Hip-Hop’s last year of chart dominance until the late ’10s is also a year of epic female chart debuts like Katy Perry, Adele, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Top Rappers T.I. and Lil Wayne face jail time on serious drug and weapons charges while Hip-Hop culture proves that it’s upstream of politics by turning out the vote and helping elect “the Hip-Hop President,” Barack Obama.

#1 Song of the Year   The top song according to our Chartcrush ranking of all Hot100 songs that earned the majority of their chart ranking points in the year

Artists of the Year   The top three artists based on all charted songs during the calendar year

1. Rihanna
2. Lil Wayne
3. Chris Brown

Artist with Most Charting Songs   Artist(s) with the most Hot100 charting songs during the year (song count in parentheses)

• TIE: Taylor Swift/David Cook (11)

Average #1 Artist Age   The average of how old artists who scored #1 Hot100 hits during the year were when their songs first reached #1

• 27.1 years

#1 Songs   List of Hot100 #1 songs that earned the majority of their chart ranking points in the year, and (in parentheses), the month the song first hit #1 and the total number of weeks it was #1

1. Alicia Keys – No One (December ’07, 5 wks)
2. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain – Low (January, 10 wks)
3. Usher feat. Young Jeezy – Love in This Club (March, 3 wks)
4. Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love (April, 4 wks)
5. Mariah Carey – Touch My Body (April, 2 wks)
6. Lil Wayne feat. Static Major – Lollipop (May, 5 wks)
7. Rihanna – Take a Bow (May, 1 wk)
8. Coldplay – Viva la Vida (June, 1 wk)
9. Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl (July, 7 wks)
10. Rihanna – Disturbia (August, 2 wks)
11. T.I. – Whatever You Like (September, 7 wks)
12. Pink – So What (September, 1 wk)