Santana’s “Smooth” Named the Top-Ranking Track of the First 20 Years of Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs Chart

Carlos Santana has smoothed his way into the history books…

The 68-year-old Mexican musician, considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, has the top-ranking track of the first 20 years of Billboard‘s Adult Pop Songs radio airplay chart.

Carlos Santana

Santana’s single “Smooth,” featuring Rob Thomas, is the ranking’s top all-time track, thanks largely to its record 25 weeks at No. 1 in 1999-2000.

The song placed as the second-biggest title of the Billboard Hot 100‘s first 57 years, as ranked in November 2015. Chubby Checker‘s iconic “The Twist” took the top spot.

The Nielsen Music-based Adult Pop Songs chart, measuring songs’ weekly plays on adult top 40, or hot AC, radio in the U.S., premiered in the Billboard magazine dated March 16, 1996.

The top all-time Adult Pop Songs titles and artists rankings are based on actual performance on the weekly Adult Pop Songs chart, from its launch through the survey dated March 12, 2016. Titles are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates over various periods. Artists are ranked based on the combined point totals, as outlined above, of all their Adult Pop Songs chart entries.)

Here’s a look at the top 10 songs on the Adult Pop Songs Greatest of All Time chart are:

1, “Smooth,” Santana featuring Rob Thomas
2, “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” Train
3, “Wherever You Will Go,” The Calling
4, “How to Save A Life,” The Fray
5, “Counting Stars,” OneRepublic
6, “Unwell,” Matchbox Twenty
7, “I’m Yours,” Jason Mraz
8, “You And Me,” Lifehouse
​9, “All For You,” Sister Hazel
10, “Hanging By A Moment,” Lifehouse