The Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift each land two of the year’s top 10 hits as EDM Pop surges, the Great Recession bottoms out, Barack Obama becomes President and the King of Pop succumbs. Meanwhile, Gay marriage inflames the Culture Wars, Obama’s Beer Summit highlights racial profiling, Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift’s VMA speech to boost Beyoncé, and T.I. scores the first meme-wrought #1 with help from Rihanna in her first Rap record feature.

#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. Lady Gaga
2. Taylor Swift
3. Beyoncé

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

• TIE: Glee Cast (25)

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

• 28.9 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. T.I. feat. Rihanna – Live Your Life (October ’08, 6 wks)
2. Britney Spears – Womanizer (October ’08, 1 wk)
3. Beyonce – Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (December ’08, 4 wks)
4. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O’Donis – Just Dance (January, 3 wks)
5. Kelly Clarkson – My Life Would Suck Without You (February, 2 wks)
6. Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – Crack a Bottle (February, 1 wk)
7. Flo Rida – Right Round (February, 6 wks)
8. Lady Gaga – Poker Face (April, 1 wk)
9. Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow (April, 12 wks)
10. Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling (July, 14 wks)
11. Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne – Down (October, 2 wks)
12. Britney Spears – 3 (October, 1 wk)
13. Owl City – Fireflies (November, 2 wks)
14. Jason Derulo – Whatcha Say (November, 1 wk)