Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the United States. The rankings are based on radio airplay detections as measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (Nielsen BDS), a subsidiary of the U.S.' leading marketing research company. Consumer researchers, Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron), refers to the format as contemporary hit radio (CHR).The current number-one song on the chart is "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey.[1]
The chart debuted in Billboard Magazine in its issued date October 3, 1992, with the introduction of two Top 40 airplay charts, Mainstream and Rhythm-Crossover. Both Top 40 charts measured "actual monitored airplay" from data compiled by Broadcast Data Systems (BDS). The Top 40/Mainstream chart was compiled from airplay on radio stations playing a wide variety of music, while the Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover chart was made up from airplay on stations playing more dance and R&B music.[2] Both charts were "born of then-new BDS electronic monitoring technology" as a more objective and precise way of measuring airplay on radio stations. This data was also used as the airplay component for Hot 100 tabulations.[2] American Top 40 with Shadoe Stevens used this chart for their show from January 1993 to January 1995.
Top 40/Mainstream was published in the print edition of Billboard from its debut in October 1992 through May 1995, when both Top 40 charts were moved exclusively to Airplay Monitor, a secondary chart publication by Billboard. They returned to the print edition in the August 2, 2003, issue.[3] The first number-one song on the chart was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men.[4]
There are forty positions on this chart. Songs are ranked based on its total number of spins per week. This is calculated by electronically monitoring Mainstream Top 40 radio stations across the U.S. 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.
Songs receiving the greatest growth receive a "bullet", although there are tracks that also get bullets if the loss in detections doesn't exceed the percentage of downtime from a monitored station. "Airpower" awards are issued to songs that appear on the top 20 of both the airplay and audience chart for the first time, while the "greatest gainer" award is given to song with the largest increase in detections. A song with six or more spins in its first week is awarded an "airplay add". If two songs are tied in spins in the same week, the one with the biggest increase that week ranks higher.
Since the introduction of the chart until 2005, songs below No. 20 were moved to recurrent after 26 weeks on the chart. Beginning the chart week of December 3, 2005, songs below No. 20 were moved to recurrent after 20 weeks on the chart. Since the chart dated December 4, 2010, songs below No. 15 are moved to recurrent after 20 weeks on the chart
Whereas the Pop Airplay and Pop 100 Airplay charts both measured the airplay of songs played on Mainstream stations playing pop-oriented music, the Pop 100 Airplay (like the Hot 100 Airplay) measured airplay based on statistical impressions, while the Top 40 Mainstream chart used the number of total detections.
Source:[5]
In 2012, for the 20th anniversary of the chart, Billboard compiled a ranking of the 100 best-performing songs on the chart over the 20 years, along with the best-performing artists. "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls ranked as the #1 song on that list.[6] [7] In 2017, Billboard revised the rankings, including the methodologies for how they are calculated. "Another Night" by Real McCoy was the new #1 song, while the previous #1 song, "Iris", dropped to #8. Rihanna ranked as the top artist on both all-time charts.[8] Shown below are the top 10 songs and the top 10 artists from the most recent chart.
| Rank | Single | Year released | Artist(s) | Peak and duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Another Night" | Real McCoy |
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| "Smooth" | Santana featuring Rob Thomas |
| |||
| "Hanging by a Moment" | Lifehouse |
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| "Apologize" | Timbaland featuring OneRepublic |
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| "How You Remind Me" | Nickelback |
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| "Here Without You" | 3 Doors Down |
| |||
| "Don't Speak" | No Doubt |
| |||
| "Iris" | Goo Goo Dolls |
| |||
| "Closer" | The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey |
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| "I Love You Always Forever" | Donna Lewis |
|
Source:[9]
| Rank | Artist | |
|---|---|---|
| Rihanna | ||
| Pink | ||
| Maroon 5 | ||
| Katy Perry | ||
| Justin Timberlake | ||
| Britney Spears | ||
| Taylor Swift | ||
| Kelly Clarkson | ||
| Mariah Carey | ||
| Bruno Mars |
| Number of weeks | Artist | Song | Year(s) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Ace of Base | "The Sign" | 1994 | [11] |
| 13 | The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber | "Stay" | 2021 | [12] |
| 11 | Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men | "One Sweet Day" | 1995 - 96 | |
| Donna Lewis | "I Love You Always Forever" | 1996 | ||
| Natalie Imbruglia | "Torn" | 1998 | ||
| Nelly featuring Tim McGraw | "Over and Over" | 2004 - 05 | ||
| The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey | "Closer" | 2016 | ||
| 10 | Dionne Farris | "I Know" | 1995 | |
| No Doubt | "Don't Speak" | 1996 - 97 | ||
| Céline Dion | "My Heart Will Go On" | 1998 | ||
| 'N Sync | "Bye Bye Bye" | 2000 | ||
| Nickelback | "How You Remind Me" | 2001 - 02 | ||
| Mariah Carey | "We Belong Together" | 2005 | ||
| Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell | "Blurred Lines" | 2013 | ||
| Post Malone | "Circles" | 2019 - 20 | ||
| Miley Cyrus | "Flowers" | 2023 | [13] | |
| Taylor Swift | "Cruel Summer" | [14] |
| Number of weeks | Artist | Song | Year(s) | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rema and Selena Gomez | "Calm Down" | 2023 - 24 | [15] | ||
| Harry Styles | "As It Was" | 2022 - 23 | |||
| The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber | "Stay" | 2021 - 22 | |||
| The Weeknd | "Blinding Lights" | 2020 | |||
| Post Malone | "Circles" | 2019 - 20 | [16] | ||
| The Weeknd | "Die for You" | 2022 - 23 | |||
| 32 | Harry Styles | "Adore You" | 2020 | ||
| Lil Nas X | "Thats What I Want" | 2021 - 22 | |||
| Taylor Swift | "Cruel Summer" | 2023 - 24 | |||
| Dua Lipa | "Levitating" | 2020 - 21 |
| Number of weeks | Artist | Song | Year* | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71 | Rema and Selena Gomez | "Calm Down" | 2024 | [17] |
| 63 | Harry Styles | "As It Was" | 2023 | [18] |
| 60 | The Weeknd | "Blinding Lights" | 2021 | [19] |
| 54 | Glass Animals | "Heat Waves" | 2022 | |
| 50 | The Weeknd | "Die for You" | 2023 | [20] |
| 48 | The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber | "Stay" | 2022 | |
| 47 | Lewis Capaldi | "Before You Go" | 2020 | |
| 45 | Dua Lipa | "New Rules" | 2018 | |
| Khalid and Normani | "Love Lies" | 2019 | ||
| Benny Blanco, Halsey, and Khalid | "Eastside" | |||
| Post Malone | "Circles" | 2020 | ||
| Harry Styles | "Adore You" | |||
| Lil Nas X | "Thats What I Want" | 2022 | ||
| Taylor Swift | "Cruel Summer" | 2024 |
*Year when the songs ended their respective chart runs.
Prior to 2018, the song with the most weeks on the chart was "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, which spent 41 weeks on the chart in 1998. This record run held for almost two decades, but has been surpassed many times since then. Radio stations having more data points, such as streaming, to increase their accuracy at measuring what radio listeners want to hear, have made longer runs more commonplace.[21]
| Debut Position | Artist | Song | Debut Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 12 | Mariah Carey | "Dreamlover" | August 14, 1993 | [22] |
| Taylor Swift | "Shake It Off" | September 6, 2014 | [23] | |
| No. 13 | Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar | "Bad Blood" | June 6, 2015 | [24] |
| Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone | "Fortnight" | May 4, 2024 | [25] | |
| No. 14 | Lady Gaga | "Born This Way" | February 26, 2011 | |
| Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z | "Suit & Tie" | February 2, 2013 | [26] | |
| No. 16 | Madonna | "Frozen" | March 7, 1998 | |
| Britney Spears | "Hold It Against Me" | January 29, 2011 | ||
| Miley Cyrus | "Flowers" | January 28, 2023 | [27] | |
| NSYNC | "Better Place" | October 14, 2023 | [28] | |
| Dua Lipa | "Houdini" | November 25, 2023 | [29] |
| Week reached number one | Artist | Song | Date reached number one | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37th week | Lewis Capaldi | "Before You Go" | September 26, 2020 | [30] |
| 32nd week | Glass Animals | "Heat Waves" | January 29, 2022 | [31] |
| 31st week | "Eastside" | March 2, 2019 | [32] | |
| 28th week | Trevor Daniel | "Falling" | July 25, 2020 | [33] |
| Rema and Selena Gomez | "Calm Down" | May 13, 2023 | [34] | |
| 27th week | Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby | "Levitating" | June 19, 2021 | [35] |
| 26th week | Alessia Cara | "Here" | February 6, 2016 | [36] |
| 25th week | CeeLo Green | "Forget You" | April 16, 2011 | |
| Demi Lovato | "Give Your Heart a Break" | September 15, 2012 | ||
| 24th week | Alessia Cara | "Scars to Your Beautiful" | February 4, 2017 | [37] |
| Khalid and Normani | "Love Lies" | September 22, 2018 | [38] | |
| The Weeknd | "Die for You" | February 11, 2023 | [39] |
| Week reached top 10 | Artist | Song | Date reached top 10 | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lauv | "I Like Me Better" | June 23, 2018 | |||
| Edwin McCain | "I'll Be" | October 17, 1998 | |||
| 27th week | MAX featuring Gnash | "Lights Down Low" | February 3, 2018 | ||
| Lewis Capaldi | "Before You Go" | July 18, 2020 | [40] | ||
| AJR | "Bang!" | December 12, 2020 | [41] | ||
| 25th week | MKTO | "Classic" | July 12, 2014 | ||
| Daya | "Sit Still, Look Pretty" | October 15, 2016 | |||
| Jon Bellion | "All Time Low" | March 11, 2017 | |||
| 24th week | Saweetie featuring Doja Cat | "Best Friend" | July 3, 2021 | [42] | |
| 23rd week | Glass Animals | "Heat Waves" | November 27, 2021 | [43] |
See also: List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart.
| Number of singles | Artist | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | ||
| 11 | [44] | |
| 10 | ||
| [45] | ||
| 9 | ||
| 8 | [46] | |
| [47] | ||
| 7 | ||
| Number of weeks | Artist | Source |
|---|---|---|
| [48] | ||
| [49] | ||
| [50] | ||
| 32 | ||
| [51] | ||
| Number of singles | Artist | Source |
|---|---|---|
| [52] | ||
| 24 | ||
| 22 | ||
| 20 | ||
| 19 | ||
| [53] | ||
| 17 | [54] | |
| Number of entries | Artist | Source |
|---|---|---|
| [55] | ||
| [56] | ||
| [57] | ||
| Drake | [58] | |
| [59] | ||
| Britney Spears | [60] | |
| 34 | ||
June 28 - July 12, 2014
February 23 - March 9, 2019
February 20, 2021
August 7–28, 2021
October 15–22, 2022
† Iggy Azalea is the only act in Mainstream Top 40 history to replace herself at number one with her first two chart entries.
†† Ariana Grande became the first artist to succeed herself at number one as the only act credited on both tracks.
| Number of Singles | Artist | Album | Year (s) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teenage Dream | 2010-12 | [73] | ||
| Teenage Dream | 2010-12 | |||
| 1989 | 2014-15 | |||
| 4 | FutureSex/LoveSounds | 2006-07 | ||
| The Fame | 2009 | |||
| 3 | The Sign | 1993-94 | ||
| Jagged Little Pill | 1996 | |||
| Let Go | 2002-03 | |||
| Overexposed | 2012-13 | |||
| Purpose | 2015-16 | |||
| Revival | 2015-16 | |||
| Future Nostalgia | 2020-21 | |||
| Montero | 2021-22 | |||
| Planet Her | 2021-22 |