his church and community events, and had developed a crush on. Session musicians on the record included George Barnes playing lead guitar, Bucky Pizzarelli playing the "Calypso" riff on guitar, Irving Wexler on piano, Jerry Bruno on bass, and Panama Francis on drums. The song was recorded in May 1957 at RCA Studios in New York. Backup singers included Artie Ripp.
Before there was a Hot 100, there were four different weekly charts. The main chart was Best Sellers in Stores, and that's the list Billboard uses as the pre-Hot 100 chart.