List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1959

The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States. In 1959, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations respectively,^[1] and 16 different singles spent time at number one.

Bobby Darin spent nine weeks at number one in 1959, the most by any act.

In the issue of Billboard dated January 5, the Chipmunks with David Seville were at number one with "The Chipmunk Song", the single's third week in the top spot.^[2] The single remained at number one for a further week before being displaced by "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by the Platters in the issue dated January 19. Not until 2019 would another Christmas song top the Hot 100,^[3] albeit for much of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s holiday-themed songs were excluded from the chart.^[4]

Every act to top the Hot 100 in 1959 did so for the first time since the chart was launched in August 1958.^[5] The Platters, Paul Anka, Elvis Presley, and Guy Mitchell had all achieved number ones on the separate sales, airplay, and jukebox play charts which Billboard had published prior to the creation of the consolidated Hot 100, as had Seville without the Chipmunks.^[6] The Fleetwoods and Frankie Avalon were the only acts to have two number ones in 1959, but neither act would top the Hot 100 again.^[7] Bobby Darin spent nine non-consecutive weeks at number one with "Mack the Knife", making it the year's longest-running number one and Darin the act with the most weeks in the top spot. At the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in November 1959, the song won the award for Record of the Year,^[8] but it would prove to be Darin's only number one on the Hot 100.^[9] In the first of its two spells atop the chart, "Mack the Knife" spent six weeks at number one, tying with "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton for the year's longest unbroken run in the peak position.

Chart history

Lloyd Price spent four weeks at number one with his version of the traditional song "Stagger Lee".

Frankie Avalon was one of only two acts to achieve two number ones in 1959.

Elvis Presley topped the chart with "A Big Hunk o' Love".

Key

†	Indicates the #1 song on Billboard's 1959 Year-End Chart of Pop Singles.

Chart history

No.[5]	Issue date	Title	Artist(s)	Ref.
8	January 5	"The Chipmunk Song"	The Chipmunks with David Seville	[2]
	January 12			[10]
9	January 19	"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"	The Platters	[11]
	January 26			[12]
	February 2			[13]
10	February 9	"Stagger Lee"	Lloyd Price	[14]
	February 16			[15]
	February 23			[16]
	March 2			[17]
11	March 9	"Venus"	Frankie Avalon	[18]
	March 16			[19]
	March 23			[20]
	March 30			[21]
	April 6			[22]
12	April 13	"Come Softly to Me"	The Fleetwoods	[23]
	April 20			[24]
	April 27			[25]
	May 4			[26]
13	May 11	"The Happy Organ"	Dave "Baby" Cortez	[27]
14	May 18	"Kansas City"	Wilbert Harrison	[28]
	May 25			[29]
15	June 1	"The Battle of New Orleans" †	Johnny Horton	[30]
	June 8			[31]
	June 15			[32]
	June 22			[33]
	June 29			[34]
	July 6			[35]
16	July 13	"Lonely Boy"	Paul Anka	[36]
	July 20			[37]
	July 27			[38]
	August 3			[39]
17	August 10	"A Big Hunk o' Love"	Elvis Presley	[40]
	August 17			[41]
18	August 24	"The Three Bells"	The Browns	[42]
	August 31			[43]
	September 7			[44]
	September 14			[45]
19	September 21	"Sleep Walk"	Santo & Johnny	[46]
	September 28			[47]
20	October 5	"Mack the Knife"	Bobby Darin	[48]
	October 12			[49]
	October 19			[50]
	October 26			[51]
	November 2			[52]
	November 9			[53]
21	November 16	"Mr. Blue"	The Fleetwoods	[54]
re	November 23	"Mack the Knife"	Bobby Darin	[55]
	November 30			[56]
	December 7			[57]
22	December 14	"Heartaches by the Number"	Guy Mitchell	[58]
	December 21			[59]
23	December 28	"Why"	Frankie Avalon	[60]

Number-one artists

List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one

Position	Artist	Weeks at No. 1
1	Bobby Darin	9
2	Johnny Horton	6
	Frankie Avalon
4	The Fleetwoods	5
5	Lloyd Price	4
	Paul Anka
	The Browns
8	The Platters	3
9	The Chipmunks with David Seville	2
	Wilbert Harrison
	Elvis Presley
	Santo & Johnny
	Guy Mitchell
14	Dave "Baby" Cortez	1

See also

• 1959 in music
• List of Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles in 1959
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from 1958 to 1969