The
Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing
singles of the United States. Published by
Billboard magazine, the data are compiled by
Nielsen SoundScan based collectively on each single's weekly
physical sales and
airplay. In
2002, there were seven singles that topped the chart, the lowest number of singles to top the chart in a single year ever (if the two songs which peaked in 2001 are included, 2002 would have the second lowest number of chart-topping singles in a year, behind
2005). Although nine singles reached number one in fifty-two issues of the magazine in the calendar year, two songs began their peak position in 2001 and are thus excluded.