Timeline

 

 

 

 

 
#1 for 8 weeks from October through mid-December, then back up to #1 to begin 2012 for a total of 10 weeks. Calvin Harris is given Featured status for arranging and producing the sound, not for any vocal contribution.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Countdown was released to radio in early October as the third single from Beyoncé`s "4" album, which had been out since June 28. It reached #1 on the Hot Dance Club chart in mid-December.
 

 
Chosen as #1 single of 2011 by editors of both Pitchfork and Pop Matters.
 

 

 

 
An "answer record" of sorts to (I Can`t Get No) Satisfaction, this song not only name-checks Jagger and Richards but also features Keef himself on guitar.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The "Watch the Throne" album spawned several singles. This one was the top chart hit and year-end critical favorite.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The lead single, released two months in advance of the Wrecking Ball album, never charted pop but was ranked #19 of the year in the Pazz+Jop critics poll.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Best-selling single of 2012, 2 months at #1, 24 weeks in the top 10; also Grammy for record of the year.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Ubiquitous: This summer`s biggest hit, 5 months in the top 10, #2 in pop sales for the whole year, and the #1 single in the Pazz+Jop critics` poll.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Never charted on the Hot 100 but was chosen by Rolling Stone Magazine as the #1 single of the year.
 

 

 

 
In every critics` poll, the runaway consensus #1 album of 2012.
 

 
This second single from Channel ORANGE was voted the #10 track of 2012 on Pazz+Jop critics` consensus list.
 

 

 

 
Cover of The Clash original from London Calling
 

 

 

 
Taylor Swift`s Red album, released in late October, was the #2 best-selling pop album of 2012.
 

 
Adorn spent eleven weeks at #1 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
 

 

 

 

 

 
On December 21, 2012, Gangnam Style became the first video in the history of the internet to reach One Billion views.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The song charted at #1 on R&B Songs for 14 weeks.
 

 
The last big pop hit of 2012, topping the Hot 100 for six weeks through all of December and into the first week January 2013.
 

 
The song reached #1 on the R&B chart at the end of November and was still there 7 weeks later. Lamar`s "Good Kid" was the #2 album of 2012 on the Pazz+Jop critics` consensus poll.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Catchy tune started climbing the Hot 100 after being used in June 2012 as soundtrack of the Bing (search engine) "Discovering Hawaii" commercial. Also used in one trailer for "Silver Linings Playbook" movie and in one episode of the "Hart of Dixie" TV show.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
"Screwdriver" lyric video first posted on Third Eye Girl website 1/24/13; mp3 subsequently available only by paid download from this site.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
"Cruise" broke the all-time record for weeks at #1 on the Country singles chart with 24 cumulative weeks beginning in Fall 2012. It`s sequenced here on the basis of its 2013 stint as a major pop hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
 

 
The full album version runs over eight minutes. "The 20/20 Experience" was #1 in album sales during 2013.
 

 
Written for and performed by Steve Earle in a 2011 episode of the New Orleans-based HBO series, "Tremé." A memorable song.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The consensus record of the year (won Grammy, topped critics` polls for singles) from the Grammy-winning album of the year (Random Access Memories also ranked #3 on critics` polls). Spent 15 weeks in the Hot 100 top 10. Great dance groove features funk guitar wizard Nile Rodgers of Chic fame.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The best-selling single record of 2013 (over 6 million copies) and #1 on the Hot 100 for twelve weeks. Based on a groove very similar to that of Marvin Gaye`s "Got to Give It Up" (1977), and notorious for a music video featuring bare-breasted women.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Samples the version of "Strange Fruit" recorded by Nina Simone in 1965.
 

 
"Same Love" was written in support of legalizing same-sex marriage and became the first Top 40 song in the U.S. to take this stance, peaking at #11 on the Hot 100 and being nominated for the Grammy for song of the year.
 

 

 

 
Spent 5 months in top 10 of Billboard`s Hot 100 chart.
 

 
Spent 20 weeks in top 10 of Billboard Hot 100.
 

 
Consensus #2 critics` single of the year. Also won Grammy for song of the year and spent 9 weeks at #1 on Billboard`s Hot 100. And Lorde just turned seventeen!
 

 
A huge R&B hit and picked by Pitchfork magazine critics as the #1 track of 2013.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
When this "visual album" (incl. 17 videos) was released on 12/13/13 with no advance notice, available only on iTunes, it shot to #1. A week later it was released on CD/DVD. By year`s end it was already the #2 best selling album of 2013.
 

 

 

 
Spent 5 months (22 weeks) in the Hot 100 top 10 and ranked #2 in Billboard`s year end tabulation, which cut off after mid-November to make publication deadline.
 

 

 

 
Boosted by a soundtrack music video, "Happy" logged 10 weeks at #1 and also ranked #1 for the entire year on Billboard`s year-end charts.
 

 
After languishing on the lower rungs for four months, "All Of Me" raced up the charts following a live performance at the February 2014 Grammy awards show and ultimately spent five months in the top 10.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Besides being one of the top five pop songs of the year, "Fancy" spent 18 (!) weeks at #1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, tying "Hot Boyz" (2000) for the all-time record for most weeks at #1 on this chart.