This website contains an audio time sweep of all the rock and roll hits from 1955 through 2011 that reached number one on the Billboard rock and roll music charts and its numerous counterpart charts through July 1958, then solely on the Billboard Hot 100 charts thereafter. Samples are played of each number one hit, in chronological order, from January 1955 through December 2011. The plan is to update the time sweep at the end of each year so as to document the continuous trend changes in popular music.
If you aren’t familiar with the song titles or artists, just click on the appropiate wikilink below for the year of the song.
1955-1958 1959
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Make sure you have around three hours of spare time before you start, because once you click “play” it will be hard to break away, especially when you get to your favorite years. Also, depending on your internet connection speed, it may take a while for the file to upload, so be patient; good things come to those who wait! You may be missing the necessary plugins for the video, depending on your browser. If you need the Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox, click here. For the Safari plugin, click here. For the Google Chrome plugin, click here.
If you’re ready, just click the play button on the video player below and start groovin’!
Click here for standalone player
If for some reason the video player still doesn’t work, just click on the play button below for audio only. You’ll have to guess the year for the audio-only playback but that makes it more fun!