Billboard Year-End

[1] This altered calendar allows for Billboard to calculate year-end charts and release them in time for its final print issue in the last week of December.

Due to this methodology, albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower than one would expect on a year-end tally, yet are ranked on the following year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two chart years.

[4] A chart covering the year 1945 based on "Honor Roll of Hits", where the same song by different artists were amalgamated into one, was published.

Starting in 1952, the release date was moved earlier to December the same year to provide disk jockeys with listings for their end-of-year programming.

And another example is from the 1979 year end where "My Sharona" by The Knack is the number one song of 1979, but lower than "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer in the all time chart.

The song was number one for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 starting in November 17, 1962, but it didn't make any of the two year-end charts.

The Beatles, Usher and Justin Bieber are the only three artists to hold the top-two positions of the Year-End Hot 100.