What were some of the most notable trends among No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart during 2024? Hit Songs Deconstructed, which provides compositional analytics for top 10 Hot 100 hits, has released its 2024 No. 1 Hit Focus report.
Here are three takeaways from Hit Songs Deconstructed’s latest in-depth research.
Related
Hip-Hop/Rap Rose
Hot 100 No. 1s were represented by six primary genres in 2024, according to Hit Songs Deconstructed. Hip-hop/rap led for the first time since 2018 with a 38% share. Country followed at a one-quarter take and pop rounded out the top three with just under a one-fifth share.
The report also notes that hip-hop/rap’s share of Hot 100 No. 1s more than doubled from 2023 to 2024. Kendrick Lamar led the genre with two chart-toppers: “Not Like Us” and “Squabble Up.”
Meanwhile, country remained strong among Hot 100 No. 1s last year as a primary genre. Notes Hit Songs Deconstructed: “After rising from 0% to 24% in 2023, country’s share of No. 1s held steady in 2024 with one-quarter of songs.” Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was the longest-leading such smash in 2024, running up a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1.
‘80s in the ‘20s
Along with six primary genres, “17 diverse subgenres and influences shaped the sound and vibe of 2024’s No. 1 hits” on the Hot 100, according to Hit Songs Deconstructed’s report. “Pop’s influence was particularly prominent, appearing in three-quarter of songs. Hip-hop/rap followed at 38% and retro influences in general rounded out the top three at 38%.”
Notably, “The 1980s continued to be the retro decade of choice,” per Hit Songs Deconstructed’s findings about subgenres’ influences on Hot 100 No. 1s, heard in such as hits as “Squabble Up,” Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, and Ariana Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love).”
Also among subgenres’ influences on Hot 100 No. 1s in 2024, “Country’s rose to nearly one-third of songs in 2024,” per Hit Songs Deconstructed. “All stemmed from the country primary genre except for Sabrina Carpenter’s country-influenced pop smash ‘Please Please Please.’”
Plus, dance/club’s subgenre influence “rose slightly to one-quarter of songs” atop the Hot 100 in 2024. Among them: Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me,” Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends” and “Yes, And?”
More Choruses, But Later & Longer No. 1s
“The average amount of time it takes for No. 1 hits to get to the first chorus has been increasing since 2021, rising from 33 seconds to 45 seconds in 2024,” Hit Songs Deconstructed reports.
The 0:40-0:59 range for a first chorus tripled from 18% of Hot 100 No. 1s in 2023 to 44% in 2024. Plus, a quarter of choruses in No. 1s occurred after the 1-minute mark, spanning genres from R&B/hip-hop (Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and Future, Metro Boomin and Lamar’s “Like That”) to rock (Hozier’s “Too Sweet”) and dance/club (Grande’s “Yes, And?”)
Also noteworthy, “The majority of No. 1s – 69% – had three choruses in their framework” in 2024, per Hit Songs Deconstructed. That share has more than tripled from 2022 (31%). Conversely, songs with two choruses have fallen from 46% to 29% to 19% among Hot 100 leaders since 2022.
Overall, Hit Songs Deconstructed notes, the average length of 2024’s Hot 100 No. 1 was 3:30, eight seconds longer than the 2023 average. The 4-minute-plus range has “generally been on the rise since 2019, increasing from 0% to 25% of songs. Its representatives were all hip-hop/rap songs except for Hozier’s “Too Sweet.’ ”