Here’s Every Year-End Billboard Top Artist

2023 – Taylor Swift

Among Swift’s numerous 2023 achievements, she upped her total to 13 Billboard 200 No. 1s with the debut of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in November – extending her record for the most among women in the chart’s history. The same week, the set’s “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]” became her 11th Hot 100 leader.

2022 – Bad Bunny

When Un Verano Sin Ti launched atop the May 21, 2022-dated Billboard 200, Bad Bunny became the first artist with multiple entirely non-English-language leaders on the list, after his El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo ruled for a week in December 2020. Un Verano Sin Ti dominated for 13 weeks and spent the rest of 2022 in the top 10 – and wrapped at No. 1 on the year’s Billboard 200 Albums roundup.

2021 – Drake

Drake’s LP Certified Lover Boy debuted atop the Billboard 200 in September 2021 and reigned for five total weeks. The set’s “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, crowned the Hot 100, marking Drake’s second No. 1 single that year, after “What’s Next.”

2020 – Post Malone

Post Malone’s album Hollywood’s Bleeding spent all of 2020 in the Billboard 200’s top 40 on its way to topping the year’s Billboard 200 Albums chart …

2019 – Post Malone

… after Hollywood’s Bleeding led the Billboard 200 for five weeks beginning in September 2019. The set yielded the three-week Hot 100 No. 1 “Circles,” which reached the summit that November.

2018 – Drake

Drake dominated the Hot 100 for a single-year-record 29 weeks in 2018, with three smashes from his album Scorpion: “God’s Plan” (11 weeks), “Nice for What” (eight) and “In My Feelings” (10). He one-upped the 28 weeks that Usher spent at No. 1 in 2004. “God’s Plan” also led the year-end Hot 100 Songs chart.

2017 – Ed Sheeran

2016 – Adele

Adele’s 25 debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 3.48 million equivalent album units in its first week, including 3.38 million in album sales – the biggest respective one-week sums in Luminate tracking history. The LP led the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks through March 2016 and scored top honors on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart. Lead single “Hello” likewise ruled the Hot 100 for 10 frames.

2015 – Taylor Swift

Swift’s segue from country to pop on 1989 sparked her second Top Artists win. The set led the Billboard 200 for 11 weeks through February 2015 and houses the Hot 100 No. 1s “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood.” 1989 also finished at No. 1 on the year’s Billboard 200 Albums chart.

2014 – One Direction

In 2014, the group added the most recent of its four Billboard 200 No. 1s with its aptly-titled album Four.

2013 – Bruno Mars

Unorthodox Jukebox became Bruno Mars’ first Billboard 200 No. 1 in March 2013. It includes his fifth and sixth Hot 100 No. 1s: “Locked Out of Heaven” and “When I Was Your Man.”

2012 – Adele

In June 2012, Adele’s LP 21 logged its 24th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 – the most for an album by a woman in the chart’s history. That February, “Set Fire to the Rain” became the set’s third Hot 100 No. 1. 21 topped the Billboard 200 Albums chart for 2012, after leading the list in 2011.

2011 – Adele

2011 marked new commercial heights for Adele, whose 21 became her first Billboard 200 No. 1 and its first two singles, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You,” led the Hot 100. At year’s end, along with Adele leading Top Artists, 21 ruled the Billboard 200 Albums recap and “Rolling in the Deep” led Hot 100 Songs for 2011.

2010 – Lady Gaga

One year after Lady Gaga arrived as Billboard’s top new artist, she led the overall Top Artists chart. She spent time in the Billboard 200’s top 10 with three titles in 2010: The Fame, EP The Fame Monster and The Remix. That June, she added her seventh Hot 100 top 10, “Alejandro.”

2009 – Taylor Swift

2008 – Chris Brown

Brown scored his first top 10 debut on the Hot 100 in 2008, as “Forever” began at No. 9 in May, on its way to a No. 2 peak that August.

2007 – Akon

After topping the Hot 100 with “I Wanna Love You,” featuring Snoop Dogg, for two weeks in December 2006, Akon earned his second leader, “Don’t Matter,” in April 2007.

2006 – Chris Brown

Brown, whose self-titled album debuted on the Billboard 200 in December 2005, upped his count to four Hot 100 top 10s by the end of 2006.

2005 – 50 Cent

After reigning on Top Artists in 2003, 50 Cent returned to No. 1 for 2005, fueled by his second Billboard 200 leader, The Massacre, and his third of four Hot 100 rulers, “Candy Shop,” featuring Olivia. The Massacre went on to finish atop the year’s Billboard 200 Albums chart.

2004 – Usher

Usher dominated the Billboard 200 in 2004 with his first Billboard 200 No. 1, Confessions, and four Hot 100 No. 1s: “Yeah!,” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, “Burn,” “Confessions Part II” and “My Boo,” with Alicia Keys. Meanwhile, Confessions and “Yeah!” topped the year’s Billboard 200 Albums and Hot 100 Songs charts, respectively.

2003 – 50 Cent

50 Cent achieved his first of two No. 1 finishes on Top Artists in 2003. His debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ led the Billboard 200 and produced two Hot 100 chart-toppers: “In Da Club” and “21 Questions,” featuring Nate Dogg. The set and “In Da Club” paced the year’s respective Billboard 200 Albums and Hot 100 Songs charts.

2002 – Nelly

Nelly presided over the Hot 100 with two signature songs in 2002: “Hot in Herre,” for seven weeks, and “Dilemma,” featuring Kelly Rowland, for 10. Parent album Nellyville crowned the Billboard 200 for four weeks.

2001 – Destiny’s Child

2001 brought Destiny’s Child’s first of two Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, Survivor, and the act’s fourth of four Hot 100 leaders, “Bootylicious.”

2000 – Destiny’s Child

Building upon the group’s first Hot 100 No. 1, “Bills, Bills, Bills” in 1999, Destiny’s Child added its second and third leaders in 2000: “Say My Name” for three weeks, and “Independent Women Part I” for a career-best 11 frames.

1999 – Backstreet Boys

The group’s LP Millennium – the leading title on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart – ran up 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 starting with its chart-topping debut in June 1999, powered by its lead single, “I Want It That Way.”

1998 – Usher

Usher’s album My Way generated his first Hot 100 No. 1, “Nice & Slow,” which led for two weeks beginning on, fittingly, Valentine’s Day, in 1998.

1997 – LeAnn Rimes

Thanks to her album Blue, Rimes, then 15, followed Garth Brooks as the second core country artist – and first woman in the genre – to lead Top Artists.

1996 – Alanis Morissette

1995 – TLC

TLC’s sophomore set CrazySexyCool generated the act’s first two Hot 100 No. 1s: “Creep,” for four weeks, and “Waterfalls,” for seven.

1994 – Ace of Base

The Swedish pop quartet’s breakthrough LP The Sign led the Billboard 200 for two weeks in April 1994 and the title track topped the Hot 100 for six frames. That domination led to Ace of Base making history as the only act ever to rule Billboard’s year-end Top Artists, Top New Artists, Hot 100 Songs and Billboard 200 Albums recaps in the same year.

1993 – Garth Brooks

Brooks posted his third Billboard 200 leader, In Pieces, in September 1993. The set was one of six that the country titan charted on the survey that year.

1992 – Garth Brooks

Brooks’ first Billboard 200 No. 1, Ropin’ the Wind, upped its reign to 18 weeks in March 1992 – and became the year’s top title on the Billboard 200 Albums ranking. That October, he added his second leader, The Chase. He became the first core country act to rule Top Artists, and, in 1993, the first to reign in consecutive years.

1991 – Mariah Carey

In March 1991, Carey’s debut self-titled album began an 11-week rule on the Billboard 200, the longest domination of her six career No. 1s. The set, which includes four Hot 100 No. 1s, including “Someday” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry” in 1991, wrapped atop the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart.

1990 – New Kids On the Block

Before One Direction and Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block flew the flag for boy bands atop Billboard’s Top Artists chart. The Boston quintet notched its second Billboard 200 leader, Step by Step, in 1990. The album’s title cut became the act’s third, and longest-leading, No. 1, for three weeks, on the Hot 100.

1989 – New Kids On the Block

In 1989, New Kids on the Block landed their first Billboard 200 No. 1, Hangin’ Tough, and their first two Hot 100 No. 1s, “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)” and the set’s title cut. Impressive first impressions: The group and Ace of Base, in 1994, are the only acts to lead Top Artists and Top New Artists in the same year.

1988 – George Michael

1987 – Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet – the top title on Billboard 200 Albums for 1987 – produced the band’s longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1: “Livin’ on a Prayer,” for four weeks beginning that February.

1986 – Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston started its 14-week Billboard 200 domination in March 1986, and spun off two Hot 100 No. 1s that year: “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All.” The set finished at No. 1 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums tally.

1985 – Madonna

Madonna sent lots of material to No. 1 in 1985: She scored her first Billboard 200 leader when Like a Virgin reached the top spot that February, after the set’s title cut ruled the Hot 100 for six weeks into January. She led the Hot 100 again with “Crazy for You” that May.

1984 – Lionel Richie

The title of Richie’s Can’t Slow Down album proved prophetic: The LP ranked in the Billboard 200’s top 10 each week in 1984, after it spent three weeks at No. 1 in December 1983.

1983 – Michael Jackson

Jackson’s opus Thriller started its 37-week Billboard 200 command in March 1983 – the longest in the list’s history for a set by a singular artist; overall, only the West Side Story soundtrack has spent more time at No. 1 (54 weeks, 1962-63). Thriller reigned at No. 1 on the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart in both 1983 and 1984.

1982 – The Go-Go’s

The quintet’s Beauty and the Beat topped the Billboard 200 for six weeks starting in March 1982. The set remains the only No. 1 in the survey’s history by an all-woman rock band. “Our manager, Ginger [Canzoneri], would tell us our number on the charts, and it was unbelievably exciting to listen to the number get higher and higher every week,” guitarist/backing vocalist Jane Wiedlin recalled to Billboard in 2011. “The week we went to No. 1, we were on tour opening for The Police, and they gave us champagne and congratulated us.”

1981 – REO Speedwagon

The rockers began a 15-week rule on the Billboard 200 in February 1981 with their LP Hi Infidelity – the No. 1 title for the year on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The set’s classic ballad “Keep on Loving You” crowned the Hot 100 that March.