Chart Beat Podcast: The Best of 2017, From Ed Sheeran to 'Despacito' & More

With "Shape of You," Sheeran scores a year-end first in the Hot 100's history.

Welcome to the Billboard Chart Beat Podcast, where each week co-hosts Gary Trust and Trevor Anderson, from the Billboard charts department, discuss why what's on the charts … is on the charts, while also looking at current chart action in a historical context for even greater insights.

This week, we look back on chart highlights from throughout 2017 and revisit a few of the podcast's guests this year who offered key insights about some of the year's biggest hits. We also analyze Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé's new No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Perfect," as the former continues his dominant 2017, while the latter makes a comeback atop the chart on par with Britney Spears' nearly a decade earlier.

As we celebrate the top Hot 100 hits of the year, John McMann, vp promotion for Atlantic Records, reflects on the label's latest successes with Sheeran, Bruno Mars and more; Jammin' Johnny Caride, one of the Bayside Boys, recalls how their remix of Los Del Rio's "Macarena" sparked the song's surge to No. 1 in 1996, and how Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" echoed the breakthrough this year, thanks to its Justin Bieber makeover; and Hit Songs Deconstructed's Dave and Yael Penn share the songwriting and production techniques that helped make Sam Hunt's a record-breaking country crossover smash and earn a year-end Hot 100 honor not achieved since 1981.

Plus, we wrap the podcast with a mega-mashup: the year-end Hot 100 chart, counted down from No. 100 all the way to No. 1 for 2017.

Enjoy the entire latest Chart Beat Podcast and check back for more upcoming episodes with artists, label executives, radio programmers and personalities, songwriters, producers and more. And, to receive every episode automatically in your inbox, subscribe to (and rate) the Billboard Chart Beat Podcast on iTunes!

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