Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Death Cab for Cutie)
Barry, Greenwich and Spector wrote it for Darlene Love in 1963; this 2004 cover stayed off streaming for seventeen years.
Barry, Greenwich and Spector wrote it for Darlene Love in 1963; this 2004 cover stayed off streaming for seventeen years.

Built on SWV's Right Here and Michael Jackson's Human Nature, Brown sighing over an ex from inside a new relationship.

Mutt Lange co-wrote the twist, twelve weeks atop adult contemporary, and Bolton insisting the word love undersells it.

Recorded at Brooklyn's Rumpus Room with Nick Stumpf producing, and Julia Stiles stars in the video.
Romero improvised the chorus for a flamenco dancer in Venezuela; the Bayside Boys remix ran fourteen weeks at number one.

Bassi and Hackett wrote it, McShane mimed it in the video, and the Tarzan yell became the hook.
A gym joke about mirror preening, built on a riff lifted from Hendrix's Third Stone from the Sun.

Three Nashville writers and producer Derek George handed Houser his first Country Airplay number one, and a platinum single.

William Orbit co-wrote and produced it, a Madonna collaborator turning Brown's fourth Fortune single into gleaming EDM.

A Shreveport club chant for DJ Hollywood Bay Bay, which Phunk Dawg's beat carried all the way to number seven.

Cut at the Record Plant with The Underdogs, 130 BPM of house that gave Brown his first UK number one.

Two singers who never planned a duet took Bobby Caldwell's song to number one, David Foster producing.

May and Taylor wrote it, Mercury sang it, and Queen waited until 2019 to give it a video.
Two uncleared vocal samples and a thirty-second meme put Baauer at number one the week Billboard started counting YouTube.

Produced by The Messengers with Nasri co-writing, the fifth single from Fortune asks a lover to ignore rumor.

Troy Taylor cut it at D2 in Atlanta, and Songz's birthday toast climbed to number nine, then double platinum.

Rasted got the idea at a Danish kitsch exhibition, and Mattel's trademark suit lost to the parody defense.

Vassar and Craig Wiseman built it from household mishaps and money worries, and it became his first country number one.

Coogi paid the entire million-dollar bill for the Miami video, and Detail's beat still outshines it.

Brett James co-wrote it with Gilbert and Weaver, his first million-selling single and a Hot Country Songs number one.

Mike Will's synths under a Juicy J hook about Air Jordans, with Cyrus rapping on record for the first time.

Written in 2007 about a girl who moved away for college, and every synth in it aches accordingly.

Berlin wrote it in 1927; Taco's synth version made him, at ninety-five, the oldest living songwriter in the top ten.

Eugene Record's Chi-Lites ballad, harmonica and all, remade by Young in 1990 for a number eight American hit.

RedOne produced it with Bilal Hajji, a dance-floor emergency that peaked at number five and opened Miss Universe.
Seventy-eight seconds of Da Internz production, cut in a Copenhagen hotel room, that leaked and made the album by demand.

Powter sketched it on the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver; American Idol adopted it and Billboard called it 2006's biggest.

Number one in Australia, top ten in Britain, and Neon Hitch trading verses with McCoy over Benny Blanco's beat.

Wayne Kirkpatrick co-wrote it, Dann Huff played the guitar, and Christian radio's searching ballad reached number six pop.

Detail and Choppa Boi built a beat out of space and chant; Nas and Rick Ross joined the remix.

A Juventino Rosas waltz from 1888, fitted with English words for The Great Caruso and sung to number three.

Chesney wrote it alone in Cabo San Lucas at Sammy Hagar's birthday party, and it topped the country chart.

Burns said he took the song down from an old man; Stanley's 1910 disc is probably the first commercial recording.

Maurice Starr wrote and produced it, Jordan Knight and Donnie Wahlberg took the leads, and Britain crowned it a year later.

Glenn borrowed 2,500 dollars from his parents to press 800 copies; it sat at number two for seven weeks.

A Slim Thug track turned inside out over Rick tha Rular's beat, with a skeptical Seth Rogen questioning Samberg.

Samberg and Taccone deadpanning in Pet Shop Boys accents, a Justin Timberlake janitor cameo, and total commitment to the bit.

Todd Pipes drew the lyric from Roman Holiday, swapped in a different Hepburn title, and Britain sent it to number one.

Written for Gwen Stefani, who passed, then offered to Nicole Scherzinger before Snow Patrol reclaimed it with Jacknife Lee.

Stapp built it from a recurring dream he learned to control, and it sat atop Mainstream Rock for seventeen weeks.
Hammond and Warren's song first surfaced on a Tina Turner B-side; Aswad, then Ace of Base, found the hit inside.
Tommie Connor's 1952 novelty, recut by the Jacksons for Motown's Christmas album, and a Hot 100 hit in 2024.

Donnie Wahlberg produced his brother's number one around a Loleatta Holloway sample, and Holloway herself appeared in the video.

Needlz produced it around The Joy Formidable's Whirring, and the punchline turns a reckless slogan into pure paranoia.

Trace Cyrus, Billy Ray's adopted son, and Mason Musso built a synth hook that went double platinum.

Fraser T Smith produced a UK number one; Mercury then added Ludacris and it leapt to the American top spot.
Dutch singer, German producers, and a Gilbert Montagne sample underneath; the Roxbury soundtrack later handed it a second life.

Don Von Tress wrote it; the Marcy Brothers cut it first, then Cyrus's video sent line dancing worldwide.

Two Florida Georgia Line writers, a drum loop, and Aldean pulling country toward R&B; platinum in nine weeks.

A jump from thirty-two to number one in a week, and a different sample for every region name-checked.

T-Pain's Auto-Tune, a yacht in Biscayne Bay, and a Grammy nomination for a Digital Short.
Track three on The Antidote, cut-and-paste funk from the album Theo Keating built alone after his partner left.

Ester Dean's writing put Minaj on a hook rather than a verse, and matched Guetta's best American chart placing.

Recorded alone in Sussex in the summer of 1979, every instrument McCartney's own, and a UK number six by January.

David Frank and Steve Kipner handed a boy band a breakup song about ending an affair; it reached number five.

R. Kelly wrote and produced it, Diddy guested, and B2K got their only week at number one.

Mutt Lange's hitchhiker story gave Heart a number two the Wilsons openly disliked; Ann called its message hideous.