Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1997, 23 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles & Tracks, in 52 issues of the magazine. Chart rankings were based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

At the start of the year, the number one song was "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)" by LeAnn Rimes, which had reached the top of the chart in the issue of Billboard dated December 28, 1996. It remained at the top for one further week in 1997 before Kevin Sharp began a four-week run at the top with his debut single, a cover version of R&B singer Tony Rich's song "Nobody Knows". This would prove to be the only number-one hit for Sharp, who died in 2014 at age 43. Three other vocalists achieved their first number-one country songs in 1997. Rick Trevino spent one week in the top spot in March with "Running Out of Reasons to Run", which would also prove to be his only number one. Trace Adkins achieved the feat with "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing" in April, and Michael Peterson scored his first and only chart-topper in December with "From Here to Eternity". (Full article...)

The Latin Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize "early recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that were released more than 25 years ago". LARAS is also the same organization that distributes the Latin Grammy Awards. The albums and songs are picked by a panel of recording-arts professionals, such as musicologists and historians, and selected from all major categories of Latin music.

The first inductions were made in 2001 to honor 17 recordings. These included Santana's cover of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va", Javier Solís's rendition of "Sabor a Mí" and the 1948 performance of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez by Regino Sainz de la Maza and the Orquesta Nacional de España. The inductions have each occurred six years apart from one another. (Full article...)

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1960, five different songs topped the chart, which at the time was published under the title Hot C&W Sides, C&W being an abbreviation for country and western. Chart placings were based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores.

In the issue of Billboard dated January 4, the song at number one was "El Paso" by Marty Robbins, the track's third week in the top spot. It held the peak position for the first five weeks of 1960, during which time it also topped the all-genre Hot 100 chart for two weeks. During the remainder of the year, only four other songs reached the top of the Hot C&W Sides listing, three of which each spent twelve or more consecutive weeks at number one. In the issue of Billboard dated February 8, Jim Reeves began a 14-week unbroken run at the top of the chart with "He'll Have to Go", which was immediately followed by a run of the same length by Hank Locklin's "Please Help Me, I'm Falling". Both songs were produced by Chet Atkins, widely seen as the originator of the "Nashville Sound", a new style of country music which eschewed elements of the earlier honky-tonk style in favour of smooth productions which had a broader appeal. Cowboy Copas next spent 12 weeks at number one with "Alabam". Several singles peaked at number two during these songs' extended runs at the top of the chart, including "One More Time" by Ray Price, which spent eight consecutive weeks in second place behind Locklin's song. (Full article...)

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1982, 48 different singles topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles, in 52 issues of the magazine, based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores.

The band Alabama achieved the most number ones by a single act, topping the chart four times. Ronnie Milsap, T. G. Sheppard, Ricky Skaggs and Conway Twitty each had three number ones. Alabama, Twitty and Willie Nelson tied for the most weeks in the top spot with four each. Nelson's four weeks consisted of two weeks with "Always on My Mind" followed immediately by a further two with "Just to Satisfy You", a collaboration with Waylon Jennings. In October, Dolly Parton topped the chart with the double A-sided single "I Will Always Love You" / "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind". Both tracks were re-recordings of songs she had previously released in the 1970s, and the original recording of "I Will Always Love You" had reached number one in 1974, making Parton the first artist to top the chart with two different recordings of the same song. (Full article...)

Hot Rap Songs is a record chart published by the music industry magazine Billboard that ranks the most popular hip hop songs in the United States. 77 songs topped Hot Rap Songs in the 2010s. The first number-one song of the decade was "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys. In 2012, Drake broke the record for the most Hot Rap Songs number-one songs, previously held by Diddy. During the 2010s, Drake spent the most weeks at number one and attained the most number-one songs on Hot Rap Songs, with 19 chart-toppers spanning 118 weeks. In 2019, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus spent a record-breaking 20 weeks atop Hot Rap Songs. The final number-one song of the decade on the chart was "Roxanne" by Arizona Zervas.

At the start of the decade the chart was airplay-based, with rankings based on each track's estimated audience as monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems from a panel of 134 radio stations. In October 2012, Billboard altered the chart's methodology to include digital download sales and streaming data. Under the new methodology, the Rap Songs chart became a distillation of the main Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which according to the magazine "highlight[s] the differences between pure R&B and rap titles in the overall, wide-ranging R&B/hip-hop field." "Gangnam Style" by Psy was the first number-one song to benefit from these changes, ascending from number 20 to the top spot on the chart dated October 20, 2012. (Full article...)

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 2000, 19 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles & Tracks, in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

Singer Faith Hill's song "Breathe" was at number one at the start of the year, having risen to the top in the issue dated December 25, 1999. The song remained at number one for six consecutive weeks until it was knocked off by "Cowboy Take Me Away", performed by the girl group the Dixie Chicks, in the issue dated February 5. "Breathe" was also named the most successful single of the year on the magazine's main singles chart, the Hot 100. Hill returned to the top of the country charts with her next single, "The Way You Love Me", which spent four weeks at number one in May and June. Only two other acts, Lonestar and Hill's husband Tim McGraw, had more than one Hot Country Songs number one during the year. Other singles with extended runs at number one include "How Do You Like Me Now?!" by Toby Keith, "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack featuring Sons of the Desert and "That's the Way" by Jo Dee Messina, each of which topped the chart for five weeks. "How Do You Like Me Now?!" was ranked number one on Billboards year-end chart of the most popular country songs. ('Full article...)

The Official Classical Singles Chart was a record chart based on downloads and streaming of classical music in the United Kingdom. Each week's chart was compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) and was first published on Monday afternoon on their official website. The chart ran for 140 weeks from 2012 to 2015, during which time a total of 23 singles by 22 artists reached number one. The most successful artist was the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi, who topped the chart with three singles for a total of 54 weeks, while the most successful record label was Decca Records, which spent 89 weeks at number one with six singles. Einaudi's track "I Giorni" from his album of the same name spent 51 weeks at number one, longer than any other single. In January 2013, following the release of Einaudi's album In a Time Lapse, singles by the pianist accounted for 13 of the Top 20 on the Official Classical Singles Chart. Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, described him as one of the chart's "biggest and most consistent stars".

Singles would often top the chart as a result of exposure in popular media, including films such as Fifty Shades of Grey, The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel. In July 2012, a rendition of Spem in alium by the Tallis Scholars topped the chart following its usage in Fifty Shades of Grey. E. L. James, author of the original novel on which the film was based, said that she was delighted that her readers had been introduced to the piece of music, and that it was a "deserved number one". Three weeks later, the London Symphony Orchestra reached number one after their version of "Chariots of Fire" by Vangelis was used in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Three of the top five singles on that week's chart were related to the 2012 Summer Olympics. (Full article...)

Hot Rap Songs is a record chart published by the music industry magazine Billboard which ranks the most popular hip hop songs in the United States. With hip hop having greatly increased in mainstream popularity in the late 1980s, Billboard introduced the chart in their March 11, 1989 issue under the name Hot Rap Singles. Prior to the addition of the chart, hip hop music had been profiled in the magazine's "The Rhythm & the Blues" column and disco-related sections, while some rap records made appearances on the related Hot Black Singles chart. The inaugural number-one single on Hot Rap Singles was "Self Destruction" by the Stop the Violence Movement. From its 1989 inception until 2001, the chart was based solely on each single's weekly sales. To formulate chart rankings, Billboard assembled a panel of selected record stores to provide reports of each week's top-selling singles.

Between 1989 and 1999, 173 singles topped the Hot Rap Singles chart, with "Hot Boyz" by Missy Elliott featuring Nas, Eve and Q-Tip being the final number-one single of the 1990s. The single's 18-week reign at the top spot extended into the next decade, and until 2019 it held the record for the most weeks at number one in the chart's history. LL Cool J and Puff Daddy each attained nine number-one hits on the Hot Rap Singles chart during its first 11 years, the most for any artist during this period. In a 25th anniversary listing of the top 100 songs in the history of Hot Rap Songs based on chart performance, "Me So Horny" by the 2 Live Crew and "Tootsee Roll" by 69 Boyz were the highest-ranked singles of the 1980s and 1990s respectively. (Full article...)

In 1956, Billboard magazine published three charts covering the best-performing country music songs in the United States. At the start of the year, the charts were published under the titles Most Played in Juke Boxes, Best Sellers in Stores, and Most Played By Jockeys, with the genre denoted in an overall page heading. With effect from the issue of Billboard dated June 30, the genre was added to the specific titles of the charts, which were thus published as Most Played C&W in Juke Boxes, C&W Best Sellers in Stores, and Most Played C&W By Jockeys, the C&W standing for "country and western". All three charts are considered part of the lineage of the current Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958.

The number-one positions on both the juke box and best sellers charts were dominated in 1956 by Elvis Presley, who spent a total of 26 weeks in the top spot on the best sellers listing and 28 weeks (including one tied with another single) atop the juke box chart with four different singles. Presley achieved the first country chart-topper of his career in February when he reached the number one spot on the best sellers chart with "I Forgot to Remember to Forget"; its B-side, "Mystery Train" was listed jointly at number one for the first week of the run only. The release was the final single which he recorded for Sun Records, the label for which he had honed his early rockabilly style. After he signed for new label RCA Victor, his recordings began to show more of a pop music influence, but for a time continued to appear on the country charts, and one week after "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" was replaced at number one, Presley regained the top spot with the two-sided success "Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was the One", which remained atop the listing for 17 consecutive weeks. He would go on to be regarded as the most successful and influential recording artist of all time and feted as the "King of Rock and Roll". (Full article...)

In 1952, Billboard magazine published three charts covering the best-performing country music songs in the United States. At the start of the year, the charts were published under the titles Most-Played Juke Box (Country & Western) Records, Best-Selling Retail Folk (Country & Western) Records and Country & Western Records Most Played By Folk Disk Jockeys. Beginning with the issue of Billboard dated November 15, the titles of the charts were changed to Most Played in Juke Boxes, National Best Sellers, and Most Played By Jockeys respectively, with the genre denoted in an overall page title rather than within the titles of the charts themselves. All three charts are considered part of the lineage of the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958.

In the first issue of Billboard of the year, "Slow Poke" by Pee Wee King retained its place at number one on both the juke box and retail charts from the previous week but was displaced from the top spot on the jockeys chart by Carl Smith's "Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way". Smith had three number-one country songs in 1952, two of which topped all three listings. Webb Pierce was the only other artist to take as many as three different songs to the top spot in 1952, although none of his songs reached number one on all three charts during the year. The longest-running number one on both the juke box and retail charts was "The Wild Side of Life" by Hank Thompson, which on both listings spent fifteen consecutive weeks in the top spot before being replaced by "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells. Wells' song, which had been written as an answer song to "The Wild Side of Life", was the first million-selling country single by a female artist and the first Billboard country number one by a solo female. Despite this success, it did not top the jockeys chart, as the song's lyrics were deemed too controversial by some radio stations. (Full article...)