The Longest-Leading Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s

Beginning with Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” in 1977, a relatively select few smashes have led the Billboard Hot 100 for at least 10 weeks. How few? Just a mere 4% of all Hot 100 No. 1s dating to the chart’s launch on Aug. 4, 1958, have earned the achievement.

Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” flexed 10 weeks at No. 1 in 1981-82, and that smash and Boone’s shared the mark for the longest Hot 100 reign for more than a decade, until Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” dominated for 13 weeks in 1992. That best lasted briefly, as Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” led for 14 weeks in late 1992/early 1993. In 1995-96, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” ran up 16 weeks at No. 1, a milestone that held for more than 23 years. (Songs began logging longer No. 1 stays after the Hot 100 adopted electronically tracked data, according to Luminate, in late 1991.)

In 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, tied the No. 1 run of “One Sweet Day.” By 2019, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, collected 19 weeks atop the Hot 100, a mark matched by Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” beginning in July 2024.

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is the newly-anointed record-holder: 22 weeks, having jingled to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in each holiday season since December 2019.

In honor of the singles that have claimed the Hot 100’s top spot the longest, here’s a look at the elite leaders to rule for double-digit weeks.

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Dec. 21, 2019

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: July 13, 2024

“I spent so much of my life working and just trying to get here, and because of you guys, my life is forever changed,” Shaboozey said in a thank you to his fans in November 2024, when the song hit its 19th week at No. 1. “Love y’all. Cowboys are forever.”

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: April 13, 2019

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: March 18, 2023

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: May 27, 2017

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Dec. 2, 1995

Carey, Boyz II Men — thanks in part to their touching ballad together — and Drake share the record for the most Hot 100 No. 1s to rule for 10 or more weeks: three each.

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: April 16, 2022

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Feb. 14, 2026

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Jan. 17, 2015

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: July 11, 2009

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: June 4, 2005

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Oct. 11, 1997

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Aug. 3, 1996

“We have no words to thank everyone,” the pair’s Antonio Romeo Monge told Billboard in 2016 of the endurance of the song, which became a mid-‘90s pop-culture craze. “We’re just two guys from a small town, doing things very humbly because we come from very humble families.”

Added Rafael Ruiz, “That girl Macarena really was something.”

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Aug. 27, 1994

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Nov. 28, 1992

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: March 1, 2025

The song’s journey to double-digit weeks at No. 1 began with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “If This World Were Mine,” which hit No. 27 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (then named Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles) in 1968. Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s cover reached No. 4 on the chart (then Hot Black Singles) in 1982, and is sampled on “Luther.”

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: June 6, 1998

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Aug. 15, 1992

First week at No. 1 on Hot 100: Jan. 28, 2017

“It’s the effective blend of the familiar and the unique that helps a song connect with a wide audience,” Dave Penn, Hit Songs Deconstructed co-founder, told Billboard in 2017 of the success of “Shape of You,” and that of many mass-appeal hits. “That truly is the key.”