And the Number One Song of 2024 Is

    I have no idea.  Really.  Last week's election was easier to figure out than this. [By the way, I have purposely tried not to find out if this number one song has been announced yet.  You may have heard about it by now, but I haven't.  So, I could be right or very wrong in my prediction.] This is coming from someone who has monitored the charts since grade school. Traditionally, Billboard has been determining the year-end charts based on a year from late November/early December.  Last year, the chart-year ended in late October/early November.  I don't know if that is happening this year or not, so I have to hedge my guesses appropriately.  The year-end charts are compiled from the weekly charts.  Each week, a song is ranked according to a combination of airplay and sales, across a number of sources.  Songs are then awarded an inverse number of points, with the number one song getting the most points and the bottom song, in this case #100, gets the least points.  For the year-end charts, these weekly charts are combined, sometimes with other predetermined metrics for bonuses.  When I first started watching the charts, songs that were still going up at the end of the year were bumped over to the next year's year-end chart, while songs going down were included in the current year's chart, with its final weeks estimated.  Later, a song's history could be spread over multiple years, if it bridged the time between them, but only for its original run.  Now, a song can be on multiple year-end charts if it keeps coming back, such as a holiday song around Christmas.  Typically, the number one song of the year is based either on quality or quantity.  A song that spends multiple weeks at number one gets the most possible points per week. This year, that song is "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozie. It has spent over three months at number one this year, possibly over four months based on how the chart-year is determined. The song has just returned to number one, and it could stay there until the holiday songs start to be played non-stop. On the other hand, a song that stays a very long time on the charts can also end up being the top song of the year, regardless of whether it ever made it to number one, just by accumulating so many points per week.  This year, that song is "Lose Control" by Teddy Swims.  It entered the charts last August, [The reason why the song is not eligible for any Grammys this year.  It was released before the eligibility period.] and is still on the charts this week.  The song entered the top ten in January, spent a week at number one in March, and has been in the top ten ever since, save for one week in May when the latest Taylor Swift album came out and took over the entire top ten.  That is an entire year on the chart, most of it in the top ten.  "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" didn't even hit the top ten until the week after Swift's debut, and it didn't get to number one until July, where it has been all but two week's ever since.  In case of close ties, the song with the longer chart run usually wins out over the song with the most weeks at the top, but it could go either way.  I probably won't have time to tabulate my own guess for another week or two, or longer, before I can confirm this either way.  Personally, I'm going for Swims as the number one for the year, but I'll admit that I could be wrong.  Also, "Lose Control" has been on the chart for so long, that it is preventing the follow-up, "The Door," from getting the attention that it deserves.  What can I say? I just prefer the more up-tempo song.