Every year brings its share of historic Billboard Hot 100 achievements, but 2022 was particularly special.
From Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” breaking the record for the most weeks spent on the chart to Harry Styles’ “As It Was” scoring the longest stay ever in the survey’s top two (and three!) to Taylor Swift locking up the entire top 10 in a single week, there was no shortage of unprecedented feats between January and December.
With firsts still being established 64 years into the Hot 100’s history, let’s look back at key records broken on the chart in 2022, in chronological order.
(Note: We excluded records that artists extended this year, instead focusing only on those that were broken.)
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Longest Gap Between Top 10 Hits
Image Credit: Hullabaloo Archive/Michael Ochs Archives/GI Jan. 1: The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride” reached the Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time, ending a 58-year and two-month break since the group’s previous top 10, the No. 2-peaking “Be My Baby” in 1963. The act broke the record for the longest wait between top 10s, previously held by Burl Ives: 56 years, seven months and two weeks between “Funny Way of Laughin’” in 1962 and his own holiday classic “A Holly Jolly Christmas” in 2018.
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Most Credited Artists on a No. 1 Song
Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection Feb. 5: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” features seven billed artists: Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto cast. When it hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, it broke the record as the leader with the most credited acts. The previous mark for the most names on a No. 1 was five, thanks to DJ Khaled’s 2017 leader “I’m the One,” featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne.
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Longest Climb to No. 1
Image Credit: Pooneh Ghana March 12: Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” hit No. 1 in its 59th week on the Hot 100, breaking the record for the longest trip to the top (in terms of chart weeks), previously held by Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (35 chart weeks over multiple years until its coronation in 2019).
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Most Career No. 1 Debuts
Image Credit: Prince Williams/Wireimage May 14: At the beginning of the year, Ariana Grande, BTS and Drake had all earned five No. 1 debuts on the Hot 100 in their respective careers. Drake added two this year – “Wait for U” (by Future featuring Drake and Tems) in May and “Jimmy Cooks,” featuring 21 Savage, in July – upping his total to seven No. 1 arrivals (among his 11 total leaders to date).
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Biggest Single-Week Fall
Image Credit: Renell Medrano June 4 & July 9: Kendrick Lamar and Taylour Paige’s “We Cry Together” (No. 16 to No. 97) and Drake’s “Texts Go Green” (13-94) each plummeted 81 positions on the Hot 100 in the weeks after their respective debuts. While they both stand as top 20 hits, the descents tie for the biggest downward movements in the chart’s history, surpassing the 80-position plunge of A$AP Ferg’s “Move Ya Hips,” featuring Nicki Minaj and MadeinTYO (19-99), in 2020.
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Most Weeks Spent at No. 1 for a Song by an Unaccompanied Artist
Image Credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC via GI Oct. 1: Harry Styles’ “As It Was” spent its 15th and final week at No. 1, surpassing three prior smashes – Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind 1997″/”Something About the Way You Look Tonight” and Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” (14 weeks at No. 1 apiece) – as the longest leading hit by an artist with no additional credited acts.
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Most Weeks Spent in the Top Two … & Three
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Oct. 8: Styles’ “As It Was” spent its 25th week in the top two, having passed The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” (21 weeks, beginning in 2021) for the most. On the Oct. 29 chart, the former logged its unmatched 29th frame in the top three, having also passed the latter (23) for the most time spent in the region.
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Most Total Weeks Spent on the Hot 100
Image Credit: Drew Perez* Oct. 22: Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” logged its 91st and final week on the Hot 100, passing the 90-week run of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as the longest charting song ever. Each led the list — the former for five weeks this year, and the latter for four — in 2020.
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Most Simultaneous Entries in the Top 10
Image Credit: Terry Wyatt/GI Nov. 5: Taylor Swift became the first artist to blanket the entire top 10 of the Hot 100, with 10 hits from her album Midnights, new that week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The previous record was nine of the top 10, achieved by Drake on Sept. 18, 2021, via his LP Certified Lover Boy.
Swift also became the first artist to command the entire top six, seven, eight and nine spots on the Hot 100 simultaneously, after Drake and The Beatles (for two weeks in 1964) had each monopolized the top five. Midnights also passed the nine top 10s from Certified Lover Boy for the most from any album.