Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the "active rock" and "heritage rock" formats. The chart was launched in March 1981 as Rock Albums & Top Tracks. The name changed multiple times afterwards: first to Top Rock Tracks, then to Album Rock Tracks, and finally to its current Mainstream Rock in 1996. The first number-one song on this chart was "I Can't Stand It" by Eric Clapton on March 21, 1981.

History

The "Rock Albums & Top Tracks" charts were introduced in the issue of Billboard that the parent company published on March 21, 1981.[1] The 50-slot based and 60-slot based positional charts ranked airplay on album rock type radio stations in the United States.[2] Because album-oriented rock stations often focused on playing tracks from entire albums rather than specifically released singles, these charts were designed to measure the airplay of any and all tracks from an album, regardless of context. Rock Albums was a survey of the top albums on American rock radio, while Top Tracks listed the top individual songs being played. Mike Harrison of Billboard explained that when major artists release albums, more than one song from the album can become popular at the same time.[2] The first number-one song on the Top Tracks chart was "I Can't Stand It" by Eric Clapton. "I Can't Stand It" was from Clapton's album Another Ticket with its single having the track "Black Rose" on its alternate side.[2][3]

On September 15, 1984, the Rock Albums chart was discontinued and Top Tracks was renamed Top Rock Tracks.[1][4] It reduced from a 60-song tally to 50 songs on October 20, 1984,[1] following a major revamp to the magazine. Coinciding with an increase in its reporting panel of album rock stations in the United States, the name of the chart was changed again with the issue dated April 12, 1986, to Album Rock Tracks.[5]

On November 23, 1991, instead of reporting panels, Billboard changed its methodology of measuring airplay by using monitored airplay as provided by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems to compile many of its charts.[1] As a result, this data showed that many songs could spend months to over a year on the Album Rock Tracks chart. Billboard decided to drop to a 40-position chart on the week of June 27, 1992 (still its current format), and songs that fell out of the top 20 and after spending 20 weeks on the chart were moved to a new 10-position recurrent chart.[6][1]

To differentiate between classic and alternative album rock radio formats, Billboard changed the name of the chart to Mainstream Rock Tracks beginning with issue dated April 13, 1996.[1][7] The Mainstream Rock Tracks chart did not appear in the print edition of Billboard from its issue dated August 2, 2003,[8] being accessible only through the magazine's subscription-based website, Billboard.biz. In late 2013, the chart was reintroduced to its primary website and magazine.

When R&R ceased publication in June 2009, Billboard incorporated its rock charts, Active Rock and Heritage Rock into its own publication. The radio station reporters of the two charts combine to make up the Mainstream Rock chart.[9] In the United States, active rock stations concentrate on current hits over classic rock standards while heritage rock stations put a greater emphasis on classic rock with a few newer tracks mixed in.[10] The individual Active Rock and Heritage Rock components were discontinued by Billboard at the end of November 2013, due to a growing lack of difference between the two charts.[11]

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the chart, in June 2021, Billboard released two charts ranking the top songs and artists in the history of the chart. "Touch, Peel and Stand" by Days of the New was the number-one song on the Greatest of All Time Mainstream Rock Songs and Shinedown was named the number-one artist on the ranking of Greatest of All Time Mainstream Rock Artists.[12] The current number-one song on the chart is "Wake Up Calling" by Papa Roach.[13]

Chart achievements

Artists

Artists with the most number-one songs

These are the artists with the most songs that topped the Mainstream Rock chart.

Songs Artist References
22 Shinedown [14][15]
20 Three Days Grace [16]
17 Five Finger Death Punch [17]
15 Foo Fighters [18][19]
14 Metallica [20]
13 Van Halen [21][22]
Godsmack [23]
Disturbed [21][24]
Linkin Park [25]
Papa Roach [26]

Artists with the most charted songs

Bands who have scored the most charted songs on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Songs Artist Reference
51 U2 [27]
48 Pearl Jam [28]
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers [29]
47 Van Halen [30]
46 John Mellencamp [31]
44 Aerosmith [32]
43 Metallica [20]
42 Rush [33]
42 Foo Fighters [19]
41 Ozzy Osbourne [34]

Artists with the most top-ten songs

Songs Artist Reference
34 Foo Fighters [19]
Shinedown [14]
32 Five Finger Death Punch [17]
29 Godsmack [23]
Papa Roach [26]
28 Disturbed [24]
Metallica [20]
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers [35]
27 Three Days Grace [16]
26 Pearl Jam [28]
Seether [36]
Van Halen [35]

Acts who have reached number one in at least three decades

Four decades

Source:[20]

Metallica (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s)

Three decades

Source:[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]

AC/DC (1990s, 2000s, 2020s)
Aerosmith (1980s, 1990s, 2000s)
Alice in Chains (1990s, 2000s, 2010s)
Breaking Benjamin (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Chevelle (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Disturbed (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Foo Fighters (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Godsmack (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Green Day (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Linkin Park (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
The Offspring (1990s, 2010s, 2020s)
Ozzy Osbourne (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Papa Roach (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (1990s, 2000s, 2010s)
Seether (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Shinedown (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Staind (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Theory of a Deadman (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)
Three Days Grace (2000s, 2010s, 2020s)

Artists with the most consecutive number-one songs

Songs Artist Reference
13 Five Finger Death Punch [17]
8 Shinedown [14]
7 Disturbed [24]
5 Three Days Grace [16]

Artists with the most cumulative weeks at number one

Total cumulative weeks Artist Reference
105 Three Days Grace [16]
90 Shinedown [14]
70 Metallica
61 Foo Fighters
Disturbed
53 3 Doors Down [56]
51 Nickelback [57]
50 Seether [58]
47 Collective Soul [59]
Godsmack

Albums/Songs

Albums With the Most Weeks at #1

Albums whose singles have spent at least 15 weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Rock charts

Total cumulative weeks Album Year Weeks at #1 Singles Artist Reference
33 The Better Life 2000 9 "Kryptonite" 3 Doors Down [60]
21 "Loser" [61]
3 "Duck and Run" [62]
27 One-X 2006 7 "Animal I Have Become" Three Days Grace [63]
13 "Pain" [16]
7 "Never Too Late" [64]
26 Days of the New 1997 16 "Touch, Peel, and Stand" Days of the New [65]
10 "The Down Town" [66]
23 The Southern Harmony

and Musical Companion

1992 11 "Remedy" The Black Crowes [67]
2 "Sting Me" [68]
4 "Thorn in My Pride" [69]
6 "Hotel Illness" [70]
21 Human Clay 1999 17 "Higher" Creed [71]
4 "With Arms Wide Open"
Life Starts Now 2009 11 "Break" Three Days Grace [16]
5 "The Good Life" [72]
5 "World So Cold" [73]
20 Break the Cycle 2001 20 "It's Been Awhile" Staind [74]
Contraband 2004 11 "Fall to Pieces" Velvet Revolver [75]
9 "Slither"
19 Silver Side Up 2001 13 "How You Remind Me" Nickelback [76]
3 "Too Bad"
3 "Never Again"
18 Hail to the King 2013 11 "Hail to the King" Avenged Sevenfold [77]
7 "Shepherd of Fire"
17 Away From the Sun 2002 17 "When I'm Gone" 3 Doors Down [78]
When Legends Rise 2018 5 "Bulletproof" Godsmack [79]
5 "When Legends Rise" [80]
2 "Under Your Scars" [81]
5 "Unforgettable" [82]
American Idiot 2004 14 "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Green Day [83]
3 "Holiday"
Come Clean 2001 10 Blurry Puddle of Mudd [84]
6 "Drift and Die" [85]
1 "She Hates Me" [86]
The Sound of Madness 2008 10 "Second Chance" Shinedown [87]
3 "Sound of Madness"
1 "The Crow and the Butterfly"
3 "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)"
Purple 1994 2 "Vasoline" Stone Temple Pilots [88]
15 "Interstate Love Song" [89]
Achtung Baby 1991 12 "Mysterious Ways" U2 [90]
2 "One"
3 "Even Better than the Real Thing"
16 Black Gives Way to Blue 2009 8 "Check My Brain" Alice in Chains [91]
8 "Your Decision" [92]
Sonic Highways 2013 13 "Something from Nothing" Foo Fighters [19]
3 "Congregation"
72 Seasons 2023 11 "Lux Æterna" Metallica [93]
2 "72 Seasons"
1 "Too Far Gone?"
2 "Screaming Suicide"
Amaryllis 2012 12 "Bully" Shinedown [94]
4 "Unity"
15 Collective Soul 1995 9 "December" Collective Soul
4 "The World I Know"
2 "Where the River Flows"
Dosage 1999 15 "Heavy" [95]
Evolution 2018 8 "Are You Ready" Disturbed
3 "A Reason to Fight"
4 "No More"
Transit of Venus 2012 13 "Chalk Outline" Three Days Grace [16]
1 "The High Road" [96]
1 "Misery Loves My Company" [97]

Songs with the most weeks on the chart

These are the songs that have spent at least one year (52 weeks) on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Number of weeks Song Artist Reference
62 "So Cold" Breaking Benjamin [98]
56 "Cold" Crossfade [99]
"Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" Fuel [100]
55 "Headstrong" Trapt [101]
53 "Loser" 3 Doors Down [102]
"Awake" Godsmack [103]
52 "Wasteland" 10 Years [104]
"Paralyzer" Finger Eleven [105]
"Remedy" Seether [106]
"Life Is Beautiful" Sixx: A.M. [107]

Songs with ten or more weeks at number one

Number of weeks Song Artist Years Reference
21 "Loser" 3 Doors Down 2000–2001 [61]
20 "It's Been Awhile" Staind 2001 [74]
17 "Higher" Creed 1999–2000 [71]
"When I'm Gone" 3 Doors Down 2002–2003 [78]
16 "Touch, Peel and Stand" Days of the New 1997 [65]
15 "Interstate Love Song" Stone Temple Pilots 1994 [89]
"Heavy" Collective Soul 1999 [95]
14 "So Far Away" Staind 2003 [108]
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Green Day 2005 [83]
"Fake It" Seether 2007–2008 [109]
"Inside the Fire" Disturbed 2008 [110]
13 "Start Me Up" The Rolling Stones 1981 [111]
"How You Remind Me" Nickelback 2001 [76]
"Figured You Out" 2004 [112]
"Pain" Three Days Grace 2006–2007 [113]
"Chalk Outline" 2012 [16]
"Something from Nothing" Foo Fighters 2014–2015 [19]
12 "Mysterious Ways" U2 1991–1992 [90]
"Like a Stone" Audioslave 2003 [114]
"Save Me" Shinedown 2005–2006 [94]
"Dani California" Red Hot Chili Peppers 2006 [115]
"Face to the Floor" Chevelle 2011–2012 [116]
"Bully" Shinedown 2012 [117]
11 "Remedy" The Black Crowes 1992 [67]
"Turn the Page" Metallica 1999 [118]
"Fall to Pieces" Velvet Revolver 2004 [75]
"Break" Three Days Grace 2009–2010 [16]
"Hail to the King" Avenged Sevenfold 2013 [77]
"Lux Æterna" Metallica 2022–2023 [93]
10 "Lightning Crashes" Live 1995 [119]
"The Down Town" Days of the New 1998 [66]
"Scar Tissue" Red Hot Chili Peppers 1999 [120]
"Blurry" Puddle of Mudd 2002 [84]
"Second Chance" Shinedown 2008–2009 [87]
"Country Song" Seether 2011 [121]

See also

References

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