What year in music had the most different number ones?
It’s perhaps a sign of the times that the sheer volume of number one singles is becoming less and less. This year alone, so far, rather abysmally, only 11 tunes have hit the top spot.
That still puts 2025 just inches ahead of the worst year on record, 2016, which despite being cited as one of the greatest years for pop music in relatively recent memory, only had ten singles go to number one over the course of its entire 12 month span. Clearly recent music trends show that we love a select group of songs much harder and for longer, meaning it’s increasingly difficult for any of the underdogs to get the chance to muscle in.
Although it may signal the idea of shorter-lived success in an individual capacity, years in which there are much larger numbers of top-flight tunes make for a much more diverse array of a listen, let alone actually allow for a fuller end-of-the-year playlist. Sure, Alex Warren is undeniably delighted that he took up seven weeks of this year with himself at the top spot, but isn’t variety the spice of life?
In this sense, the year which captures that spirit is not definitive among the major chart players of the UK and the US, but their respective data certainly point to different years that tipped the scales in terms of the songs that shot to the top spot. In the UK, that moment arrived at the turn of the century in 2000, when 42 goddamn singles went to number one, while in the US, their peak occurred much earlier in 1974 and 1975, respectively, which tied when 35 songs reached the top.
What were the number ones like in 2000?
As well as entering a new fucking era in history, 2000 seemed to be a turning point in the British charts as it laid the conditions for the most artists to have a chance at the top spot, if they were brave enough to take it. The slight caveat to that state of affairs was that the quality of the tunes was… lacking, to put it mildly. Westlife started off the record-breaking year at the top with ‘I Have a Dream’/’Seasons in the Sun’, and it ended with Bob the Builder’s seminal rendition of ‘Can We Fix It’. Need I say more?
While some of these may not be considered highlights of the musical canon, they still hold their rightful place in history, even now, a quarter of a century down the line. It speaks volumes that ever since the streaming age dawned, the amount of number ones in a year has practically flatlined as we allow algorithms and social media to dictate the same ten songs we listen to on rotation.
Of course, it’s difficult to know what the happy medium is in the line between Warren and Bob the Builder. On one hand, long-lasting number ones are indicative of smash hits with staying power, while on the other, songs that share out the glory signify that we once had much more diverse tastes back then than we do now. Maybe that cartoon builder was trying to send us subliminal messages about our need to take action with the eventual state of the music industry: “Can we fix it? Yes, we can!”
