THE TOP 100 POP RECORDING ARTISTS 1890-2002

For more than one hundred years, pop music has been an intrinsic part of American culture. Over the years, thousands of artists have recorded their music for our entertainment and enjoyment. All have experienced a certain degree of popularity, but a select few have captured the attention of the public to such an extent that they have been catapulted to the status of super-stars. Listed below are the all-time top 100 pop recording artists, based on their performance in the pop music charts.

Each artist's performance for each hit for the period 1890-1954 is measured as follows:

#1 position - 50 points plus 5 points for each week at #1.

#2 position - 49 points plus 3 points for each week at #2.

#3 position - 48 points plus 1 bonus point.

#4-30 positions - from 47 down to 21 points.

Each week on the charts is valued at 1 point.

Throughout this period, the industry gradually expanded, and an increasing number of artists competed for the same few spots at the top of the charts. Artists from the early years had less competition and thus more opportunity to score at the top of the charts. However, over the years the depth of the charts grew from the top 3 positions to the top 30. Thus, artists from the later period picked up more points due to the depth of the charts, which compensated for the increased competition.

In order to provide a consistent growth in chart depth for this period, the measurement has been adjusted as follows:

1890s - 3 positions.

1900s - 5 positions.

1910s - 10 positions.

1920s - 15 positions.

1930s - 20 positions.

1940s - 25 positions.

1950s - 30 positions.

In  the mid 1950s, the industry underwent a massive expansion. The advent of rock and roll music brought in hundreds of new artists and dozens of new record labels, fueled by millions of teenagers with money to spend on records.  This substantially reduced the potential of an artist to have the number of hits that artists of previous years experienced, as this multitude of new performers competed for the same few spots at the top of the charts. Thus, an adjustment needed to be made to the rating system.

Each artist's performance for each hit for the period 1955-2002 is measured as follows:

#1 position - 100 points plus 10 points for each week at #1.

#2 position - 99 points plus 6 points for each week at #2.

#3 position - 98 points plus 2 bonus points.

#4-100 positions - from 97 down to 1 point.

Each week on the charts is valued at 1 point.

In 1955 the chart depth increased to 100 positions. However, chart depth measurement for this period has been gradually increased to simulate the chart depth growth of previous decades. The measurement for this period is as follows:

1950s - 40 positions.

 1960s - 50 positions.

 1970s - 60 positions.

 1980s - 70 positions.

 1990s - 80 positions.

 2000s - 90 positions.

From 1934-1958 Billboard published several different charts with different results. The reference works used for this study reported the best performance for each hit from the several charts. This resulted in the performance for this period being over-weighted. The figures for this period have thus been adjusted to simulate just one chart.

Sources for chart data:

Pop Memories 1890-1954 by Joel Whitburn

Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 by Joel Whitburn

Click the following link for a listing of the top 100 pop record hits:

     THE TOP 100 POP RECORD HITS                             

Contact Me: CRFordMusic@aol.com 

© Copyright: Charles R. Ford, 2004