List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1968

Here are the Billboard magazine Hot 100 number one hits of 1968.

Otis Redding became the first to have a #1 hit posthumously after his death in 1967 with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay".

Simon & Garfunkel scored a #1 hit in 1968 with "Mrs. Robinson".

Marvin Gaye scored his first #1 as a solo artist with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in 1968 and 1969.

That year, 10 acts hit number one for the first time, such as John Fred and His Playboy Band, The Lemon Pipers, Paul Mauriat, Otis Redding, Bobby Goldsboro, Archie Bell & the Drells, Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela, Jeannie C. Riley, and Marvin Gaye.

Otis Redding, after his death in late 1967, was the first artist to hit number one posthumously. The Beatles were the only group or artist to have more than one #1 song in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. Their song "Hey Jude" was the best-performing single in 1968, spending a total of nine consecutive weeks atop the chart and tying the record at the time for the most consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, set by "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith in 1960.^[1]

Chart history

Key

The yellow background indicates the #1 song on Billboard's 1968 Year-End Chart of Pop Singles.

No.	Issue date	Song	Artist(s)	Reference
195	January 6	"Hello, Goodbye"	The Beatles	[1]
	January 13			[2]
196	January 20	"Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)"	John Fred and His Playboy Band	[3]
	January 27			[4]
197	February 3	"Green Tambourine"	The Lemon Pipers	[5]
198	February 10	"Love is Blue"	Paul Mauriat	[6]
	February 17			[7]
	February 24			[8]
	March 2			[9]
	March 9			[10]
199	March 16	"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay"	Otis Redding	[11]
	March 23			[12]
	March 30			[13]
	April 6			[14]
200	April 13	"Honey"	Bobby Goldsboro	[15]
	April 20			[16]
	April 27			[17]
	May 4			[18]
	May 11			[19]
201	May 18	"Tighten Up"	Archie Bell & the Drells	[20]
	May 25			[21]
202	June 1	"Mrs. Robinson"	Simon & Garfunkel	[22]
	June 8			[23]
	June 15			[24]
203	June 22	"This Guy's in Love with You"	Herb Alpert	[25]
	June 29			[26]
	July 6			[27]
	July 13			[28]
204	July 20	"Grazing in the Grass"	Hugh Masekela	[29]
	July 27			[30]
205	August 3	"Hello, I Love You"	The Doors	[31]
	August 10			[32]
206	August 17	"People Got to Be Free"	The Rascals	[33]
	August 24			[34]
	August 31			[35]
	September 7			[36]
	September 14			[37]
207	September 21	"Harper Valley PTA"	Jeannie C. Riley	[38]
208	September 28	"Hey Jude"	The Beatles	[39]
	October 5			[40]
	October 12			[41]
	October 19			[42]
	October 26			[43]
	November 2			[44]
	November 9			[45]
	November 16			[46]
	November 23			[47]
209	November 30	"Love Child"	Diana Ross & the Supremes	[48]
	December 7			[49]
210	December 14	"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"	Marvin Gaye	[50]
	December 21			[51]
	December 28			[52]

Number-one artists

List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one

Position	Artist	Weeks at No. 1
1	The Beatles	11
2	Paul Mauriat	5
	Bobby Goldsboro
	The Rascals
5	Otis Redding	4
	Herb Alpert
7	Simon & Garfunkel	3
	Marvin Gaye
9	John Fred and His Playboy Band	2
	Archie Bell & the Drells
	Hugh Masekela
	The Doors
	Diana Ross & the Supremes
14	The Lemon Pipers	1
	Jeannie C. Riley

See also

• 1968 in music
• List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968
• List of Billboard number-one singles
• List of Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles in 1968
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from 1958 to 1969

Sources

• Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition (ISBN 0-8230-7677-6)
• Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2008, 12 Edition (ISBN 0-89820-180-2)
• Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (ISBN 0-89820-074-1)
• Additional information obtained can be verified within Billboard's online archive services and print editions of the magazine.