A History of Girl Groups at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100

HUNTR/X isn’t your average girl group — and not just because it has a fictional foundation. The trio are the animated stars of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, where the members lead double lives as both global pop sensations and demon slayers.

The group — Rumi, Mira and Zoey, whose music is voiced by real-life singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI — joins elite history this week (on the chart dated Aug. 16) by hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Golden.” After debuting in early July, the track has snowballed into a phenomenon, powered by gains across multiple metrics. It rises to the top with 31.7 million official streams (up 10%), 8.4 million radio audience impressions (up 71%) and 6,000 sold (up 35%) in the United States Aug. 1-7, according to Luminate.

Fictional or not, HUNTR/X now joins an exclusive club. The trio becomes the 23rd all-woman group in the Hot 100’s 67-year history to hit No. 1, and the first in nearly a quarter-century. The last time it happened was with Destiny’s Child in 2001, with “Bootylicious.” Even though that’s a long drought, girl groups have a deep history on the Hot 100, stretching back to a golden age in the 1960s, when acts like the Supremes and the Shirelles ruled.

As we look back on every Hot 100 No. 1 song by girl groups, it’s worth noting that some of these acts would likely shy away from calling themselves a “girl group” (with some preferring to be known simply as a band, especially if its members play instruments). There also isn’t one specific “girl group sound” — HUNTR/X and the Supremes don’t have much in common beyond having all-female lineups. So for this list, we’re counting all the No. 1s by all-female acts with at least three members. That rules out female-dominated but mixed-gender bands including Fleetwood Mac and Heart; male-female family groups such as the Staple Singers; and superstar one-offs by soloists, such as 2001’s “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Mya, P!nk and Lil’ Kim.

Before we get into it, other beloved such acts came close to reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100, but just missed the pinnacle. That’s a list that includes BLACKPINK, En Vogue, Fifth Harmony, TWICE and the Go-Go’s — the lattermost are the only all-woman rock band to ever ever top the Billboard 200 albums chart.

By the definition above, 44 songs by girl groups have reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. Let’s break them down by decade, starting with the era when girl groups largely defined pop music.