The 11 Artists And Bands With The Most Billboard No. 1 Hits Of All Time

Since 1913, Billboard has charted the top-selling and most popular songs across the world. In that time, hundreds of artists have topped what has become known as the “Billboard Hot 100.”

But only a fraction of those artists have had the fortune of topping the list multiple times, with the biggest artists and bands in the world doing so on several occasions.

The list of artists and bands with the most Billboard Hot 100 songs is topped by a band that will come as no surprise to anyone. However, the rest of the list has plenty of unexpected names.

Artists And Bands With Most Billboard Hot 100 Songs

Only 11 artists and bands in history have topped the Billboard charts on 10 or more occasions, while only one such act has done so 20-plus times.

Several huge names, such as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Led Zeppelin, and more surprisingly failed to make the list 11 artists in double figures.

While others, whom you may have forgotten about, claimed their stake among the most successful performers of all time.

T10) Janet Jackson – 10 Billboard No. 1 Hits

Before being blacklisted from the world of music following her infamous wardrobe malfunction at the halftime show of Super Bowl 38 in 2004, Janet Jackson was an unquestioned superstar.

She first topped the charts in 1986 with her hit single, “When I Think of You” off her third studio album, Control, and would go on to do so 10 more times, with her final one coming in 2001 with “All for You” in 2001, off the album of the same name.

These days, Jackson is back making music and performing in concert, including a recent residency at the Resorts World Theater in Las Vegas. However, she was never able to recapture the popularity that she had throughout the late 1980s and throughout the entire 1990s.

T10) Stevie Wonder – 10

While Jackson may have come as a surprise, the next name on our list certainly does not.

Coincidentally, Stevie’s superstardom began in 1963 with the hit single “Fingertips Pt. 2” in 1963, when he was  just 13 years old and performing as Little Stevie Wonder for the legendary Motown record label. The same label would go on to launch the career of The Jackson 5, Janet’s older brothers.

Stevie Wonder’s final time atop the charts came as one of the “Friends” on Dionne Warwick and Friends’ cover of “That’s What Friends Are For” in 1985, alongside the aforementioned Warwick, Elton John, and fellow superstar Gladys Knight.

To this day, Stevie Wonder remains one of the biggest names in all of music.

9) Whitney Houston – 11

The late, great Whitney Houston checks in at No. 9 on the list with 11 chart-topping hits, the first coming in 1985 with her cover of “Saving All My Love for You,” which reached No. 1 in 1985 and won her a Grammy Award the following year for Best Female Pop Vocal performance, to nobody’s surprise.

Houston is most well known for mega-hits “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and “I Will Always Love You,” which both spent significant time atop the charts.

But her final No. 1 single came in 1985 with the song “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” which was featured on the soundtrack for the movie Waiting to Exhale.

Sadly, Houston’s career faded as she found herself in a tumultuous relationship with R&B star Bobby Brown, who was arrested on several occasions, including charges of domestic battery against Houston. The two divorced in 2007. Houston tragically passed away just five years later, just one day prior to the 54th Grammy Awards.

T7) The Supremes – 12

First founded in 1959 as The Primettes, the group that went on to become known at The Supremes was the star show for Motown Records in the 1960s.

Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown began as a sister act to an all-male group but quickly outshone them, landing their first No. 1 hit with “Where Did Our Love Go” in 1964 at a time when Motown Records was seemingly on top of the world.

They’d go on to produce countless smash hits including “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.”

The group’s final No. 1 single came in 1969 with “Someday We’ll Be Together.”

An entirely new audience was introduced to the magic of The Supremes in the 2006 movie Dreamgirls which was a fictional account that took strong inspiration from the group’s history and Beyoncé playing the lead character, which was based largely on Ross.

T7) Madonna – 12

Tied with The Supremes is the woman that many have to know simply as “The Queen of Pop.”

Madonna ushered in a newer, more sexy age of pop that also drew plenty of criticism in addition to her massive stardom. She first topped the charts in late December of 1984 with “Like a Virgin” from her second album of the same name.

She’d follow that up with wildly popular Nos. 1 including “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Like a Prayer,” and “Vogue.”

Her popularity carried throughout the entirety of the 1990s and even into the early 2000s when “Music,” the lead single from an album of the same name, reached No. 1 despite leaking early on illegal pirating websites such as Napter.

T4) Drake – 13

Love him or hate him, seemingly every millennial has had an opinion on Drake at one time or another, and there’s no denying he had hits.

Drake managed to do what other artists had worked to do for years, perfectly nail the intersection of Rap and Pop, appealing to a wildly large fanbase across several countries.

After multiple very popular mixtapes, he actually found his way to the top of the charts in 2010 for the first time alongside Rihanna with her hit, “What’s My Name.”

The duo teamed up again in 2016 for the chart-topper “Work,” while his first No. 1 single as a lead vocalist came later that year with “One Dance.”

The majority of his No. 1 hits, however, have come in the 2000s, with the most recent coming in 2023 with “First Person Shooter,” which featured an appearance from J. Cole.

T4) Taylor Swift – 13

You didn’t really think you could get through a list about insanely popular musicians without seeing the name Taylor Swift, did you?

By now, we’ve already read, heard, and watched just about everything there is to know about the Wyomissing, Pennsylvania native who is set to be wed to Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce.

The only thing surprising here is that Swift doesn’t find herself even higher on the list.

Her debut No. 1 hit came in 2012 with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and she followed that up with many more, including “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “All Too Well,” and “Cruel Summer.”

Swift’s latest No. 1 hit, “The Fate of Ophelia,” is from her 2025 release “The Life of a Showgirl.” And something tells us it won’t be her last.

T4) Michael Jackson – 13

While Madonna was dubbed the Queen of Pop, it was Michael Jackson who was king.

Jackson rose to fame alongside his brothers in the aforementioned Jackson 5 and first topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 at just 14 years old with the “Ben,” the lead single off the album of the same name. At the time, Jackson was still a member of the Jackson 5, but Ben was his second solo album and was obvious where things were headed.

He’d go on to lead the charts 12 more times with classic hits such as “Rock With You,” “Billie Jean,” The Way You Make Me Feel,” and “Dirty Diana.”

Jackson’s final No. 1 hit came with “You Are Not Alone” in 1995, 23 years after his first.

Unfortunately, by that time, Jackson’s career had already been marred by child sex abuse allegations and erratic behavior. In 2009, just weeks before he was set to begin a residency in London, Jackson passed away following an overdose that led to a heart attack.

3) Rihanna – 14

The fact that Rihanna, who has not released a new album in nearly a decade, finds herself at No. 3 on this list in nothing short of incredible and speaks to her immense popularity at her peak.

To give an idea of how crazy that timeline is, Rihanna’s final Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 (at least for now), was Drake’s second, “Work,” which came out in 2016 on the album Anti.

The Barbadian superstar first topped the charts in 2006 at the age of just 18 with the hit single, “SOS” from her second album, A Girl Like Me.

It didn’t take long for many more to follow, however, as “Umbrella” did the same in 2007, “Take a Bow,” “Disturbia,” and “Rude Boy” all topped the charts in 2008, and “Rude Boy’ found its way to No. 1 in 2010.

Even now, fans are sitting idly by in hopes that Rihanna, now a mother of three, will return to the music scene. Although she seems plenty happy with her life as a businesswoman, as her Fenty Beauty line is worth $2.8 billion.

2) Mariah Carey – 19

If you find yourself surprised to see Mariah Carey’s name at No. 2, with five more No. 1 hits than the next-highest name on the list, join the club.

When quizzed on the subject, none of the BroBible staff could come up with the No. 2 name on this list (with the top name being rather obvious).

But there’s no denying Mariah’s got hits, and remarkable staying power. She first found her way to No. 1 with “Vision of Love” off her debut, eponymous album in 1990. And she quickly became known for her remarkable, whistle register high notes and remarkable power.

The No. 1 songs came rolling in from there. In fact, four songs off her debut album: “Vision of Love,” “Love Takes Time,’ “Someday,” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry” all reached the top spot.

Other big hits include “Fantasy,” “Always Be My Baby,” and “Heartbreaker,” while her latest No. 1 came in 2019, ironically, with her Christmas hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which was first released all the back in 1994 and returned to No. 1 in 2025 for a record 21 weeks.

1) The Beatles – 20

Surprise! The most famous rock band of all time, The Beatles, is also the band with the most No. 1 songs of all time. Who could have seen that coming?

What makes The Beatles’ record most remarkable, however, is just how quickly they were able to amass so many chart-topping hits.

The band’s first No. 1 came in February of 1964 with “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” Between then and May of 1970, they would rack up a jaw-dropping 19 more No. 1 hits, with the final being “The Long and Winding Road” off the band’s final album as a group, Let It Be. 

Between March 1963, beginning with Please Please Me, and May 1970, the band would release an astonishing 12 studio albums.

Their number one hits in “She Loves Me,” “Help!,” “Yesterday,’ “Come Together,” and many, many more.

The iconic rock band never did reunite in the 10 years after Let It Be, and never got the chance after John Lennon was murdered on Dec. 8, 1980.