Jay-Z, Beyoncé Named to Billboard’s Top Songwriters of the 21st Century List
The Weeknd, Pharrell, Jermaine Dupri are all also featured on Billboard’s Top Songwriters list.
Jay-Z, Beyoncé at the "Mufasa: The Lion King" premiere at Dolby Theatre on December 09, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images.
Billboard is now celebrating The Top Songwriters of the 21st Century on the Hot 100; that is, the top 25 writers with the most No. 1 hits on the chart in the century’s first 25 years. Every writer on the ranking led the Hot 100 at least six times in the span from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 28, 2024, with the top eight talents each boasting double-digit No. 1 totals.
This year marks 25 years of the 21st century, and those years have featured 327 No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. Those hits are from nearly 1,000 credited songwriters (as well as more than 300 producers). Some of those songwriters are also superstar recording artists, while others have made their musical mark behind the scenes.
So far, numbers 11 through 25 have been revealed, and JAY-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Pharrell, Sean Garrett, Kanye West and others are featured.
Jay has six Hot 100 No. 1 records as a writer, and his longest-leading No. 1 as a writer was on Beyoncé’s “Baby Boy” with Sean Paul. The hit spent nine weeks at No. 1, beginning Oct. 4, 2003. Meanwhile, The Weeknd has seven No. 1s as a writer, with his longest-leading No. 1 as a writer being “The Hills,” which spent six weeks at No. 1, beginning Oct. 3, 2015.
Beyoncé, Max Martin and Taylor Swift are also indicated to be featured on the list, but their rankings have yet to be revealed.
The full list will be unveiled over the next few days.
