Henry Walter is his proper name but this Canadian Producer and writer knows how to write number 1’s. He’s been involved romantically with Ava Max for the better part of a decade so naturally helped out with “Sweet But Psycho” and recently increased his tally thanks to co-writing “Unholy”.

Shame he hasn't managed to write any more number 1s for Ava!

 

Ooh I didn't know that 'Out of Time' was originally a Stones song! I absolutely love the Chris Farlowe version. :wub:

Me too, it's such a tune :wub:

no argument about the Stones songbook, Out Of Time was a trio of hits in 1975. Nazereth's sadly late frontman dan McCafferty covered it and it got a lot of airplay and charted, which spurred a reissue of Chris Farlowe's version to chart and also a belated single from the Rolling Stones, so all 3 were competing for sales, result: 3 top 50 hits, but none of them went top 30.

 

Bruno Mars has done quite the number of classics too, but Marry You never topped sadly, love that one most of all.

No1 would be steve mac mostly because of westlife and ed sheeran

Perahps in the top 10 I vote Stock ,Aitken e Waterman

He’s only got 16 by my reckoning, which is less than the Beatles had on their own!

Can we avoid spoilers please

Really been too long since the last Bruno Mars #1, wish something from Silk Sonic could have got there but nothing really got close sadly. 'Leave The Door Open' #1 in the US though of course.

No 50- Matt Stock, Mike Aitken & Pete Waterman (7)- 19 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Respectable (1987)

• Never Gonna Give You Up (1987)

• I Should Be So Lucky (1988)

• Especially For You (1989)

• Too Many Broken Hearts (1989)

• Hand On Your Heart (1989)

• You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You (1989)

 

Vilified and loved in equal measure this trio dominated the pop charts from the mid to late 80s scoring over a hundred top 40 singles. Their domination extended to twice placing three singles in the top 5 in 1989 but their propensity to do charity records and cover versions means that, as writers, they are lower here than their output might suggest.

 

No 49- Ariana Grande (7)- 20 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Problem (2014)

• Bang Bang (2014)

• Thank U, Next (2018)

• 7 Rings (2019)

• Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored (2019)

• Rain On Me (2012)

• Positions (2020)

 

Very wisely getting a writing credit on all of her chart toppers has pushed Grande high up on this chart. Successfully moving from TV to music she has become one of the biggest artists in the charts over the last 5 years even becoming the first female solo act to replace themselves at No 1.

 

No 48- Pharrell Williams (7)- 21 weeks

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Flap Your Wings (2004)

• Get Lucky (2013)

• Blurred Lines (2013)

• Happy (2014)

• Sing (2014)

• Feels (2017)

• Havana (2017)

 

Another act who was EVERYWHERE for a bit- he started off with the production team The Neptunes in the early 90s and then also became lead singer in N.E.R.D. All of which were successful but his guest spot on Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” started a year when he was never off the radio.

 

SAW had some great moments, not necessarily chart-toppers - they had just the one chart-topper in my charts though (Children In Need) as writers. Pharrell has had just the one as well (Get Lucky). Ariana has topped my chart but it's a Weeknd song (Love Me Harder). So, all good, but I'd rate them a bit lower than many others that have already appeared. Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, chinn-chapman, hal david just for starters...

I'm glad Ariana has been highlighted here as I think her work behind the scenes is quite under-recognised, from writing to directions with vocal production/engineering, she seems really passionate in behind-the-scenes videos. However, I don't think her chart toppers are the best representation of her catalogue at all.

 

Since The Weeknd has been brought up:

 

@1520914216386932736

 

:lol:

 

~~~

 

The SAW sound is not my cup of tea despite being an 80s synth fan in general oops :kink:

 

I didn't know that Pharrell was involved with 'Havana' :o

I didn't know that Pharrell was involved with 'Havana' :o

 

Also provides backing vocals apparently. :dance:

The Neptunes' sound seems just as ubiquitous as if not moreso than Timbaland's so surprised again at Pharrell being so low!

Really thought SAW would be higher than that, although I suppose they were only a thing for a short (blissfully so) while. Pharrel as well!

 

 

Yeah I'm also surprised at how low SAW are, and even more surprised that they only wrote 7 number ones, but as the post says, they did have a bit of a penchant for cover versions. I remember once reading a stat that there was a 3 year period where they constantly had at least one song in the top 75 - that probably doesn't sound that impressive these days, but singles had a much shorter chart lifespan back then so that's quite some stat.

Edited December 4, 20222 yr by Mangø

No 47- Burt Bacharach (7)- 21 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Story Of My Life (1958)

• Magic Moments (1958)

• Tower Of Strength (1961)

• Anyone Who Had A Heart (1964)

• (There’s) Always Something To Remind Me (1964)

• Make It Easy On Yourself (1965)

• I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (1969)

 

Here’s the other half of Bacharach and David, separated by Bacharach’s involvement in “Tower Of Strength”. He got his break when he was serving in the army and met Vic Damone (himself a UK chart topper) which led to working together and after spell touring with Marlene Dietrich he decided to concentrate on song writing and became successful with his easy listening approach to music.

 

No 46- Stig Anderson (7)- 28 weeks

 

http://www.mtishows.co.uk/sites/default/files/profile/stig-anderson.jpg

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Waterloo (1974)

• Mama Mia (1976)

• Fernando (1976)

• Dancing Queen (1976)

• Knowing Me, Knowing You (1977)

• The Name Of The Game (1977)

• SOS (1992)

 

George Martin may be considered the “fifth Beatle” but in truth he never wrote any of their chart toppers, Anderson really was the “fifth member of ABBA” co-penning 7 of their No 1’s, managing the band, and co-producing the tracks as well as co-owning the record label. In truth he’d been a hugely successful song writer for much of the 60s in Sweden and in his management portfolio he acquired both male members of what would become ABBA so was in a prime position to help launch them as a global phenomenon.

 

No 45- Fred Gibson (7)- 33 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Solo (2018)

• Shotgun (2018)

• I Don’t Care (2019)

• Beautiful People (2019)

• Take Me Back To London (2019)

• Own It (2020)

• Bad Habits (2021)

 

When your family friend is Brian Eno that can help get you recognised! That’s how Gibson got his intro to the business and started writing with George Ezra, he now’s a major collaborator with Ed Sheeran hence he makes it onto this list, he’s also a popstar himself now under the name Fred Again who had a top 5 album just a month ago.

 

:o had no idea Fred Again was also a songwriter and involved in all those number ones!