These data are associated with the research publication with the same title (Temporal characteristics and potential sources of black carbon in megacity Shanghai, China), published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. The dataset includes hourly and daily black carbon concentrations observed in Shanghai, China and their contribution from liquid fuel, biomass, and coal. The dataset also includes the source data used to produce figures (Figure 2 to Figure 7) in the article. See the associated article for details.