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Dance Club Songs was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by Billboard magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the United States.[1]
History
The Dance Club Songs chart underwent several incarnations since its inception in 1974. Originally a top-10 list of tracks that garnered the largest audience response in New York City discothèques, the chart began on October 26, 1974, under the title Disco Action. The chart went on to feature playlists from various cities around the country from week to week. Billboard continued to run regional and city-specific charts throughout 1975 and 1976 until the issue dated August 28, 1976, when a 30-position National Disco Action Top 30 premiered.[2] The first number-one song on the chart for the issue dated August 28, 1976, was "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees, spending five weeks atop the chart and the group's only number-one song on the chart.
The chart would continue to be published continuously for over 40 years, but with changes. The chart soon expanded to 40 positions, then in 1979 the chart expanded to 60 positions, then 80, and eventually reached 100 positions from September 1979 until 1981, when it was reduced back to 80.[3] During the first half of the 1980s, the chart maintained 80 slots until March 16, 1985, when the Disco charts were splintered and renamed. Two charts appeared: Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, which ranked club play (at 50 positions), and Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, which ranked 12-inch single (or maxi-single) sales (also 50 positions, later reduced to 10 and discontinued in 2013, since replaced by Dance/Electronic Digital Songs).
On January 26, 2013, Billboard introduced the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, which tracks the 50 most popular dances and electronic songs as determined by Billboard based on digital single sales, streaming, radio airplay across all formats, and club play, with Dance Club Songs serving as the club play component to the multi-metric chart.[4]
On March 31, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the closures of clubs, Billboard suspended the chart.[5] The last number-one song, for the issue dated March 28, 2020, was "Love Hangover 2020" by Diana Ross.[6] Even after the pandemic receded and club attendance increased again, Billboard has not revived the chart nor published any information about a possible revival, effectively ending the nearly 44-year run of the chart.
Statistics and Record World data
Although the disco chart began reporting popular songs in New York City nightclubs, Billboard soon expanded coverage to feature multiple charts each week which highlighted playlists in various cities such as San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Detroit, and Houston. During this time, Billboard rival publication Record World was the first to compile a dance chart which incorporated club play on a national level. Noted Billboard statistician Joel Whitburn has since "adopted" Record Worlds chart data from the weeks between March 29, 1975, and August 21, 1976, into Billboards club play history. For the sake of continuity, Record Worlds national chart is incorporated into both Whitburn's Dance/Disco publication (via his Record Research company) as well as the 1975 and 1976 number-ones lists.[3]
With the issue dated August 28, 1976, Billboard premiered its own national chart (National Disco Action Top 30) and their data is used from this date forward.[3]
In January 2017, Billboard proclaimed Madonna as the most successful artist in the history of the chart, ranking her first in their list of the 100 top all-time dance artists.[7] Madonna holds the record for the most number-one songs with 50.[8] Katy Perry holds the record for having eighteen consecutive number-one songs.[8] Perry's third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010), became the first album in the history of the chart to produce at least seven number-one songs by a lead artist[note 1] It held this record until Rihanna's eighth studio album Anti produced eight chart toppers from 2016 to 2017.[9][10] Rihanna is the only artist to have achieved five number-one songs in a calendar year.[10]
Artist achievements
Top 10 artists of all-time (1976–2016)
| Rank | Artist name | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madonna | [7] |
| 2 | Janet Jackson | |
| 3 | Rihanna | |
| 4 | Beyoncé | |
| 5 | Pet Shop Boys | |
| 6 | Donna Summer | |
| 7 | Mariah Carey | |
| 8 | Kristine W | |
| 9 | Jennifer Lopez | |
| 10 | Depeche Mode |
Most number ones
| Position | Artist name | Tally of number-ones |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madonna[12] | 50 |
| 2 | Rihanna[13] | 33 |
| 3 | Beyoncé[14] | 22 |
| 4 | Janet Jackson[15] | 20 |
| 5 | Katy Perry[16] | 19 |
| 6 | Jennifer Lopez[17] | 18 |
| 7 | Mariah Carey[18] | 17 (tie) |
| Kristine W[19] | ||
| 9 | Donna Summer[20] | 161 |
| 10 | Lady Gaga[21] | 15 |
Most consecutive number-ones
 |
| Number of songs | Artist name | First hit and date | Last hit and date | Streak breaking song and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Katy Perry | "Waking Up in Vegas"[9] (August 22, 2009) |
"Swish Swish" (featuring Nicki Minaj) (July 22, 2017) |
"Bon Appétit" (featuring Migos)[8] (#28, April 18, 2017) |
| 11 | Jennifer Lopez | "Qué Hiciste"[22] (June 23, 2007) |
"Live It Up" (featuring Pitbull)[22] (July 20, 2013) |
"I Luh Ya Papi" (featuring French Montana)[23][24] (#5, June 28, 2014) |
| 9 | Kristine W | "Feel What You Want"[25] (July 23, 1994) |
"The Wonder of It All"[26] (January 2, 2005) |
"I'll Be Your Light"[27][28] (#2, February 26, 2006) |
| Beyoncé | "Diva"[29] (March 28, 2009) |
"Countdown"[30] (December 24, 2011) |
"End of Time"[31] (#33, March 3, 2012) | |
| Erika Jayne | "Rollercoaster"[32] (July 28, 2007) |
"How Many Fucks"[32] (August 13, 2016) |
Non-breaking streak | |
| 8 | Kylie Minogue[33] | "All The Lovers" (August 14, 2010) |
"Into The Blue" (April 12, 2014) |
"I Was Gonna Cancel" (#5, August 9, 2014) |
| 7 | Janet Jackson | "When I Think of You"[34] (September 20, 1986) |
"Alright"[34] (May 5, 1990) |
"Black Cat"[34] (#17, October 27, 1990) |
| Madonna[35] | "Causing a Commotion" (October 31, 1987) |
"Justify My Love" (January 19, 1991) |
"Rescue Me" (#6, March 16, 1991) | |
| "Nothing Really Matters" (March 13, 1999) |
"Impressive Instant" (November 17, 2001) |
"GHV2 Megamix" (#5, December 2, 2001) |
Most number-ones in a calendar year
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| Number of songs | Artist name | Year charted | Name of songs | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Rihanna | 2017 | "Love on the Brain", "Sex with Me", "Pose", "Wild Thoughts" (DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller), "Desperado" | [10] |
| 4 | 2007 | "We Ride", "Umbrella" (featuring Jay-Z), "Don't Stop the Music", "Shut Up and Drive" | [36][37] | |
| 2010 | "Russian Roulette", "Hard" (featuring Jeezy), "Rude Boy", "Only Girl (In the World)" | |||
| 2011 | "Who's That Chick?" (David Guetta featuring Rihanna), "S&M", "California King Bed", "We Found Love" (featuring Calvin Harris) | |||
| 2016 | "Work" (featuring Drake), "This Is What You Came For" (Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna), "Kiss It Better", "Needed Me" | |||
| Beyoncé | 2009 | "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Diva", "Halo", "Sweet Dreams" | ||
| Lady Gaga | "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Paparazzi", "Bad Romance" | |||
| 2011 | "Born This Way", "Judas", "The Edge of Glory", "You and I" | |||
| Katy Perry | 2014 | "Unconditionally", "Dark Horse" (featuring Juicy J), "Birthday", "This Is How We Do" |
Quickest collection of first 10 number-ones
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Song achievements
Most weeks at number one
| Number of weeks |
Artist(s) | Song(s) | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Michael Jackson | Thriller (all cuts)[42] | 1983 |
| 9 | Change | "A Lover's Holiday"/"The Glow Of Love"/"Searching"[43] | 1980 |
| 8 | Chic | "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)"/"Everybody Dance"/"You Can Get By"[44] | 1977 |
| 7 | Village People | Village People (all cuts)[45] | |
| T-Connection | "Do What You Wanna Do"[46] | ||
| Chic | "Le Freak"/"I Want Your Love"/"Chic Cheer"[47] | 1978-79 | |
| Donna Summer | "Hot Stuff"/"Bad Girls"[48] | 1979 | |
| Geraldine Hunt | "Can't Fake the Feeling"[49] | 1980 | |
| Chaz Jankel | "Glad to Know You"/"3,000,000 Synths"/"Ai No Corrida"[50] | 1982 |
Shortest climbs to number one
Longest climbs to number one
- 19th week — "Wordy Rappinghood"/"Genius of Love" by Tom Tom Club[78]
- 19th week — "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun
- 17th week — "Losing It" by Fisher
- 16th week — "The Look of Love" by ABC[79]
- 16th week — "Most Precious Love" by Blaze presents U.D.A.U.F.L. featuring Barbara Tucker
- 16th week — "Where Have You Been" by Rihanna
- 16th week — "Right Now" by Rihanna featuring David Guetta
Biggest jump to number one
- (27–1) Thriller (all cuts) by Michael Jackson[82]
Number-one songs covered by different artists
- "The Boss" — Diana Ross (1979), The Braxtons (1997), Kristine W (2008), and again Diana Ross (2019).[83]
- "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" — Sylvester (1978)[84] and Byron Stingily (1998)[85]
- "Back to Life" — Soul II Soul (1989) and Hilary Roberts (2019).[86]
- "Keep on Jumpin'" — Musique (1978) and Todd Terry with Martha Wash & Jocelyn Brown (1996)[87]