thumb|right|upright=1.4|[[Otis Redding, who had died the previous year, topped the chart with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", the first time an artist had achieved a posthumous number one.]]
The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published since August 1958 by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States. In 1968, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations respectively. During the year, 16 singles spent time at number one.
In the year's first issue of Billboard, the Beatles were at number one with "Hello, Goodbye", retaining the position from the final chart of 1967. Redding, who had died in an airplane crash in December 1967, was the first artist to achieve a number one posthumously when "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" reached the top spot three months later.
Goldsboro's "Honey" was a triple Billboard chart-topper, also reaching number one on both the Hot Country Singles and Easy Listening charts; despite this success, it was the only top 10 entry he achieved on the Hot 100. Four more acts gained their first Hot 100 number ones during the second half of the year: Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela, Jeannie C. Riley, and Marvin Gaye. Alpert had topped Billboards Easy Listening chart several times but never previously reached number one on the Hot 100. Similarly, Gaye had achieved four previous number ones on the magazine's R&B chart, but "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was his first single to achieve sufficient pop crossover to top the Hot 100. It is one of several of 1968's number ones to have been ranked among the greatest pop songs ever released; in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Hey Jude" at number 8, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" at number 28, and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" at number 80 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Chart history
thumb|right|upright|alt=The band The Beatles|[[The Beatles were the only act with two number ones during 1968.]]
thumb|right|upright|[[Simon & Garfunkel scored a number one in 1968 with "Mrs. Robinson".|alt=Singers Simon & Garfunkel]]
thumb|right|upright|[[Marvin Gaye scored his first number one with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".|alt=Singer Marvin Gaye]]
thumb|right|upright|alt=Musician Herb Alpert|[[Herb Alpert had his first chart-topper with "This Guy's in Love with You".]]
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+
!scope=col|
! scope="col" |Issue date
! scope="col" |Title
! scope="col" |Artist(s)
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=2|195
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="2"|"Hello, Goodbye"
|align="center" rowspan="2"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=2|196
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="2"|"Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)"
|align="center" rowspan="2"| and his Playboy Band
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center|197
!scope=row|
|align="center"|"Green Tambourine"
|align="center"|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=5|198
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="5"|"Love is Blue"
|align="center" rowspan="5"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=4|199
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="4"|""
|align="center" rowspan="4"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=5|200
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="5"|"Honey"
|align="center" rowspan="5"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=2|201
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="2"|"Tighten Up"
|align="center" rowspan="2"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=3|202
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="3"|"Mrs. Robinson"
|align="center" rowspan="3"|Simon & Garfunkel
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=4|203
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="4"|"This Guy's in Love with You"
|align="center" rowspan="4"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=2|204
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="2"|"Grazing in the Grass"
|align="center" rowspan="2"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=2|205
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="2"|"Hello, I Love You"
|align="center" rowspan="2"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=5|206
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="5"|"People Got to Be Free"
|align="center" rowspan="5"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center|207
!scope=row|
|align="center"|"Harper Valley PTA"
|align="center"|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=9|208
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="9"|"Hey Jude"
|align="center" rowspan="9"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=2|209
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="2"|"Love Child"
|align="center" rowspan="2"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
| bgcolor=#EDEAE0 align=center rowspan=3|210
!scope=row|
|align="center" rowspan="3"|"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
|align="center" rowspan="3"|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
!scope=row|
|align="center"|
|-
|}
Notes
Number-one artists
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+ List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one
|-
!scope="col"| Weeks at No. 1
!scope="col"| Artist
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center"| 11
| The Beatles
|-
! scope="rowgroup" style="text-align:center" rowspan=3| 5
| Paul Mauriat
|-
| Bobby Goldsboro
|-
| The Rascals
|-
! scope="rowgroup" style="text-align:center" rowspan=2| 4
| Otis Redding
|-
| Herb Alpert
|-
! scope="rowgroup" style="text-align:center" rowspan=2| 3
| Simon & Garfunkel
|-
| Marvin Gaye
|-
! scope="rowgroup" style="text-align:center" rowspan=5| 2
|John Fred and his Playboy Band
|-
| Archie Bell & the Drells
|-
| Hugh Masekela
|-
| The Doors
|-
| Diana Ross & the Supremes
|-
! scope="rowgroup" style="text-align:center" rowspan=2| 1
| The Lemon Pipers
|-
| Jeannie C. Riley
|}
See also
- 1968 in music
- List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968
- List of Billboard number-one singles
- List of Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles in 1968
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from 1958 to 1969