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There's no shame in peaking in the runner-up spot. The Beatles, the GOAT of pop groups, did it three times.
8/11/2026
American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, UK, 7th April 1970; they are John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook, and Doug Clifford. (Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Getty Images
By now you’ve hopefully had a chance to dip into Billboard’s latest megalist: The 100 Best Hot 100 No. 2 Hits, a subjective ranking of the editorial staff’s favorites drawn from a master list of the more than 540 singles that have peaked in the runner-up spot on the Billboard Hot 100 since the chart was introduced in August 1958.
There’s an old saying in the music business that the worst positions to peak at are No. 2, No. 6, No. 11 and No. 41. An artist came so close and just missed out on the greater glory of a No. 1, top five, top 10 or top 40 hit. After all, nobody ever talks about how many top 41 hits an artist had.
Just missing out on a No. 1 hit must be especially disappointing. But one look at The 100 Best Hot 100 No. 2 Hits, studded as it is with hits you doubtless know and love, will convince you that there’s no shame in being in this company.
The Beatles, the GOAT of pop groups, stalled at No. 2 three times – with “Twist and Shout,” “Do You Want to Know a Secret” and “Yellow Submarine.” And The Beatles are hardly alone in this: Of the 13 acts with 10 or more No. 1 singles on the Hot 100, fully 12 have gotten stuck at No. 2 at least once.
Here are 15 amazing facts and feats about No. 2 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Act with the most singles that peaked at No. 2: Drake
Image Credit: Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images Drake has peaked in the runner-up slot with 13 singles, including six strictly solo hits: “Best I Ever Had,” “Hotline Bling,” “Nonstop,” “Search & Rescue,” “Nokia” and “What Did I Miss?.”
Drake has also peaked at No. 2 with seven collabs: “Life Is Good” (a Future hit on which he was featured); “Rich Flex” (a collab with 21 Savage); “Ran to Atlanta” (feat. Future & Molly Santana); “Wants and Needs” and “Girls Want Girls” (both feat. Lil Baby); “Laugh Now Cry Later” (feat. Lil Durk); and “IDGAF” (feat. Yeat).
Note: Drake also reached No. 2 as a member of Young Money feat. Lloyd with “BedRock” in 2010, but he wasn’t individually credited on that one.
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Act with the most No. 2 hits without ever landing a No. 1: Creedence Clearwater Revival
The John Fogerty-led group peaked in the runner-up spot with five singles – “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising” and “Green River” (all 1969); and two double-listed hits, “Travelin’ Band” / “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” / “Long As I Can See the Light” (both 1970).
Those five No. 2 hits give CCR another key distinction: Group with the most singles that peaked at No. 2.
Though the band never landed a No. 1 single, the sting was eased by the fact that they landed two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 – Green River (four weeks on top in 1969) and Cosmo’s Factory (nine weeks on top in 1970).
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Female artist with the most singles that peaked at No. 2: Taylor Swift
Image Credit: John Nacion/Variety Swift has peaked in the runner-up spot with 10 singles, including seven strictly solo hits (no billed collaborations): “You Belong With Me,” “Today Was a Fairytale,” “I Knew You Were Trouble.,” You Need to Calm Down,” “Lavender Haze,” “Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]” and “Down Bad.”
No one else has ever peaked at No. 2 with seven strictly solo singles.
Swift has also peaked at No. 2 with three collabs: “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” (a collab with Zayn); “Me!” (feat. Brendon Urie) and “Karma” (feat. Ice Spice).
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Duo with the most singles that peaked at No. 2: Carpenters
Image Credit: Getty Images Karen and Richard reached the runner-up spot with five singles from 1970-73: “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” the double-listed “Superstar” / “Bless the Beasts and Children,” “Hurting Each Other” and “Yesterday Once More.”
“(They Long to Be) Close to You,” the sibling duo’s single immediately preceding “We’ve Only Just Begun,” reached No. 1, as did “Top of the World,” their single immediately following “Yesterday Once More.”
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First single to log five weeks at No. 2 without hitting No. 1: Elvis Presley’s “Return to Sender”
The smash from Elvis’ movie Girls! Girls! Girls! spent five weeks in the runner-up spot in November and December 1962, all of them behind The 4 Seasons’ “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” That was the Seasons’ second consecutive single to top the chart for five weeks, following “Sherry.” The red-hot group was only out of top spot for four weeks in between those two career-launching smashes. The King had met his match.
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First single to log six weeks at No. 2 without hitting No. 1: The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie”
The risqué rock smash spent six nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2 in December 1963 and January 1964. It spent two weeks behind The Singing Nun’s “Dominque,” then dropped to No. 3 for a week, then rallied for four more weeks at No. 2 behind Bobby Vinton’s “There! I’ve Said It Again.” The latter hit was Vinton’s second No. 1 in a row, following “Blue Velvet.”
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First single to log seven, eight, nine and 10 weeks at No. 2 without hitting No. 1: Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You”
Foreigner’s ballad logged nine consecutive weeks at No. 2 from November 1981 to January 1982 behind Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical.” When that provocative (for its time) smash finally vacated the No. 1 spot, after 10 weeks on top, “Waiting for a Girl Like You” held on for a 10th week at No. 2 behind Daryl Hall & John Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).” That was the duo’s second consecutive No. 1 hit, following “Private Eyes” (which was the No. 1 song immediately preceding “Physical”).
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Only other single to log 10 weeks at No. 2 without hitting No. 1: Missy Elliott’s “Work It”
Image Credit: John Salangsang/PMC “Work It” logged 10 weeks at No. 2 from November 2002 to January 2003, all of them behind the same hit: Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” which logged 12 weeks on top and famously became the first hip-hop song to win an Oscar for best original song. That allowed “Work It” to set a record as the single with the most weeks at No. 2 behind the same record.
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Most weeks at No. 2 before finally reaching No. 1: Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
Image Credit: Getty Images for Billboard Both songs logged nine weeks in the runner-up spot before finally ascending to the top spot. “Bad Guy” logged nine weeks at No. 2 behind Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Old Town Road” before it finally reached No. 1 in August 2019.
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” spent nine weeks at No. 2 between 2019 and 2023 behind another holiday juggernaut, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” before it finally reached No. 1 in December 2023.
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No. 1 hits that kept the most songs from reaching No. 1: Hits by Percy Faith, Bryan Adams and Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus
Image Credit: Getty Images Three long-running No. 1 hits each kept five songs from reaching No. 1. The first two were both movie songs that were popularized by Canadian artists. (What are the odds?)
Percy Faith and His Orchestra’s “The Theme From A Summer Place,” which was No. 1 for a then-record nine weeks in 1960, blocked Jimmy Jones’ “Handy Man,” Jim Reeves’ “He’ll Have To Go,” Bobby Rydell’s “Wild One,” Paul Anka’s “Puppy Love” and The Brothers Four’s “Greenfields.”
Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), which was No. 1 forseven weeks in 1991, blocked Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now,” Rythm Syndicate’s “P.A.S.S.I.O.N.,” Amy Grant’s “Every Heartbeat,” Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over” and Roxette’s “Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave).”
Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road,” which was No. 1 for a then-record 19 weeks in 2019, blocked two Taylor Swift hits – “Me!” (feat. Brendon Urie) and “You Need to Calm Down” — as well as Post Malone’s “Wow.,” Shawn Mendes’ “If I Can’t Have You” and Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s “I Don’t Care.”
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First single to peak at No. 2 behind three different No. 1 hits: Wings’ “Live and Let Die”
Image Credit: Photo by Central Press/Getty Images The James Bond theme spent three consecutive weeks at No. 2 in August 1973 behind a different No. 1 hit each week: Maureen McGovern’s “The Morning After,” Diana Ross’ “Touch Me in the Morning” and Stories’ “Brother Louie.”
Incidentally, that was the second time in her career that Ross kept McCartney out of the No. 1 spot. The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” blocked The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” in September 1966.
“Live and Let Die” was Wings’ follow-up to the No. 1 smash “My Love.” If the Oscar-nominated song had climbed one rung higher, it would have marked the first time an ex-Beatle reached No. 1 with back-to-back single releases. Instead, Ringo Starr achieved that distinction in January 1974 when “You’re Sixteen” followed “Photograph” to the top spot.
10cc’s 1975 soft rock smash “I’m Not in Love” was the second single to peak at No. 2 behind three different No. 1 hits – also in three consecutive weeks: Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony’s “The Hustle,” Eagles’ “One of These Nights” and Bee Gees’ “Jive Talkin.’”
Two subsequent singles have peaked at No. 2 behind three different No. 1 hits, but over a longer period of time: “Smack That” by Akon featuring Eminem in 2006 and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” in 2023.
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Acts with the most No. 2 hits in a calendar year: Blood Sweat & Tears and CCR
Both groups landed three No. 2 hits in 1969. BS&T scored with “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” (three weeks at No. 2 in April), ”Spinning Wheel” (three weeks in July) and “And When I Die” (one week in November). CCR scored with “Proud Mary” (three weeks in March), “Bad Moon Rising” (one week in June) and “Green River” (one week in September).
CCR’s No. 2 hits from 1969 were pulled from two different albums, Bayou Country and Green River. But all three of BS&T’s No. 2 hits were from the same album: Blood, Sweat & Tears, which topped the Billboard 200 for seven nonconsecutive weeks and went on to win the Grammy for album of the year.
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Act with the most No. 1 hits without ever peaking at No. 2: Bruno Mars
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images The superstar has amassed 10 No. 1 hits, and has yet to just miss the top spot by peaking in the runner-up slot.
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Songs that peaked at No. 2 for two different artists: “Rock-in Robin” and “Last Kiss”
Bobby Day’s recording of the Leon Rene bop peaked at No. 2 for two weeks in October 1958. Michael Jackson’s remake of the song, stylized “Rockin’ Robin,” peaked at No. 2 for two weeks in April 1972.
J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers’ tragedy ballad “Last Kiss” peaked at No. 2 in November 1964. Pearl Jam’s remake of the hit also reached No. 2 in June 1999.
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Song titles that reached No. 2 twice but with different songs: “Fire,” “Cherish” and “Loverboy”
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s “Fire” reached No. 2 in October 1968. The Pointer Sisters’ version of the Bruce Springsteen-penned “Fire” spent two weeks at No. 2 in February/March 1979.
Kool & the Gang’s “Cherish” spent three weeks at No. 2 in September/October 1985. Madonna’s different song by that title spent two weeks at No. 2 in October 1989.
Billy Ocean’s “Lover Boy” reached No. 2 in February 1985. Mariah Carey’s differently stylized, Cameo-featuring “Loverboy” reached No. 2 in 2001.
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