The Number Ones

Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music

By: Tom Breihan

Narrated by: Ray Stoney

Beloved music critic Tom Breihan's fascinating narrative of the history of popular music through the lens of game-changing #1 singles from the Billboard Hot 100.

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 fans 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, 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 Numbers 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 listeners to wonder what could possibly happen next.

©2022 Tom Breihan (P)2022 Hachette Books

Critic reviews

“Tom Breihan’s The Number Ones is a glorious rabbit hole dive into the biggest hits in popular music, analyzing the very physics of how they became hits and taking a forensic look at what made them ‘pop.’ It’s massively enjoyable when you love the song in question, and perhaps even more so when you don’t. One of the most enjoyable books on pop to ever roar up the charts."—Edgar Wright

"Tom Breihan is an absolutely crucial chronicler of the hit parade, a madman scholar digging deep in the vaults. The Number Ones is a revelatory celebration of pop history in all its glorious weirdness, the way only Breihan could tell the tale. These are classic tunes that everybody knows, but Breihan brilliantly blows away the dust, and makes them sound fresh and new. A hell of a storyteller, and a hell of a T-Pain fan."—Rob Sheffield

A powerful read but some moments missing

I loved how informative the book was in regards to highlighting moments that changed pop history. I can’t help but notice the glaring non mention of Black Women who changed music other than Mariah Carey. Especially Whitney Houston who had 7 back to back #1 singles and is the most successful, selling Woman in music history. Many other Black artists and essential moments were missed as well. Overall, not terrible but a more full history should be told.

Twenty For Twenty

Twenty number ones and all had interesting backstories. No need for me to quibble about why something I might have picked didn’t make Breihan’s list, he made a great case for his picks and I enjoyed some new music I hadn’t appreciated before.

Excellent research and writing ruined by narration

Fascinating details and stories in every chapter but it is clear that the reader has no idea. I have never had a more clear distinction between someone telling a story and just reading some words.

Some of the worst reading I’ve heard on this app

The narrator is, to put it bluntly, bad at reading. I can overlook mispronunciation of proper names or specialized jargon, but this narrator consistently gets basic high school vocabulary words wrong. For example, “decried” becomes “decreed.” Kind of an important difference, no? He trips over punctuation or ignores it outright. Was someone producing the recording session? Did anyone listen before releasing this commercially? Tom Breihan is an excellent cultural historian, and he deserves a reader (and audiobook publisher) who can do justice to his writing.

Narrator very inept.

Was just reading the words (poorly). No sign of engagement with the story. Mispronounced “coup” as “coop” for example. Almost returned book it was so distracting. Story saved it.

An easy listening read that really pops

This book was a great tour through history—and through memories — which delivers something for everyone. I highly recommend it. Although it is light, you can hear the research and tinge of academia that went into. This is very apparent and much appreciated. Great read!

An Interesting book with a poor narration

Did anyone at Audible even listen to this narration? Tom Breihan (the author) deserves much better than this audiobook rendition.

Sonny Bono is pronounced as Bono, the lead singer of U2.

Terrible narration aside, the book is a fascinating, highly detailed journey through the history of pop music through the lens of twenty Billboard Hot 100 chart number one songs. Readers/listeners may disagree with the songs selected, but the author makes compelling arguments for the songs that he believes are most representative of the Billboard chart’s 60+ history and of pop music in general.

Worth the listen (better way to hear the songs?)

Perfect car listening, each chapter approximately 35 minutes, and easy to follow mix of musical analysis and gossip/trivia. If it was easier to create a playlist of the songs that would be discussed in each chapter, so it would be easier to coordinate this with iTunes, it would’ve been five stars.

I understand the people who are concerned by the narration, but on the other hand, it is fun to hear the passion of the author for this music. It really felt like a conversation at a bar with a friend, who really knows his music

Story was great but the narration was infuriating

I enjoyed the subject matter in this book. However, the terrible narration affected the overall experience for me.

Example One: The narrator butchered numerous words and names throughout the course of the story. It was apparent that the narrator didn't care about pronunciation and just slogged along, destroying everything in his path. Example: the word "PERSONA" was pronounced "PERSON A."

Example Two: The start and stop style of the narration was hard to take after a single chapter, let alone twenty-four chapters. Example: "The week that, the single, came out, it dropped, from number one, to, number seven."

Awesome book, good narration

I immensely enjoyed this and don’t unferstand the critique of the narration at all. To me it was engaging and precise. Very informative, eye-opening and insightful work of music history.