The Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012, From No. 100 To No. 1

NewsOctober 3, 2012Billboard

Who has the top-charting hit on pop radio over the past 20 years?

The week of Oct. 3, 1992, Billboard premiered the Pop Songs radio airplay chart, as then-new Nielsen BDS-based monitoring technology allowed for unprecedented accuracy in gauging the biggest hits on mainstream top 40 radio.

Exactly 20 years later, let's celebrate the anniversary by counting down the top 100 songs on the Pop Songs chart over the past two decades. From rock to rap and R&B to country, let's see who has hooked the top-charting mainstream top 40 airplay hits from 1992 through 2012. Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5 each boast the most titles on the tally - four (while Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine logs a fifth entry as a featured solo artist) - but, does either act claim the all-time top song?


This week, Chart Beat is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Billboard's Pop Songs radio airplay chart.

Yesterday, Oct. 2: Analysis: How Lady Gaga, Katy Perry And Rihanna Came To Dominate Top 40 Radio

Today, Oct. 3: The Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012, From No. 100 To No. 1

Tomorrow, Oct. 4: The Top 40 Pop Artists 1992-2012, From No. 40 To No. 1


(First, the small print: the Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012 ranking is based on actual performance on Billboard's weekly BDS-based Pop Songs radio airplay chart dating to its inception (Oct. 3, 1992). Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 40 earning the least. To ensure equitable representation, certain time frames were weighted to account for the difference between chart turnover rates during those years, as recurrent rules have changed multiple times.)


Now, on with the countdown ...



THE TOP 100 POP SONGS 1992-2012, Nos. 100-91:

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24 NAME Goo Goo Dolls (1995)

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9 SLIDE Goo Goo Dolls (1999)

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... And, with four weeks at No. 1 in 1998 (from the "City of Angels" soundtrack), and 39 weeks on the chart total (it's tied for the second-longest run), the No. 1 title on Billboard's Pop Songs chart over its first 20 years, from 1992 to 2012, is ...:

1 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls (1998)

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