By the way it seems like Mel B didn't actually co-write her solo #1 I Want You Back. The credit notes on the CD single and her debut album don't include her as being a writer. So it seems somebody must have edited her Wikipedia to include false information.

By the way it seems like Mel B didn't actually co-write her solo #1 I Want You Back. The credit notes on the CD single and her debut album don't include her as being a writer. So it seems somebody must have edited her Wikipedia to include false information.

Thamks- That would push her down to No 19 joint with Victoria, and everyone else move up 1 place! :D

No 14- Bernie Taupin (13)- 25 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (1976)

• Sacrifice (1990)

• Healing Hands (1990)

• Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (1991)

• Candle In The Wind 97 (1997)

• Something About The Way You Look Tonight (1997)

• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (2002)

• Ghetto Gospel (2005)

• The Man (2014)

• We Built This City (2018)

• Rocket Man (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Kiss The Bride (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Where’s The Shoorah (2021) on “Cold Heart”

 

Most of the hits are, not surprisingly, written in tandem with Elton John after the pair met in the late 60s. They haven’t worked together exclusively with Taupin also having a hand in “We Built This City”, they’ve described their writing process as Taupin writes the lyrics then send them onto Elton who does the melody separately with the latter only hearing the finished article when it’s done.

 

No 13- Gary Barlow (13)- 28 weeks

 

 

Chart Toppers:

 

• Pray (1993)

• Babe (1993)

• Everything Changes (1994)

• Sure (1994)

• Back For Good (1995)

• Never Forget (1995)

• Forever Love (1996)

• Patience (2006)

• Shine (2007)

• Greatest Day (2008)

• Sing (2012)

• Candy (2012)

• These Days (2014)

 

In their first incarnation the group’s hits were (mainly) written by Barlow with the other boys only having “Sure” as a co-written affair. It has been less of a one man show since their return in 2006 with Barlow even helping out Robbie on “Candy”.

 

• Rocket Man (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Kiss The Bride (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Where’s The Shoorah (2021) on “Cold Heart”

It is not fair, and doesn't make any sense, to count these songs as three separate number ones. :wacko:

It is not fair, and doesn't make any sense, to count these songs as three separate number ones. :wacko:

It's not perfect I grant you but I had to set some rules. If three songs sampled were written by different people would you want each credited?

No 15- Melanie Chisholm (13)- 24 weeks

 

 

Chart Toppers:

 

• Wannabe (1996)

• Say You’ll be There (1996)

• 2 Become 1 (1996)

• Mama (1997)

• Who Do You Think You Are (1997)

• Spice Up Your Life (1997)

• Too Much (1997)

• Viva Forever (1998)

• Goodbye (1998)

• Never Be The Same Again (2000)

• I Turn To You (2000)

• Holler (2000)

• Let Love Lead The Way (2000)

 

Here’s the highest placed former Spice Girls as she’s the one who co-wrote the most chart toppers. She was also the only one to score a top 20 single post 2010- #relevance

 

 

 

Also the only artist in UK history to have a #1 as a solo, duet, quintet and quarter (plus however many there was on that charity single for Hillsborough)

Edited December 17, 20222 yr by spiceboy

Melanie C the highest ranked Spice as she should.

 

Had the best solo hits too.

Also the only artist in UK history to have a #1 as a solo, duet, quintet and quarter (plus however many there was on that charity single for Hillsborough)

Paul McCartney did that too (Get Back was as a quintet with Billy Preston), he also did it as a trio with Wings.

 

Paul McCartney did that too (Get Back was as a quintet with Billy Preston), he also did it as a trio with Wings.

 

Never knew that about Get back! Shall have to change it to only female artist lol.

The only artist in UK Singles history to have had 4 Number 1s as a member of a group and 4 solo Number 1s. (I was lucky enough to tell her that in a French bar - gracious lady.)

 

 

Not true. Robbie had 7 with Take That and 6 on his own. Cheryl Cole had 4 with Girls Aloud and 5 on her own. George Michael has 6 with Wham and 7 on his own (6 during his lifetime)...

 

EDIT: Apologies I read on afterwards and saw other peoples comments! PS Loving this thread so interesting!

Edited December 17, 20222 yr by spiceboy

It's not perfect I grant you but I had to set some rules. If three songs sampled were written by different people would you want each credited?

I don’t think it matters too much but I’d have classed it as one also, a minor quibble in the scheme of things though.

#nospoilers but I assume a certain EP is going to have all tracks individually counted?

No 12- Madonna (13)- 29 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Into The Groove (1985)

• Papa Don’t Preach (1986)

• True Blue (1986)

• La Isla Bonita (1987)

• Who’s That Girl (1987)

• Like A Prayer (1989)

• Vogue (1990)

• Love Won’t Wait (1997)

• Frozen (1998)

• Music (2000)

• Hung Up (2005)

• Sorry (2006)

• 4 Minutes (2008)

 

Of course she’s here and the top female on our list! Co-writing most of her chart toppers has meant she’s become very rich along the way and even a rejected track she’d written topped the charts for Gary Barlow in the 90s. Well she is the Queen of pop for a reason!

 

No 11- Calvin Harris (13)- 34 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Dance Wiv Me (2008)

• I’m Not Alone (2009)

• Holiday (2009)

• We Found Love (2011)

• Call My Name (2012)

• Sweet Nothing (2012)

• Under Control (2013)

• Summer (2014)

• I Will Never Let You Down (2014)

• Blame (2014)

• Feels (2017)

• One Kiss (2018)

• Promises (2018)

 

Harris is one of the most successful songwriters for a ten year period when his compositions ruled the charts. Through a wise choice of vocalists he’s managed to create quite a legacy and combining it with professional DJing has made him a millionaire long before he’ll hit 40.

 

Into the top 10 we go then!

 

No 10- Wayne Hector (14)- 19 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Flava (1996)

• Swear It Again (1999)-

• Flying Without Wings (1999)

• Queen Of My Heart (2001)

• World Of Our Own (2002)

• All This Time (2004)

• Beat Again (2009)

• Everybody In Love (2009)

• All Time Low (2010)

• Love You More (2010)

• Glad You Came (2011)

• Me And My Broken Heart (2014)

• Changing (2014)

• Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself (2015)

 

Hector started off in a flop band Rhythm N Bass in the early 90s before moving over to songwriting and writing his first top 10 single with Damage’s “Forever” in 96. He was a major contributor to early Westlife albums and then hooked up with boybands JLS and Wanted to increase his haul.

 

No 9- Dr Luke (14)- 25 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• About You Now (2007)

• I Kissed A Girl (2008)

• My Life Would Suck Without You (2009)

• Right Round (2009)

• California Gurls (2010)

• Dynamite (2010)

• We R Who We R (2011)

• Price Tag (2011)

• Good Feeling (2012)

• Domino (2012)

• Part Of Me (2012)

• Roar (2013)

• Wrecking Ball (2013)

• Timber (2015)

 

He started out as a guitarist on “Saturday Night Live”’s house band in the late 90s until a chance meeting with Max Martin saw him co-write Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”- his first hit. His strike rate of chart toppers in the early 10s was second to none though some damage was done in relation to law suits filed against him by Ke$ha which proved to be dismissed ultimately.

 

That's an impressive list of hits for Wayne Hector considering he's one of the lesser known of the big writers.

 

Whatever anyone thinks about Dr Luke as a person and whether Ke$ha's claims are true or not, you can't deny his ability to write a hit single. Looking forward to seeing where Max Martin ends up (don't think that's too much of a spoiler surely!)

 

 

No 8- Elton John (14)- 31 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (1976)

• Sacrifice (1990)

• Healing Hands (1990)

• Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (1991)

• Candle In The Wind 97 (1997)

• Something About The Way You Look Tonight (1997)

• Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (2002)

• Indian Summer (2005) on “Ghetto Gospel”

• I Don’t Feel Like Dancing (2006)

• The Man (2014)

• Rocket Man (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Kiss The Bride (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Where’s The Shoorah (2021) on “Cold Heart”

• Merry Christmas (2021)

 

 

Elton’s had an odd career really- his peak as a popstar (70s) only resulted in one chart topper, and even by the time 2000 came round he only had 3 No 1’s to show for a 25 year career. Then suddenly covering/ sampling Elton’s hits became quite the thing to do (perhaps he’s become a national treasure by that point?) helping Blue and 2pac to the top, but he’s shown he can still help pen a chart topper with Scissor Sisters and Ed Sheeran showing his relevance.

 

No 6- Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulveaus (15)- 46 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Waterloo (1974)

• Mamma Mia (1976)

• Fernando (1976)

• Dancing Queen (1976)

• Knowing Me, Knowing You (1977)

• Name Of The Game (1977)

• Take A Chance On Me (1978/1992)

• Winner Takes It All (1980)

• Super Trouper (1980)

• I Know Him So Well (1985)

• SOS (1992)

• Lay All Your Love On Me (1992)

• Voulez-Vous (1992)

• I Have A Dream (1999)

• Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight (2005) on (“Hung Up”)

 

Well you KNEW that these two would be top 10 didn’t you? The backbone of ABBA they penned all 9 of the groups chart toppers then moved onto musicals. Of the course the rehabilitation of their reputation in the early 90s thanks to “Murial’s Wedding” and “Priscilla” along with the Erasure covers meant they were back in vogue and by the late 90s musical and film “Mamma Mia” they have been revered ever since.