It Takes Two: Hit Songs by More Than One Act, 1959–2025
Topic: Culture & Entertainment
In this chart: The year's top 20 hits, Second Layer
About this chart
The two bands are the share of the year's 20 biggest US songs credited to more than one act, averaged over three years: lead acts credited together in blue at the bottom, songs with a featured artist in rose above. The readout gives the year, the three-year share and that year's own counts; the peak is marked. Point at any year, or tap it, to read its numbers. The animation draws the years from 1959 to 2025 over fifty-six seconds, holds on the last year for three seconds, and loops. The scrubber under the chart marks each year and pauses on any of them.
Method
The songs are the top 20 of Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for every year from 1959 to 2025, 1,340 songs, as the chart is reproduced on Wikipedia's “Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles” pages; a year-end chart covers Billboard's chart year, which does not match the calendar year exactly. The details of each song were compiled for DataSlapper from Wikipedia's song and artist pages, SongBPM and other song pages, with a cited page for every value, and checked by DataSlapper: every year's top 20 against Wikipedia's page, and a random sample of 112 songs against the pages cited. A value no source gave is left out, not guessed; a double-sided single that holds one chart position counts as one song.
A song counts as made by more than one act when the chart credits two or more lead acts together, a duet or a joint billing, or credits a featured artist. Joint billings follow the compiled credits, so an act billed with its backing band, such as Prince and the Revolution, counts as two. A song with both is counted once, as a feature. Each point pools a year's 20 songs with the two years before it; 1959 stands alone and 1960 pools two years. The readout counts that year alone.
Data sources
- Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles, 1959–2025, the top 20 of each year, as reproduced by Wikipedia
- Co-lead acts and featured artists: Wikipedia's song and artist pages, compiled for DataSlapper
Data table
Each year's 20 biggest US songs from 1959 to 2025 credited to more than one act: lead acts credited together, songs with a featured artist, and the three-year share the chart draws. Compiled by DataSlapper.
Show all 67 rows
| Year | Songs | Co-lead acts | Featured artist | More than one act | Three-year share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 1960 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 1961 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 1962 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 1963 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1964 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.3% |
| 1965 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1966 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1967 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 1968 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1969 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1970 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 1971 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1972 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1973 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 1974 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 1975 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1976 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.3% |
| 1977 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1978 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.3% |
| 1979 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1980 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.7% |
| 1981 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3.3% |
| 1982 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5.0% |
| 1983 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8.3% |
| 1984 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.7% |
| 1985 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.7% |
| 1986 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 10.0% |
| 1987 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.3% |
| 1988 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.7% |
| 1989 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 1990 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1.7% |
| 1991 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.3% |
| 1992 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.3% |
| 1993 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.3% |
| 1994 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6.7% |
| 1995 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8.3% |
| 1996 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11.7% |
| 1997 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 15.0% |
| 1998 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16.7% |
| 1999 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 16.7% |
| 2000 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 11.7% |
| 2001 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 20.0% |
| 2002 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 26.7% |
| 2003 | 20 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 41.7% |
| 2004 | 20 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 43.3% |
| 2005 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 41.7% |
| 2006 | 20 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 38.3% |
| 2007 | 20 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 38.3% |
| 2008 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 38.3% |
| 2009 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 35.0% |
| 2010 | 20 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 36.7% |
| 2011 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 38.3% |
| 2012 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 36.7% |
| 2013 | 20 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 35.0% |
| 2014 | 20 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 36.7% |
| 2015 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 35.0% |
| 2016 | 20 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 35.0% |
| 2017 | 20 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 40.0% |
| 2018 | 20 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 46.7% |
| 2019 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 48.3% |
| 2020 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 40.0% |
| 2021 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 36.7% |
| 2022 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 31.7% |
| 2023 | 20 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 33.3% |
| 2024 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 26.7% |
| 2025 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 26.7% |
Updated 2025
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