The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs (#8)

Welcome back to my countdown of the top 10 songs of all time, according to Billboard magazine during its 50th anniversary issue last month. If #10 went to Toni Braxton and #9 to Mariah Carey, the 8th spot belongs to the British act, The Beatles.

HEY JUDE was written in 1968 by Paul McCartney to comfort John Lennon's son Julian on the divorce of his parents (John and Cynthia). McCartney narrates, "I started with the idea 'Hey Jules, don't make it bad, take a bad song and make it better.'" The single entered Billboard's Hot 100 on September 14, 1968 (exactly 40 years and a day ago) at No. 10, but rose to No. 1 after just 2 weeks. It held the top spot for a total of 9 weeks, the longest that a Beatles hit would reign.

To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from all 50 years considered by Billboard, earlier time frames were each weighted to compensate for the differences in the faster turnover rates during those earlier decades, compared to the slower churn that the hot 100 has seen in more recent years.

The countdown of the top 10 hits of all time continues soon....

The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs (#10)

In August 4, 1958, Billboard launched its HOT 100, a chart that was to be the first to measure song popularity by incorporating both radio play and sales.  Scoring the chart's inaugural No. 1 was Ricky Nelson's POOR LITTLE FOOL.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Billboard has released its all-time top 100 songs, listing the biggest hits since the magazine debuted its chart in 1958. Here now is #10, UN-BREAK MY HEART, which peaked on December 7, 1996.  

Three years after winning the 1993 best new artist Grammy, Toni Braxton released her 2nd multiplatinum album, SECRETS, with LaFace records.  In it was UN-BREAK MY HEART, the Dianne Warren tune produced by David Foster, which was to be the biggest hit of Braxton's career.  The song spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.

In the following days, I will be counting down to the #1 song of all time. But as far as this week is concerned, Billboard's #1 hit is T.I.'s, WHATEVER YOU LIKE.