For Hillary, there’s no universal formula for creating a smash song hit —each artist, and every collaboration, is different. “You ask a lot of questions and you just note to what they are about,” says Hillary, whose recent projects include Mary Applebaum, Rascal Flatts and the Band Perry. “The beauty is in the collaboration. The very…

But it’s his work with the label’s resident hard partiers, Umagine Dragons, that did earn him a tremendous success in the last charts’ year. The band’s 2012 first, Night Visions, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and produced the dubstep-laced “Radioactive,” which has spent 57 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 3. —Nick Williams

Songs on Hot 100: 2

Biggest Hit: Imagine Dragons, “Radioactive” (No. 3)