At 17th it's...

 

10 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

10 T.Rex (Ride A White Swan, Hot Love, Get It On (Bang A Gong), Jeepster, Telegram Sam, Metal Guru, Children Of The Revolution, Solid Gold East Action, 20th Century Boy, Megarex). That includes not exactly 9 singles in a row, as some took remixes or reissues to do it, but every single from 1970 Ride A White Swan through 20th Century Boy has topped my chart at some time.)

 

 

..and equal 15th:

 

11 NUMBER ONES:

 

11 The Human League (The Sound Of The Crowd, Open Your Heart, Don't You Want Me, Mirror Man, Keep Feelin' (Fascination), The Lebanon, Life On Your Own - 6 in a row - Human, Love Is All That Matters, Tell Me When, One Man In My Heart)

 

11 Texas/ Sharleen Spiteri/ Red Sky July (Say What You Want, Halo, Put Your Arms Around Me, Say What You Want/Insane, In Our Lifetime, Summer Son, Tell Me The Answer, When We Are Together, Inner Smile, Francoise, House Of Cards)

Texas is unpredictably high here. :o

 

Mandy Smith's cover of "Don't You Want Me" is my SOTY of 1989 year.

Texas is unpredictably high here. :o

 

Mandy Smith's cover of "Don't You Want Me" is my SOTY of 1989 year.

 

I love Texas and Sharleen - they are not edgy enough to get critical acclaim, but Sharleen is an amazing frontsperson, and a flawless singer. Plus, I have always loved (Blue-Eyed) Soul and they basically are soulrock at a time when that was popular and were peaking long after it had died as a genre, and theyve kept that flag flying for 34 years. :)

we're into big numbers here, 14th:

 

13 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

13 The Supremes/ Diana Ross (Baby Love, Come See About Me, Stop! In The Name Of Love, You Keep Me Hangin' On, My World Is Empty Without You, Reflections, Love Child, I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Stoned Love, I'm Still Waiting, Nathan Jones, Surrender) Motown's flagship pop group, Diana Ross stardom, solo survival without La Ross

and we're just outside the All-Time Top 10 acts at equal 11th...

 

14 NUMBER ONES:

 

14 Glen Campbell (By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Gentle On My Mind, Wichita Lineman, Galveston, Honey Come Back, It's Only Make Believe, Rhinestone Cowboy, Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), Walls, These Days, Ghost On The Canvas, There's No Me...Without You, I'm Not Gonna Miss You, Hold On Hope) From Jimmy Webb brilliance, session guitarist extraordinaire, vocal brilliance through to late life reinvention after alcoholism and latterly Alzheimers heartbreaking songs and tours of farewell)

 

14 David Bowie (Space Oddity, Life On Mars, Starman, John I'm Only Dancing, Golden Years, Heroes, Ashes To Ashes, Under Pressure, Let's Dance, China Girl, Modern Love, Dancing In The Street, Hallo Spaceboy, Hot Stuff) Glam legend, inventive from beginning to end, and an enormous influence on the development of popular music

 

14 Electric Light Orchestra (10538 Overture, Showdown, Evil Woman, Living Thing, Telephone Line, Mr. Blue Sky, Sweet Talking Woman, Don't Bring me Down, Confusion/Last Train To London, Xanadu, Hold On Tight, Twilight, The Way Life's Meant To Be, Calling America) orchestral rock legends, much maligned for decades, but Jeff Lynne, part-time Beatle, part-time Traveling Wilbury, producer, and member of The Move just kept on plugging away till music fashions came back around.

Kylie is much more successful here than in my chart.

 

Zero number ones from her glory SAW days ? :o :o I have six (I Should Be So Lucky, Got To Be Certain, Especially For You, Hand On Your Heart, Tears On My Pillow, Better The Devil You Know).

 

In 21st century (2000-2012) she had only one "GD" chart topper (Your Disco Needs You in 2001).

Kylie is much more successful here than in my chart.

 

Zero number ones from her glory SAW days ? :o :o I have six (I Should Be So Lucky, Got To Be Certain, Especially For You, Hand On Your Heart, Tears On My Pillow, Better The Devil You Know).

 

In 21st century (2000-2012) she had only one "GD" chart topper (Your Disco Needs You in 2001).

 

I liked Kylie when she started but I didnt see her having a long career, I just thought she was the latest disposable pop star with a couple of decent tracks (I Should Be So Lucky, Je Ne Sais, Tears On My Pillow, Hand On My Heart all went top 10 for me, and Especially For You hit top 3) but it wasnt till Better The Devil You Know that I started to change my mind, and then I saw her on the Light Years tour and she was fabulous and so was the album. If I'd been charting album tracks in 2000/1 Your Disco Needs You, Light Years might have topped my charts as well as Kids. My fave Kylie albums are Light Years and Aphrodite but all of them since 2000 are good, and a few are fab. :)

equal 9th, and it's a 60th birthday celebration of one of them:

 

15 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

15 George Michael/Wham!/ Band Aid (Careless Whisper, Do They Know It's Christmas, Last Christmas/Everything She Wants, I'm Your Man, A Different Corner, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), One More Try, Monkey, Praying For Time, Jesus To A Child, Fastlove, Spinning The Wheel, If I Told You That, Shoot The Dog, This Is How (We Want You To Get High) His heart was always in the right place, and his records weren't prolific, but they were perfectly formed.

 

15 The Bee Gees (Massachussets, Gotta Get A Message To You, I Started A Joke, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, How Deep Is Your Love, If I Can't Have You, Night Fever, Tragedy, You Win Again, Ordinary Lives, When He's Gone, Paying The Price Of Love, For Whom The Bell Tolls, How To Fall In Love Part 1, Alive) A career of many phases and genres, but underpinning it all a knack for a great melody and harmonies, and so prolific they gave away much of their greatest work as well as some great solo work.

7th equal, and also man of the moment at Glastonbury, the other a showgirl in Las Vegas...

16 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

16 Elton John/ Various Artists BBC (Border Song, Your Song, Rocket Man, Crocodile Rock, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Bennie And The Jets, Philadelphia Freedom, Pinball Wizard, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Are You Ready For Love, I'm Still Standing, Healing Hands, Sacrifice, Perfect Day, Sad, Hold Me Closer) The man, the movie, the Glasto legend (he did most of these), the current pop music fan who reputedly still does his own personal charts - but I like to think I hold the world record for that. Prove me wrong Elton! (55 years since my first one, and 52 years since I started them weekly, for the most part except for some rollovers when life gets in the way, and the end of 1973 was I stupidly thought I was too old to be doing charts at 15 years old. Happily as I hit 16 I rethought that and opined, "says who?! I'll do what I like!" And I have ever since.

 

16 Kylie Minogue (Put Yourself In My Place, Kids, Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Love At First Sight, Come Into My Life, I Believe In You, All The Lovers, Get Outta My Way, Aphrodite, Into The Blue, Still Feels Like The First Time, A Lifetime To Repair, Say Something, Last Chance, Padam Padam, Hold On To Now) 5-decade-spanning top 10 artist, in and out of fashion, the former-child-actor with an accidental pop career seized her opportunity with both hands and morphed into a long-term popdance princess with unexpected musical twists and rebirths throughout - and most of her actual number ones are missing from my list, and many of her key recordings also missed out - cos Kylie's made a career out of just missing out on number ones in the UK charts and mine.

and in 6th place it's an entry largely thanks to Robbie Williams, but I've expanded it to Gary and Mark's efforts too (but Robbie would still be at 6th anyway including those Take That songs he was on)...

 

19 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

19 Take That/Robbie Williams/Mark Owen (Pray, Back For Good, Angels, Let Me Entertain You, Millennium, Strong, Rock DJ, Kids, Supreme, Let Love Be Your Energy, Radio, She's Madonna, Bodies, The Flood, Be A Boy, Go Gentle, When You Know, Four Minute Warning, Immortal) Robbie & Guy were a songwriting team made for each other, Guy Chamber's musical knowhow and Robbie's unique way with words and showmanship second to none when it came to male rockpopstars, the last great popstar of that genre, there's been no-one since Robbie to fill his shoes.

TOP 5: Now up to equal 4th as of late 2024 with a classic Jackson 5 oldie getting to the top spot (Looking Through The Windows) and though there are group entries and duets included this is essentially due to the biggest male solo star of all-time (in my charts) oh and also the biggest album of all-time in Thriller.

 

21 NUMBER ONES:

 

21 The Jackson 5/ The Jacksons/ Michael Jackson (I Want You Back, I'll Be There, Ain't No Sunshine, Skywriter, One Day In Your Life, Show You The Way To Go, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Rock With You, Can You Feel It, Billie-Jean, Thriller, Somebody's Watching Me, Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man In The Mirror, Dirty Diana, Another Part Of Me, Liberian Girl, Scream, Earth Song) from kiddie teen sensations, the first black boy band to get that treatment, the awesomely precocious 11-year-old morphed into the number one male global superstar of the 80's, before disappearing up his own self-inflicted ivory tower of misery. That level of success for kids can screw you up, and does.

equal 4th place is reserved for the biggest female pop star of all-time - some might out-sell her, or have more number ones, but Ms Ciccione changed the game plan, invaded the Men's Club, took control and did whatever the eff she wanted and invented girl power long before that was a buzzword. Growing old gracefully was and is never going to an option, no matter how much everyone else thinks older white female popstars should just stay at home housekeeping, shopping and looking after the grandkids.

 

21 NUMBER ONES:

 

21 Madonna (Holiday, Papa Don't Preach, True Blue, Open Your Heart, La Isla Bonita, Who's That Girl, Express Yourself, Dear Jessie, Vogue, Rescue Me, Deeper And Deeper, Take A Bow, The Power Of Good-Bye, Beautiful Stranger, Don't Tell Me, Hung Up, Get Together, Jump, Four Minutes, Ghosttown, Medllin) She changed the music biz for pop - pre-madonna only men were global pop stars appealing to teen girls, for the most part, she made dancepop an acceptable way to a long-term career, collaborated with many partners, changed her image and genre at whim, staged mega-concerts showcasing her chameleon and reinventing talents, and was good at generating headlines whenever anyone tried to tell her what to do. She took control cos she had to.

so, the top 3 are all bands natch, with added-on solo and collabs - but what's the final order?

so, the top 3 are all bands natch, with added-on solo and collabs - but what's the final order?

 

With this clarification I think that Beatles is # 1 (with help from John, Paul, Wings and "My Sweet Lord"). I'm not very familiar with PSB discography, that's why I will put ABBA at # 2.

 

1. Beatles

2. ABBA

3. PSB

My # 1s numbers are more modest. It's not 100 % accurate, but ABBA is the potential leader with 15 songs at # 1.

 

Madonna had the insane start and got 10 number ones very fast, but for the last time she became # 1 in the end of 1996 year with "Don't Cry For Me Argentina".

 

# 1 songs for ABBA :

1. Ring Ring (1973)

2. Nina, Pretty Ballerina (1974)

3. Waterloo (1974)

4. Honey Honey (1974)

5. Hasta Manana (1974)

6. When I Kissed The Teacher (1976) [the official video was filmed]

7. Knowing Me, Knowing You (1977)

8. That's Me (1977) [the official video was filmed, single in Japan, b-side of "Dancing Queen" in other regions]

9. Angeleyes (1979)

10. I Have A Dream (1979)

11. The Winner Takes It All (1980)

12. Happy New Year

13. When All Is Said And Done (1982)

14. Head Over Heels (1982)

15. Thank You For The Music (1983)

 

# 1 songs for Madonna :

1. Burning Up (1983)

2. Holiday (1984)

3. Lucky Star (1984)

4. Borderline (1984)

5. Like A Virgin (1984)

6. Material Girl (1985)

7. Crazy For You (1985)

8. Angel (1985)

9. Dress You Up (1985)

10. Like A Prayer (1989)

11. Dear Jessie (1989)

12. You'll See (1995)

13. Don't Cry For Me Argentina (1996)

 

 

Edited June 30, 2024Jun 30 by Last Dreamer

With this clarification I think that Beatles is # 1 (with help from John, Paul, Wings and "My Sweet Lord"). I'm not very familiar with PSB discography, that's why I will put ABBA at # 2.

 

1. Beatles

2. ABBA

3. PSB

 

 

well one of those guesses is right - but back in the 70's and 80's I wasnt allowing album tracks in my charts of the time, so that might give a clue as old album tracks have only charted since 2000 really - so it was still a surprise to me too :lol:

My # 1s numbers are more modest. It's not 100 % accurate, but ABBA and Madonna are the potential leaders with 15 songs at # 1.

 

Madonna had the insane start and got 10 number ones very fast, but for the last time she became # 1 in the end of 1996 year with "Don't Cry For Me Argentina".

 

# 1 songs for ABBA :

1. Ring Ring (1973)

2. Nina, Pretty Ballerina (1974)

3. Waterloo (1974)

4. Honey Honey (1974)

5. Hasta Manana (1974)

6. When I Kissed The Teacher (1976) [the official video was filmed]

7. Knowing Me, Knowing You (1977)

8. That's Me (1977) [the official video was filmed, single in Japan, b-side of "Dancing Queen" in other regions]

9. Angeleyes (1979)

10. I Have A Dream (1979)

11. The Winner Takes It All (1980)

12. Happy New Year

13. When All Is Said And Done (1982)

14. Head Over Heels (1982)

15. Thank You For The Music (1983)

 

# 1 songs for Madonna :

1. Burning Up (1983)

2. Holiday (1984)

3. Lucky Star (1984)

4. Borderline (1984)

5. Like A Virgin (1984)

6. Material Girl (1985)

7. Crazy For You (1985)

8. Angel (1985)

9. Dress You Up (1985)

10. Like A Prayer (1989)

11. Dear Jessie (1989)

12. I'll Remember (1994) *

13. Secret (1994) *

14. You'll See (1995)

15. Don't Cry For Me Argentina (1996)

 

I will compile full 1994 charts in 2024 year, so Madonna may lose two number one hits.

 

Intersting to see we only agree on 2 Madonna number ones! Though Like A Prayer should have topped my chart (peaked at 2). Abba 10 of yours have topped my charts (and loads more to boot) so that's closer to my list :)

and in the bronze medal slot it's the timeless and ever-popular act that showed Eurovision can be a great route to global success and pop immortality 40 years after you stopped existing as a thing (for the most part)...

 

40 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

40 ABBA/Agnetha Falktskog

 

Waterloo

SOS

Mamma Mia

Fernando

Dancing Queen/That's Me

Money Money Money

Tiger

Knowing Me Knowing You

The Name Of The Game

Take A Chance On Me

Summer Night City

Thank You For The Music

Eagle

I'm A Marionette

Chiquitita

Does Your Mother Know/Kisses OF Fire

Voulez Vous/Angel Eyes

Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

I Have A Dream

If It Wasn't For The Nights

The Winner Takes It All

Super Trouper

The Way Old Friends Do/Happy New Year

Lay All Your Love On Me

One Of Us

When All Is Said And Done

Soldiers

The Visitors

Head Over Heels

The Day Before You Came

Under Attack

Should I Laugh Or Cry

Just Like That

I Still Have Faith In You

Don't Shut Me Down

Ode To Freedom

When You Danced With Me

Little Things

If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind

When You Really Loved Someone

 

With ABBA don;t really need superlatives and analysis as their career record speaks for them, immaculate pop perfection that appeals to new generations. Very little chart-topping outside the Abba brand, which is why they end up in 3rd place, their career was 8 years in the UK with a bonus Voyage comeback that no-one expected. Had I been charting album tracks while they were active it would be a bigger list but as it happens their run of official UK singles was unbroken from 1976 to 1983 as personal chart-toppers - or if you prefer through to the last single off Voyage which didn't top my chart - their final single broke the run. That is a consistency no other act has ever had, and that includes the top 2 acts on this list who just happen to have had consistency over time on their side.

 

 

runners-up? The most successful duo of all-time. Still working, still touring, still getting critical recognition, still fabulous, still great songwriters and producers who could have had many more on the list if I'd allowed the records they donated to other acts like Dusty Springfield, Liza Minelli and many more.

 

49 NUMBER ONES:

 

 

49 Pet Shop Boys/ Neil Tennant

 

West End Girls

Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

Suburbia

It's A Sin

What Have I Done (To Deserve This)

Always On My Mind

Heart

Domino Dancing

Left To My Own Devices

It's Alright

So Hard

Being Boring

Where The Streets Have No Name - Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Jealousy

Can You Forgive Her

Go West

I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing

Liberation

Yesterday When I Was Mad

Hallo Spaceboy

Before/ The Truck-Driver And His Mate/ Hit & Miss

Se A Vida Es (That's The Way Life Is)

Single

A Red Letter Day

I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Take It Anymore

Footsteps

You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk

Miracles

I Didn't Get Where I Am Today

I'm With Stupid

Numb

Integral

Girls Don't Cry

She's Madonna

Love Etc.

More Than A Dream

Did You See Me Coming?

All Over The World

A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi"

I Started A Joke

Love Is A Bourgeouis Construct

Thursday

The Pop Kids

Say It To Me

Burn

Dreamland

I Can Change (Brandon Flowers and yes Neil's on it uncredited)

Dancing Star

New London Boys

 

Other stuff; remixes for the great and the good, Electronic, album tracks that werent allowed in my charts (One More Chance for example), and songs given away to all and sundry like Eighth Wonder, Girls Aloud and more.