What’s the Most Common Billboard Hot 100 Song Title?
What's the most common Billboard Hot 100 song title? Hold on ... for the answer.
Hold on a second. Or third. Or fourth …
On the the Billboard Hot 100 dated March 20, 2021, Justin Bieber‘s “Hold On” debuted.
The song’s arrival sparked a bit of déjà vu. After all, more than a few songs titled “Hold On” have hit the Hot 100. In 1990 alone, two such songs battled for lofty chart space, by Wilson Phillips and En Vogue. The former ultimately rose higher, reaching No. 1 and earning the honor of Billboard‘s top song that year. Still, the latter peaked at an impressive No. 2, as well as No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Meanwhile, on the July 24-dated Hot 100, Bieber bowed as partnered with The Kid LAROI on “Stay,” another title with notable, um, staying power over the chart’s history.
So, is “Hold On” the most common title for a Hot 100 hit? Or, is it “Stay”?
To find the answer, we combed through an alphabetical list of every song ever to make the chart … over 29,000 dating to the list’s Aug. 4, 1958, inception.
First, some fine print: As the goal was simply to find the most common titles, different compositions, such as Michael Bublé’s “Home” and Phillip Phillips’ “Home,” counted the same as multiple versions of the exact same song, such as the Jackson 5’s and Mariah Carey’s recordings of “I’ll Be There.” Punctuation also wasn’t of concern. So, for the purposes of this research, Bieber’s “Baby” was equal to Carla Thomas’ hit from 1966 “B-A-B-Y.” And, exact titles (by words) only; Rihanna’s “Stay” was treated as separate from Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories’ “Stay (I Missed You).” Plus, spaces were ok, so Janet Jackson’s “Runaway” was equated with Real McCoy’s “Run Away.”
Now, no more making you … hold on. Let’s count down the most common titles to grace the Hot 100. Here are those that have appeared 10 or more times each (*now updated through the Hot 100 dated July 31, 2021):
Number of Charted Versions on the Hot 100, Title
10, “Call Me”
Highest-charting: No. 1 (six weeks), Blondie, 1980
10, “I Want You”
Highest-charting: No. 4, Savage Garden, 1997
10, “Love Me”
Highest-charting: No. 9, Lil Wayne feat. Drake & Future, 2013
10, “One”
Highest-charting: No. 5, Three Dog Night, 1969
11, “Crazy”
Highest-charting: No. 2, Gnarls Barkley, 2006
11, “Friends”
Highest-charting: No. 9, Jody Watley with Eric B. & Rakim, 1989
11, “Home”
Highest-charting: No. 6, Phillip Phillips, 2013
11, “I Love You”
Highest-charting: No. 12, Climax Blues Band, 1981
11, “I Need You”
Highest-charting: No. 9, America, 1972
12, “Hallelujah” Highest-charting: No. 13, Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris feat. Charlie Sexton, 2010
12, “Smile” Highest-charting: No. 8, Juice WRLD & The Weeknd, 2020
13, “Without You” Highest-charting: No. 1 (four weeks), Nilsson, 1972
14, “Angel”
Highest-charting: No. 1 (one week), Shaggy feat. Rayvon, 2001
14, “Forever”
Highest-charting: No. 2, Chris Brown, 2008
14, “Happy”
Highest-charting: No. 1 (10 weeks), Pharrell Williams, 2014
14, “Runaway”
Highest-charting: No. 1 (four weeks), Del Shannon, 1961
15, “You”
Highest-charting: No. 9, Lloyd feat. Lil Wayne, 2007
16, “Stay” Highest-charting: No. 1 (one week), Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, 1960
… and, the most common title for a Hot 100 hit?
17, “Hold On”
Highest-charting: No. 1 (one week), Wilson Phillips, 1990
Beyond Wilson Phillips’ and En Vogue’s No. 1 and 2-peaking hits, respectively, other top 40 hits titled “Hold On” include those by Santana (No. 15, 1982), Jamie Walters (former lead singer of the Heights; No. 16, 1995), Ian Gomm (No. 18, 1979), Triumph (No. 38, 1979) and Kansas (No. 40, 1980).
Are there any lessons to be learned from this research? Perhaps that titles about love, based on many of the examples above, tend to repeat. Overall, of course, it’s a song’s merit, as judged by the music-consuming public, not its title, that ultimately determines its popularity.
As for who’ll chart the 18th song to share the title “Hold On”? As reader and charts fan Adam Freeman Soybel noted on Twitter early on for this topic, we’ll just have to … hold on.
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