Portugal. The Man's smash holds the record with 20 weeks on top in 2017.
As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, we look at the best of the best: the smash hits that spent the most time at No. 1.
Only nine songs have spent at least 15 weeks atop the weekly survey, dating to the chart's Sept. 10, 1988 inception. Portugal. The Man's 2017 smash "Feel It Still" rules as the longest-leading No. 1 song, as the track spent 20 total weeks at the summit, besting Muse's "Madness" (19 weeks at No. 1 in 2012-13).
"Hearing the song on pop radio is weird," Portugal. The Man guitarist Eric Howk said on Billboard 's Chart Beat Podcast last year of "Feel," which crossed over to a three-week reign on the Pop Songs airplay chart. "If I hear it between Spoon and Kings of Leon on alternative radio, cool. But, when it's between Chance the Rapper and Ariana Grande, or JAY-Z and Demi Lovato … those are the weird ones.
"We're sort of grinning like the character in a Tarantino film that got away with it."
Notably, Muse holds the distinction of being the only act with multiple 15-week-plus No. 1s on Alternative Songs. Before "Madness," "Uprising" spent 17 weeks on top in 2009.
Marcy Playground became the first act to reach the 15-week milestone, with "Sex and Candy" in 1997-98.
In descending order, here are the longest-leading No. 1s in the 30-year history of the Alternative Songs chart.
Title, Artist, Weeks at No. 1, Date Reached No. 1
"Feel It Still," Portugal. The Man, 20 weeks, July 8, 2017
"Madness," Muse, 19 weeks, Oct. 13, 2012
"The Pretender," Foo Fighters, 18 weeks, Sept. 1, 2007
"Uprising," Muse, 17 weeks, Sept. 26, 2009
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Green Day, 16 weeks, Dec. 11, 2004
"It's Been Awhile," Staind, 16 weeks, April 28, 2001
"Scar Tissue," Red Hot Chili Peppers, 16 weeks, June 26, 1999
"What I've Done," Linkin Park, 15 weeks, April 21, 2007
"Sex and Candy," Marcy Playground, 15 weeks, Dec. 27, 1997