The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published since August 1958 by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States. In 1968, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations respectively. During the year, 16 singles spent time at number one.
In the year's first issue of Billboard, the Beatles were at number one with "Hello, Goodbye", retaining the position from the final chart of 1967. They held the top spot for the first two weeks of the new year and then returned to number one in September with "Hey Jude". The latter song spent nine weeks atop the chart, tying the record for the longest unbroken run at number one on the Hot 100, set by "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith in 1960. The two chart-toppers took the band's total to 16 in less than five years. The Beatles were the only act with more than one number one during 1968 and their total of 11 weeks in the peak position during the year was more than twice that achieved by any other act. After "Hello, Goodbye", the next six chart-toppers were all by acts reaching number one for the first time: John Fred and his Playboy Band, the Lemon Pipers, Paul Mauriat, Otis Redding, Bobby Goldsboro, and Archie Bell & the Drells. Mauriat's "Love Is Blue", the first Hot 100 number one by a French act, was an instrumental version of "L'amour est bleu", performed by Vicky Leandros in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. Redding, who had died in an airplane crash in December 1967, was the first artist to achieve a number one posthumously when "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" reached the top spot three months later.
Goldsboro's "Honey" was a triple Billboard chart-topper, reaching number one on both the Hot Country Singles and Easy Listening charts in addition to the Hot 100. Despite this success, it was the only top 10 entry he achieved on the Hot 100. Four more acts gained their first Hot 100 number ones during the second half of the year: Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela, Jeannie C. Riley, and Marvin Gaye. Alpert had topped Billboards Easy Listening chart several times, but had never previously reached number one on the Hot 100. Similarly, Gaye had achieved four previous number ones on the magazine's R&B chart, but "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was his first single to achieve sufficient pop crossover to top the Hot 100. It is one of several 1968 number ones to have been included on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; in 2004, the magazine ranked "Hey Jude" at number 8, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" at number 28, and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" at number 80.
Chart history
+Issue dateTitleArtist(s)195"Hello, Goodbye"196"Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)"197"Green Tambourine"198"Love Is Blue"199""200"Honey"201"Tighten Up"202"Mrs. Robinson"Simon & Garfunkel203"This Guy's in Love with You"204"Grazing in the Grass"205"Hello, I Love You"206"People Got to Be Free"207"Harper Valley PTA"208"Hey Jude"209"Love Child"210"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" Notes
Number-one artists + List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one Weeks at No. 1 Artist 11 The Beatles 5 Paul Mauriat Bobby Goldsboro The Rascals 4 Otis Redding Herb Alpert 3 Simon & Garfunkel Marvin Gaye 2John Fred and his Playboy Band Archie Bell & the Drells Hugh Masekela The Doors Diana Ross & the Supremes 1 The Lemon Pipers Jeannie C. Riley
See also 1968 in music List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968 List of Billboard number-one singles List of Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles in 1968 List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from 1958 to 1969
References
Works cited