Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

is a chart published by '' Billboard'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

(AC) market. In 2009, seven different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

data from radio stations compiled by

Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...

. At the start of the year, the number one position was held by

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...

with her song " A Baby Changes Everything", retaining its position from the final chart of 2008. It held the top spot for a single week in 2009 before being replaced by

David Cook David Cook may refer to: Entertainment * David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR * David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol'' * David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...

's song " The Time of My Life". Cook's song, his "coronation single" after winning the previous year's season of ''American Idol'', had spent 11 weeks in the top spot in 2008 and thus finished with a total of 15 weeks at number one. Following Cook's run at number one, British band

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

topped the chart for a single week with "

Viva La Vida "Viva la Vida" (, ; ) is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their fourth album, ''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'' (2008). The lyrics to the song contain historical and Christian refe ...

", which won the

Grammy Award for Song of the Year The Grammy Award for Song of the Year is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. The Song of the Year award is one of the four most prestigious categories at t ...

at the

51st Annual Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

held on February 8. From mid-February on, only four songs topped the chart, spending 46 weeks between them at number one. In the issue of ''Billboard'' dated February 14,

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...

's song " I'm Yours" reached number one, beginning a run of 16 consecutive weeks in the top spot, the longest of the year. The song built airplay gradually across various radio formats, and finally topped the AC chart a full year after its initial release in February 2008. Despite holding the top spot for four months, "I'm Yours" remains Mraz's only song to reach number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. In June, teenage

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

replaced Mraz in the top spot with " Love Story", her first AC number one. The song was released in two different versions to country and pop radio, a pattern repeated later in the year with her single "

You Belong with Me "You Belong with Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her second studio album ''Fearless (Taylor Swift album), Fearless'' (2008). Swift wrote the song with Liz Rose and produced it with Nathan Chapman (record prod ...

", which also topped the AC chart. Following Swift's six-week run at number one, another teenage vocalist took the top spot as

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip ho ...

' " The Climb" began a run of 15 consecutive weeks atop the chart. Taken from the soundtrack of '' Hannah Montana: The Movie'', in which she starred, "The Climb" is Cyrus' only song to date to reach number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Cyrus' run at number one ended in the issue of ''Billboard'' dated October 31, when Swift returned to the top spot with "You Belong with Me", making her the only artist to achieve two AC number ones in 2009. Swift's song held the number one position for the remainder of the year.

Chart history

Miley Cyrus Wonder World concert at Auburn Hills 07

References

{{Adult Contemporary Chart 2009 Number-one adult contemporary singles United States Adult Contemporary

Chart history

See also

References