From hit to legend: Who has dominated Billboard's two biggest charts?

Since BTS burst onto the scene, landing on the Billboard charts may seem routine — but the reality is far more demanding. Reaching the top of Billboard's main charts remains one of the most coveted achievements in any artist's career.

According to Billboard, the two flagship charts are the Billboard 200 for albums and the Hot 100 for singles. The Hot 100 measures mass appeal and the pulse of popular culture, while the Billboard 200 reflects the deep purchasing power of a devoted fandom. Topping both charts signals a "complete artist" — one who commands both a loyal fan base and broad mainstream appeal.

Pop legends' reign: The Beatles, Swift and Drake lead the all-time list

The all-time leader in combined No. 1s across both charts is the Beatles — the vanguard of the British Invasion that swept America.

The Beatles claimed the top spot 20 times on the Hot 100 and 19 times on the Billboard 200, for a combined total of 39 No. 1s. The record-setting run began the moment the group arrived in the United States in 1964, and it laid the foundation for the modern pop music industry.

Today, solo artists have inherited the throne. Taylor Swift ranks second all-time with 30 combined No. 1s — 15 on the Billboard 200 and 15 on the Hot 100 — cementing her status as the greatest active artist in the market. No female artist in history has reached double-digit No. 1s on both charts.

Madonna, the 'Queen of Pop,' faces a lawsuit [Yonhap]

Drake follows close behind in third place with 29 combined No. 1s — 15 on the Billboard 200 and 14 on the Hot 100.

Mariah Carey ranks fourth with 25 combined chart-toppers. Her 19 No. 1s on the Hot 100 stand as the most by any solo artist in the chart's history, while she has topped the Billboard 200 six times.

Madonna has accumulated 22 combined No. 1s — 12 on the Hot 100 and 10 on the Billboard 200. With her recent album "Confessions II," she became only the fourth artist in history to reach double-digit No. 1s on both charts.

The names rounding out the top 10 are equally formidable. Michael Jackson sits sixth with 19 combined No. 1s — six on the Billboard 200 and 13 on the Hot 100. He sent landmark albums such as "Thriller" and "Bad," along with mega-hit singles including "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," to the top of the charts across multiple decades.

Jay-Z, who elevated hip-hop to the center of the mainstream music market, follows with 18 combined No. 1s — 14 on the Billboard 200 and four on the Hot 100. His Billboard 200 tally ties the solo-artist record and proved that hip-hop artists could outsell pop and rock acts on the album chart.

Janet Jackson rounds out the group with 17 combined No. 1s — seven on the Billboard 200 and 10 on the Hot 100 — placing her alongside her brother Michael as the most successful sibling act in pop history.

Paul McCartney, who built a singular musical legacy beyond the Beatles, topped the charts 17 combined times — eight on the Billboard 200 and nine on the Hot 100 — counting his work with Wings and his solo career. Add his 39 No. 1s with the Beatles and the cumulative total reaches a staggering 56, a figure that leaves little room for debate: some say he is in effect the greatest musician in Billboard history.

Rock-and-roll pioneer Elvis Presley and rock standard-bearers the Rolling Stones each also recorded 17 combined No. 1s. Given that Presley built much of his career before the Hot 100 launched in 1958, his tally carries a historical weight that transcends the raw numbers.

K-pop's milestone: BTS and Stray Kids rewrite the record books

Korean K-pop artists have cracked — and begun to reshape — a chart landscape long dominated by Western acts.

BTS's combined total of 12 No. 1s — six on the Billboard 200 and six on the Hot 100 — stands as a global phenomenon that transcended barriers of language and race. BTS remains the only non-English-language act in pop history to reach double-digit No. 1s across both of Billboard's main charts.

On the album chart, Stray Kids has carried that dominance forward. Starting with "ODDINARY," their first Billboard 200 entry after their debut, the group has now topped the Billboard 200 eight consecutive times — an unprecedented streak.

"Where the pop market was once the exclusive domain of major labels that controlled English-language radio and physical retail networks, what BTS and Stray Kids have achieved shows how global digital streaming combined with powerful fandom networks can shift the balance of power in the market," an industry insider said.

shee@heraldcorp.com