The shortest number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 is "Stay" by Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs, clocking in at just 1 minute and 37 seconds (or 1:36 by some counts), reaching the top spot in November 1960. It remains the shortest song to ever hit #1 in the U.S., despite its brief runtime, telling a complete story and becoming a classic doo-wop hit.
#1) Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs — Stay
With an official runtime of 1 minute and 36 seconds, Stay is widely recognized as the shortest single ever to top the Billboard Hot 100. It reached the #1 spot on the Hot 100 on November 21, 1960.
On 3 May 2025, the 34-second movie hit “Steve's Lava Chicken”, by actor, comedian and musician Jack Black (USA, b. Thomas Black), debuted at No. 78 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
🎙ONE HIT WONDERS 📻" Stay" - Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs- [ Album- The Best Of Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs, 1960 ]-Running just 1:38, this is an incredibly compact song, and the shortest ever US #1 hit on the Hot 100. Despite it's brevity, it still tells a story and contains a bridge.
Longest and shortest songs to reach number one
"What Do You Want?" by Adam Faith at 1 minute 35 seconds (1959) is the shortest.
Fun fact: The world's shortest song, 'You Suffer' by Napalm Death, is only 1.316 seconds long!
The song, titled "You Suffer" by the band Napalm Death, holds the Guinness World Record for the shortest recorded song. #music #funfact.
Jack Black's “Minecraft Movie” meme jam “Steve's Lava Chicken” has become the shortest song to ever enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Steve's Lava Chicken,' which clocks in at a mere 34 seconds, debuted at No. 78 on the Hot 100. The song also reached No.
5 minute songs
Progression of most weeks at number one
The current record holder is "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey at 22 weeks, and the longest record held is "One Sweet Day" by Carey and Boyz II Men with 8,554 days. Ref.
So, a short song is anything up to around 2 minutes and 30 seconds, before it gets close to an average length. On many streaming services, a song won't earn revenue unless it is 30 seconds or longer, so we can define that as the minimum length you want for a short song too.
It's a question that has rung out across dancefloors for more than 20 years. The answer, for The Killers' Mr Brightside, lies in breaking chart records... if not actually topping the charts.
Super Fast Music Fact, the song “You Suffer” by Napalm Death is the shortest song ever. It is only 1.3 seconds long.
The best songs under 2 minutes
There's no single "number 1 saddest song" as it's subjective, but R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" often tops polls due to its universal message of despair and solidarity, while other contenders include Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U", Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven", Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," and Nirvana's "Something in the Way," often cited for their deep emotional impact and poignant lyrics.
4′33″ is a modernist composition by American experimental composer John Cage. It was composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments; the score instructs performers not to play their instruments throughout the three movements.
"I Look In People's Windows" — 2:12 #2. "Now That We Don't Talk" — 2:27 #3. "Glitch" — 2:29 #4.
The Guinness World Records named the holiday single "White Christmas" (1942) by Bing Crosby as the best-selling single worldwide. According to Guinness, "White Christmas" sold over 50 million copies. The single is known as the "best-selling single of all time".
The Things They Did for Me Out of Love, by Yeule. The Things They Did for Me Out of Love is an ambient track released in 2021 between Yeule's first and second albums, collaborating with the producer Danny L. Harle. This is the longest single track on Spotify, clocking in at four hours and forty-four minutes.
Napalm Death – "You Suffer" (1.316 seconds)
Napalm Death's grindcore masterpiece holds the Guinness World Record for shortest song ever recorded, and the entire lyrical content is just four words: "You suffer, but why?"
This goal length dates back to vinyl records when artists hoped to have at least 3 minutes of material to fill out a 45 rpm disc, also known as a “single.” As explained by Vox, singles were cheaper to create and cheaper to buy, so artists were incentivized to adhere to the rule.
'Shri Ramcharitmanas' lasts a whopping 138 hours, 41 minutes and 20 seconds. The song is based on the Ramayana, an epic of Hindu poetry in the Awadhi language composed by the 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas.