# Timeline of Billboard number-one dance songs

Billboard magazine has published charts ranking the top-performing dance music songs in the United States since 1974. Originally a top-ten 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. The first number-one song on the chart for the issue dated August 28, 1976, was "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees.
The Dance/Disco chart was split into the 12-inch Singles Sales chart and the Club Play chart on the issue dated March 16. The first number one on the dance sales chart was "New Attitude"/"Axel F", a split single by Patti LaBelle and Harold Faltermeyer from Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. On March 1, 2003. Billboard launched the 40-position Hot Dance Radio Airplay chart online August 16, 2003, ranking the songs on stations playing mainly dance music. The first dance airplay number one was Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love". On the issue dated January 26, 2013, Billboard launched the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, tracking top 50 dance songs based on digital downloads, radio airplay, streaming, and club play. Billboard split the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart on January 18, 2025 to create the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart, which focuses on songs with "dance-centric vocals, melody, and hooks by artists not rooted in the dance genre". Since then, the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart compiles songs primarily recorded by DJs or producers, with an emphasis on electronic-based production.
Madonna is the most successful dance music artist of all time, with a total of 50 number ones on the Dance Club Songs chart and 33 number ones on the Dance Singles Sales chart. She remains the artist with the most number ones on any single Billboard chart. Her dance hits span five different decades from "Holiday"/"Lucky Star" in 1983 to "I Don't Search I Find" in 2020. David Guetta is the artist with the most number ones on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, with a total of 17 songs from "The World Is Mine" in 2004 to "Forever Young" in 2025. The Chainsmokers is the act with the most number ones on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with a total of six songs from "#Selfie" in 2014 to "Something Just Like This" in 2017.

## Dance charts history

    Each entry in the "Year" column links to the list of number ones for that particular year.
Chart history :
| Year | Notes | Ref. |
| 1974 | Billboard launched Disco Action chart, its first dance music chart, on the issue dated October 26; the first number one was "Never Can Say Goodbye" by Gloria Gaynor. | |
| 1975 | Record World began compiling a dance chart which incorporated club play on a national level, with "Bad Luck" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes as the first number-one single. Billboard statistician Joel Whitburn adopted its chart data from the weeks between March 29, 1975, and August 21, 1976, into Billboards club play history. | |
| 1976 | Billboard premiered the National Disco Action Top 30 chart, which based on club play across the United States, on the issue dated August 28; the first number one was "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees. | |
| 1977 | Donna Summer scored her first two chart-toppers on the National Disco Action Top 40, with the LP cuts of I Remember Yesterday and Once Upon a Time. | |
| 1978 | The year's top-performing disco single was the LP cuts from Thank God It's Friday soundtrack by Donna Summer, Pattie Brooks, Love & Kisses, and Sunshine | |
| 1979 | Donna Summer's Bad Girls (LP cuts) topped the Disco Top 80 chart for seven consecutive weeks, the longest that year. "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" became Summer's seventh disco number one, the most by any act of the decade. | |
| 1980 | Change's The Glow of Love (LP cuts) topped the Disco Top 100 chart for nine consecutive weeks, the longest that year. | |
| 1981 | Prince earned his first disco number one with "Controversy"/"Let's Work", a double-A-side single which topped the Disco Top 80 chart for six consecutive weeks. | |
| 1982 | "Glad to Know You"/"3,000,000 Synths"/"Questionnaire" by Chas Jankel was the year's biggest single on the Dance/Disco Top 80, topping the chart for seven consecutive weeks. | |
| 1983 | Michael Jackson's Thriller (LP cuts) remained atop the Dance/Disco Top 80 chart for 11 weeks, the longest in history. Madonna achieved her first number-one single on the chart with "Holiday"/"Lucky Star". | |
| 1984 | Prince's "When Doves Cry" topped the Dance/Disco Top 80 chart for six consecutive weeks, longer than any other singles that year. On the issue dated October 20, the chart was renamed as the Hot Dance/Disco. | |
| 1985 | The Hot Dance/Disco chart was split into the 12-inch Singles Sales chart and the Club Play chart on the issue dated March 16. The first number one on the dance sales chart was "New Attitude"/"Axel F", a split single by Patti LaBelle and Harold Faltermeyer. | |
| 1986 | Janet Jackson achieved her first number ones on the dance charts, with "What Have You Done for Me Lately" on the 12-inch Singles Sales chart, as well as "When I Think of You" and "Control on the Club Play chart. | |
| 1987 | The word "disco" was removed from the title of the section of both charts beginning on September 19. Billboard retitled the section Hot Dance Music on October 24. Whitney Houston charted her first number ones on the Club Play chart, with "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "So Emotional". | [15] [16] |
| 1988 | Rick Astley topped the Club Play chart with "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever", the former of which also spent four weeks atop the 12-inch Singles Sales chart. | [17] [18] |
| 1989 | Inner City topped the Club Play chart with three singles: "Good Life, "Ain't Nobody Better", and "Do You Love What You Feel". | |
| 1990 | Janet Jackson released three number-one singles on the Club Play chart: "Rhythm Nation", "Escapade", and "Alright". | |
| 1991 | Mariah Carey earned her first number ones on the Club Play chart with "Someday" and "Emotions". | |
| 1992 | On the issue dated June 20, Billboard began to tabulate cassette tape and CD maxi-singles along with 12-inch singles, and the sales chart was renamed as the Hot Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales. | |
| 1993 | The year's biggest dance single was "Supermodel (You Better Work)" by RuPaul. Despite stalling at number two on the Club Play chart, it topped the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for two weeks. | |
| 1994 | Kristine W earned her first number one on the Club Play chart with "Feel What You Want". | |
| 1995 | Mariah Carey charted two number ones on the Maxi-Singles Sales chart, "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day", the former of which also topped the Club Play chart for three weeks. | |
| 1996 | 2Pac's "How Do U Want It"/"California Love" topped the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 12 non-consecutive weeks. | |
| 1997 | Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" was the year's biggest dance song, topping both the Club Play and Maxi-Singles Sales charts. | |
| 1998 | "The Boy Is Mine" by Brandy and Monica topped the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 21 weeks, making it the longest-running number one at the time. | |
| 1999 | Jennifer Lopez charted at number one on the dance charts for the first time, with "If You Had My Love" topping the Maxi-Singles Sales chart and "Waiting for Tonight" topping the Club Play chart. | |
| 2000 | Madonna's "Music" was the year's biggest dance song, topping the Club Play chart for five weeks and the Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 11 weeks. | |
| 2001 | Sono's "Keep Control" was the year's top-performing song on the Club Play chart, spending four consecutive weeks at number one. | |
| 2002 | Kylie Minogue earned her first number one on the Club Play chart with "Can't Get You Out of My Head". | |
| 2003 | The Maxi-Singles Sales chart was renamed the Dance Singles Sales on March 1, 2003. Billboard launched the 40-position Hot Dance Radio Airplay chart online August 16, 2003, ranking the most-played songs on dance radio. The first dance airplay number one was Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love", which also became her first number one on the Club Play chart. | [30] [31] |
| 2004 | David Guetta, the artist with the most songs topping the Hot Dance Radio Airplay, scored his first number one on the chart, with "The World Is Mine" (featuring JD Davis). | |
| 2005 | On the issue dated June 18, "One Word" by Kelly Osbourne became the first ever song to top all three dance charts—Club Play, Singles Sales, and Airplay—in the same week. | |
| 2006 | "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" by Nine Inch Nails topped the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. It spent the most weeks at number one by any single in the chart's history, with a total of 36 non-consecutive weeks. | |
| 2007 | The Hot Dance Singles Sales chart became only available at billboard.biz after the issue dated February 24, and was reduced from 25 to 15 positions on March 30. Dave Audé earned his first number one on the Club Play chart with "Make It Last". | [35] [36] |
| 2008 | Natasha Bedingfield earned the most number ones during the year, with "Love like This", "Pocketful of Sunshine", and "Angel". | |
| 2009 | On the issue dated June 20, the Hot Dance Club Play chart was renamed as the Hot Dance Club Songs. Pet Shop Boys topped the chart with "Love Etc." and "Did You See Me Coming?", extending their record as the group with the most number ones (11). | [38] [39] |
| 2010 | Rihanna charted four number ones on the Dance Club Songs with "Russian Roulette", "Hard", "Rude Boy", and "Only Girl (In the World)", as well as two number ones on the Hot Dance Airplay chart with "Rude Boy" and "Only Girl (In the World)". | |
| 2011 | Enrique Iglesias became the first male solo artist to have 10 number ones on the Dance/Club Play chart with "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)", passing Michael Jackson and Price with seven number ones each. The Hot Dance Airplay chart was renamed the Dance/Mix Show Airplay on the issue dated November 19. | |
| 2012 | "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen spent 22 weeks atop the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart, the longest by a soloist. | |
| 2013 | On the issue dated January 26, Billboard launched the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, tracking top 50 dance songs based on downloads, radio airplay, streaming, and club play. Its first number one was "Scream & Shout" by will.i.am and Britney Spears. Due to the decline of record sales, the Dance Singles Sales chart was defunct after the issue dated November 30. | |
| 2014 | "Turn Down for What" by DJ Snake and Lil Jon topped the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 12 consecutive weeks and became the chart's top-performing song of the year. The Chainsmokers, the act with the most number ones (7) on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, topped the chart for the first time with "#Selfie". | |
| 2015 | "Lean On" by Major Lazer & DJ Snake featuring MØ topped the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 23 consecutive weeks (including one week in 2016) and became the chart's top-performing song of the year. | |
| 2016 | Rihanna's eighth studio album, Anti, spawned the Dance Club Songs number ones "Work", "Kiss It Better", and "Needed Me". It scored five additional chart-toppers for the next two years—"Love on the Brain", "Sex with Me", "Pose", "Desperado", and "Consideration"—becoming the only album to produce eight number ones on the chart. | |
| 2017 | With "Swish Swish", Katy Perry set the record for the most consecutive number ones on the Dance Club Songs chart (18). | |
| 2018 | On the issue dated September 29, "Happier" by Marshmello and Bastille began its 69-week running at number one on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, the longest by any song in the chart's history. It became the chart's only number-one song during the entire calendar year of 2019. | |
| 2019 | On the issue dated September 29, "Happier" by Marshmello and Bastille began its 69-week running at number one on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, the longest by any song in the chart's history. It became the chart's only number-one song during the entire calendar year of 2019. | |
| 2020 | Madonna achieved her 50th Dance Club Songs number one with "I Don't Search I Find", making her the first ever act to score as many as 50 chart-toppers on any single Billboard chart. Lasting for nearly 44 years, the Dance Club Songs chart was defunct after the issue dated March 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing nightclubs to close. | [47] [48] |
| 2021 | On the issue dated October 23, "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)" by Elton John and Dua Lipa began its 36-week running at number one on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. | |
| 2022 | On the issue dated October 1, "I'm Good (Blue)" by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha began its 55-week running at number one on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. | |
| 2023 | Dua Lipa's "Houdini" was the longest-running solo number one of 2023 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It spent a total of 17 non-consecutive weeks at the summit and became the chart's top-performing song of 2024. | |
| 2024 | Dua Lipa's "Houdini" was the longest-running solo number one of 2023 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It spent a total of 17 non-consecutive weeks at the summit and became the chart's top-performing song of 2024. | |
| 2025 | Beginning on the issue dated January 18, the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs was revamped to only include "songs primarily recorded by DJs or producers, with an emphasis on electronic-based production". As the result, Billboard premiered the Hot Dance/Pop Songs, containing 15 songs with "dance-centric vocals, melody, and hooks by artists not rooted in the dance genre". The chart's first number one was "It's OK I'm OK" by Tate McRae. | |