These are just a few of the interesting features and facts about the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1997. It was a dynamic year for music, with various genres and artists making their mark on the chart!

According to the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1997, the top song of the year was:

Toni Braxton’s "Un-Break My Heart" is the quintessential 1997 slow jam—all key changes, tears in the rain, and a video with a military husband. It spent (a record for a solo female at the time). Meanwhile, En Vogue proved harmonies still sold, and Aaliyah, Monica, and Brandy were bubbling just below the top tier. This was R&B’s velvet-hammer era.

Where was rock? It had one foot out the door. No rock song cracked the year-end top 10. The highest? (a distant #21) and Sugar Ray’s "Fly" (#25). Radio was already switching to "smooth rock" (Hootie, Matchbox Twenty) or hip-hop. The guitar solo was on borrowed time.

The Macarena. It was released in 1995, re-released in 1996, and still peaked at #23 in 1997. Also, Hanson’s "MMMBop" at #20. We have no excuse.

1997 on the Hot 100 was the sound of the 1990s . It was a year of tribute songs, tragic deaths, and healing ballads, yet it also carried the seeds of the glossy, Max Martin-produced teen pop that would define 1999. If you want the true bridge between "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "...Baby One More Time," you won’t find a better map than this chart.

According to Billboard ’s composite year-end chart (combining sales, airplay, and longevity):

By the time 1997 rolled around, grunge was dead, gangsta rap was in its platinum-tinted golden age, and the music industry was making more money than ever on CD sales. But the Billboard Hot 100 told a different story than the albums chart. It was a slow-burn, heartbreak-heavy, sugar-rush year where , female R&B singers dominated , and a certain blonde-haired mouseketeer released her debut single just as the calendar turned.

– Puff Daddy and Faith Evans feat. 112 "Un-Break My Heart" – Toni Braxton "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" – Puff Daddy feat. Mase "I Believe I Can Fly" – R. Kelly "Don't Let Go (Love)" – En Vogue "Return of the Mack" – Mark Morrison