List of Billboard Adult Contemporary number ones of 2002
# List of Billboard Adult Contemporary number ones of 2002

Adult Contemporary is a chart published by Billboard ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 2002, nine different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from radio stations compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.

In the first issue of Billboard of the new year, the number one song was "Simple Things", a collaboration between pianist Jim Brickman and singer Rebecca Lynn Howard, which moved into the top spot that week. Unusually, despite going all the way to number one on the AC listing, the song did not enter Billboard's all-genre chart, the Hot 100, at all. Brickman, whose recordings mix pop and New-age music, has regularly placed songs on the AC chart since the 1990s, but "Valentine", which reached number 50 in 1997, is his only song ever to cross over to the Hot 100. After one week in the top spot, "Simple Things" was displaced by "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias, which spent eleven weeks at number one, adding to the four which it had accumulated at the end of 2001.

In the issue of Billboard dated March 30, Canadian singer Celine Dion, one of the most successful pop/AC acts of all time, reached number one with "A New Day Has Come", the lead single from her first album after a hiatus from the music business during which she gave birth to her first child. The song would go on to hold the top spot for 21 consecutive weeks, breaking the record for the highest total number of weeks atop the AC chart previously shared by "You'll Be in My Heart" by Phil Collins (1999) and Dion's own "Because You Loved Me" (1996), both of which spent 19 weeks at number one. Such lengthy spells in the top spot would become a feature of the AC chart in the 21st century: by 2019 a further eight songs had spent 20 or more weeks at number one. None of 2002's AC chart-toppers reached number one on the Hot 100; in the fall "Do It for Love" by Hall & Oates became the second song of the year to top the AC listing without entering the Hot 100 at all. The number one position on the Hot 100 was largely dominated in 2002 by R&B and hip-hop artists such as Ashanti and Nelly. The only act with more than one AC number one during the year was vocalist Josh Groban, who topped the chart for two weeks with "To Where You Are" in August and returned to the top spot in the final issue of Billboard of the year with his rendition of the 19th century Christmas song "O Holy Night".

## Chart history

Key :

| † | Indicates best-performing AC song of 2002 |
| - | - |
| Issue date | Title | Artist(s) |
| January 5 | "Simple Things" | Jim Brickman with Rebecca Lynn Howard |
| January 12 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| January 19 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| January 26 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| February 2 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| February 9 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| February 16 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| February 23 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| March 2 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| March 9 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| March 16 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| March 23 | "Hero" † | Enrique Iglesias |
| March 30 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| April 6 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| April 13 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| April 20 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| April 27 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| May 4 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| May 11 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| May 18 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| May 25 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| June 1 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| June 8 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| June 15 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| June 22 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| June 29 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| July 6 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| July 13 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| July 20 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| July 27 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| August 3 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| August 10 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| August 17 | "A New Day Has Come" | Celine Dion |
| August 24 | "To Where You Are" | Josh Groban |
| August 31 | "To Where You Are" | Josh Groban |
| September 7 | "Do It for Love" | Hall & Oates |
| September 14 | "Do It for Love" | Hall & Oates |
| September 21 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| September 28 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| October 5 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| October 12 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| October 19 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| October 26 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| November 2 | "A Thousand Miles" | Vanessa Carlton |
| November 9 | "Cry" | Faith Hill |
| November 16 | "Cry" | Faith Hill |
| November 23 | "Cry" | Faith Hill |
| November 30 | "Can't Stop Loving You" | Phil Collins |
| December 7 | "Cry" | Faith Hill |
| December 14 | "Cry" | Faith Hill |
| December 21 | "Cry" | Faith Hill |
| December 28 | "O Holy Night" | Josh Groban |
