A History of Disses at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, From ‘You’re So Vain’ to ‘Like That’ and ‘Not Like Us’

It has been a fiery start to 2024 atop the Billboard charts. Barely a month after Megan Thee Stallion’s incendiary “Hiss” rattled its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Like That” became the latest missive to burn up the chart — then was followed to No. 1 just a month and a half later by another Lamar scorcher, “Not Like Us.”

“Not Like Us” debuts atop the listing this week, with the highest single-week stream mark of 2024 thus far (70.9 million, according to Luminate) — thanks, in large part, to the social media cyclone kicked up over the six weeks following “Like That,” in which Kendrick Lamar and Drake (and briefly J. Cole) were sending volleys back and forth in their ongoing “Big Three” feud. “Not Like Us,” the third of three anti-Drake songs released the weekend of May 3-5, appears on its way to be the biggest of the bunch, as well as the likely death blow in the feud, with most observers deeming the beef decided in Lamar’s favor — a W certainly backed up by his songs’ dominance on the charts.

“Like That” and “Not Like Us” might very well set the new standard for virulence atop the Hot 100, but they’re far from the first diss tracks to lay claim to the chart’s apex. Going back to the ’70s, hit singles have blazed a path to No. 1 by scorching the earth below them, with their IRL lyrical targets ranging from industry rivals to dishonest politicians to (of course) scheming exes. Here is a quick history of disses — a distory, if you will — at the top of Billboard‘s signature songs chart.