The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing songs in the United States. Its data, published by Billboard magazine and compiled by MRC Data, is based collectively on each song's weekly physical and digital sales, as well as the amount of airplay received on American radio stations and streaming on online digital music outlets.
During 2020, twenty singles reached number-one on the Hot 100, making 2020 the year with the most number-one hits on the Hot 100 since 1991, which had twenty-seven. In addition, two other number-one singles in 2020, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey and "Circles" by Post Malone, had each previously hit number one in 2019. Twenty-five artists reached the top of the Hot 100 in 2020, with thirteen—Roddy Ricch, Kid Cudi, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, 6ix9ine, Harry Styles, BTS, M.I.A., Jawsh 685, 24kGoldn, and Iann Dior—achieving their first number-one single. Ariana Grande and BTS scored three number ones each. Ricch's "The Box" was the longest-running number-one of the year, leading the chart for eleven weeks, whereas the Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" was the year's best performing song on the chart, topping the Billboard Year-End Hot 100.
For the first time since 1990, six songs topped the Hot 100 in six consecutive weeks, namely "The Scotts" by The Scotts (Travis Scott and Kid Cudi), "Say So" by Doja Cat featuring Minaj, "Stuck with U" by Grande and Justin Bieber, "Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé, "Rain on Me" by Lady Gaga and Grande, and "Rockstar" by DaBaby featuring Ricch. Billboard highlighted this unusual amount of turnover for the number-one spot on the chart, and cited many reasons to this phenomenon—song remixes, organized fan buying/streaming activities and the release of numerous collectible physical copies (CDs and vinyls) and bundles by artists to encourage their fans to purchase multiple copies of a song. This made the Hot 100 chart "more of a first-week factor than usual", explaining the drop in sales units of a song after it peaked at the number-one spot.
In July 2020, Billboard announced that the Hot 100 chart would "no longer allow" the sales of physical/digital bundles (physical singles that are clubbed with digital downloads) to be reported as digital sales, which is a "widespread" industry practice of not manufacturing and shipping the vinyls, CDs and other physical copies to consumers for weeks or months, but making the bundled digital download instantly redeemable, a tactic generally used by artists like Grande, Bieber and 6ix9ine to boost their chart positions; Billboard asserted that those physical singles would only be counted when they are shipped to the consumer, making the tactic "ineffectual".
The year 2020 broke the record for the calendar year that spawned the most number-one debuts on the Hot 100, with twelve songs debuting atop the chart: Drake's "Toosie Slide", "The Scotts" by Scott and Cudi, "Stuck With U" by Grande and Bieber, "Rain On Me" by Gaga and Grande, "Trollz" by 6ix9ine and Minaj, Taylor Swift's "Cardigan", Cardi B's "WAP" featuring Megan Thee Stallion, BTS's "Dynamite", Scott's "Franchise" featuring Young Thug and M.I.A., Grande's "Positions", BTS's "Life Goes On", and Swift's "Willow", in that order. 2020 further marked the first calendar year in Hot 100 history to have more than one all-female collaboration reach the number-one spot, with four.
Chart history
+KeyIndicates best-performing song of 2020 Issue date Song Artist(s) 1095January 4 "All I Want for Christmas Is You" Mariah Carey reJanuary 11 "Circles" Post Malone1096January 18 "The Box" Roddy RicchJanuary 25 February 1February 8February 15February 22February 29March 7March 14March 21March 281097April 4 "Blinding Lights" The WeekndApril 111098April 18 "Toosie Slide" DrakereApril 25 "Blinding Lights" The WeekndMay 21099May 9 "The Scotts" The Scotts, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi1100May 16 "Say So" Doja Cat featuring Nicki Minaj1101May 23 "Stuck with U" Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber1102May 30 "Savage" Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé1103June 6 "Rain on Me" Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande1104June 13 "Rockstar" DaBaby featuring Roddy RicchJune 201105June 27 "Trollz" 6ix9ine and Nicki MinajreJuly 4 "Rockstar" DaBaby featuring Roddy RicchJuly 11July 18July 25August 11106August 8 "Cardigan" Taylor Swift1107August 15 "Watermelon Sugar" Harry Styles1108August 22 "WAP" Cardi B featuring Megan Thee StallionAugust 291109September 5 "Dynamite" BTSSeptember 12reSeptember 19 "WAP" Cardi B featuring Megan Thee StallionSeptember 26reOctober 3 "Dynamite" BTS1110October 10 "Franchise" Travis Scott featuring Young Thug and M.I.A.1111October 17 "Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)" Jawsh 685, Jason Derulo and BTS1112October 24 "Mood" 24kGoldn featuring Iann DiorOctober 311113November 7 "Positions" Ariana GrandereNovember 14 "Mood" 24kGoldn featuring Iann DiorNovember 21November 281114December 5 "Life Goes On" BTSreDecember 12 "Mood" 24kGoldn featuring Iann DiorreDecember 19 "All I Want for Christmas Is You" Mariah Carey1115December 26 "Willow" Taylor Swift
Number-one artists + List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one Position Artist Weeks at No. 1 1 Roddy Ricch 18 2 DaBaby 7 3 24kGoldn 6 Iann Dior 5 Megan Thee Stallion 5 BTS 7 The Weeknd 4 Cardi B 9 Ariana Grande 3 10 Mariah Carey 2 Travis Scott Nicki Minaj Taylor Swift 14 Post Malone 1 Drake Kid Cudi Doja Cat Justin Bieber Beyoncé Lady Gaga 6ix9ine Harry Styles Young Thug M.I.A. Jawsh 685 Jason Derulo
See also List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2020 List of Billboard Global 200 number ones of 2020 List of Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles in 2020 List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 2020s Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2020 2020 in American music
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