Tom Breihan -THE NUMBER ONES: Twenty Chart Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music

When Tom Breihan launched his Stereogum column in early 2018, “The Number Ones”—a space in which he has been writing about every #1 hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, in chronological order—he figured he’d post capsule-size reviews for each song. But there was so
much more to uncover. The column has taken on a life of its own, sparking online debate and occasional death threats.
The Billboard Hot 100 began in 1958, and after four years of posting the column, Breihan is still in the early aughts. But readers no longer have to
wait for his brilliant synthesis of what the history of #1s has meant to music and our culture. In THE NUMBER ONES: Twenty Chart Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music (Hachette Books), Breihan writes about twenty pivotal #1s throughout chart history, revealing a remarkably fluid
and connected story of music that is as entertaining as it is enlightening.

THE NUMBER ONES features the greatest pop artists of all time, from the Brill Building songwriters
to the Beatles and the Beach Boys; from Motown to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Mariah Carey; and
from the digital revolution to the K-pop system. Breihan also ponders great artists who have never hit
the top spot, like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown. Breihan illuminates what makes
indelible ear candy across the decades—including dance crazes, recording innovations, television
phenomena, disco, AOR, MTV, rap, compact discs, mp3s, social media, memes, and much more—
leaving readers to wonder what could possibly happen next.

Tom Breihan is the senior editor at the music website Stereogum, where he writes "The Number Ones,"
a column where he reviews every #1 hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. He's written for Pitchfork,
the Village Voice, the AV Club, GQ, and the Ringer, among others. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia,
with his wife and kids. He is seven feet tall