Top 100 Hits 1997: ^hot^

Around #50, the energy shifted. Mikey threw in a double-shot of the year's defining export: Boy Bands. Backstreet Boys "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" bled into *NSYNC’s tearjerker, "I Want You Back." The station’s transmitter hummed, sending the harmonized pleas of five guys in matching outfits across the frozen cornfields.

"It has to be Elton John," she yelled over the static. "I cried for three days after Diana died. That song... it’s the only thing that made sense." top 100 hits 1997

: A posthumous smash hit featuring Mase and Puff Daddy. It utilized a prominent sample of Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out" to celebrate Biggie Smalls' legacy. Around #50, the energy shifted

Mikey nodded solemnly. "Candle in the Wind 1997" was the elephant in the room. It was the juggernaut. It had sold millions in a matter of weeks. It was a song born of tragedy, a somber anchor in a year that had otherwise been defined by the Macarena and neon bubblegum. "It has to be Elton John," she yelled over the static

The defining musical narrative of 1997 was the commercial peak of Puff Daddy (Sean Combs) and his Bad Boy Records imprint. Following the tragic murder of The Notorious B.I.G. in March, the label processed collective grief directly through the pop charts.