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Who would you consider is the biggest act not to have had a UK number one single? 126 members have voted

  1. 1. Vote for up to three artists

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Poll closed on 19/06/26 at 22:59

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15 minutes ago, Steve201 said:

Would it be reasonable or unreasonable to say Mr Brightside is the biggest song of this century in terms of impact, streams over the length of time since release and cultural impact?

Unfortunately, very reasonable indeed.

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  • Ongarboy
    Ongarboy

    I think the posts here and in the other thread are very revealing as to the demographic of the posters..including myself. I guess I am too old to understand that Avril was considered huge by a certain

  • jimwatts
    jimwatts

    Alicia Keys is another I thought of, not big enough for the top 3 artists in this poll, but she has peaked at every position from #2 to #9.

  • GreyAsh
    GreyAsh

    The one who surprises me here is Janet Jackson. I’ve never thought of her as being that big (in the UK). And unlike, say Tina Turner, I rarely hear Janet Jackson songs played these days, or referred

I feel like Avril Lavigne is a big act amongst like 25-40 year-olds. Someone like Amy Winehouse for example crossed over amongst different generations more so I would say that counts as bigger.

3 hours ago, gooddelta said:

I went Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Bon Jovi I considered but don't feel like they are as influential as the three above to me?

Not sure about The Killers, remove Mr Brightside and I wouldn't have even thought about them as a contender above about 20 others on here. They only have four or five iconic songs, as good as they are.

I feel very similar about Amy Winehouse, the same way you have spoken about The Killers here (to which I also agree with)! I really don't think she was ever expected to have a number 1 single to me? I think if you went up to casual people in the street and listed all her songs and asked them their thoughts on where they thought she would have peaked... I don't know if any of her songs would have been "THAT WASN'T A NUMBER 1??!"

Yeah i cant really place any of Amy's songs where I instantly go that should of been a number 1, Back to Black is her biggest but I wouldnt instantly go wow that wasn't number 1

I think the posts here and in the other thread are very revealing as to the demographic of the posters..including myself. I guess I am too old to understand that Avril was considered huge by a certain generation..I just assumed she was another grungy chick of the 00s with a few hits...popular but not stratospherically so. I probably could only recall Complicated from her and never viewed that as a surefire #1 type song either

To say "You Make My Dreams" is what most people only know Hall & Oates by suggests someone who only grew up in the streaming era as that song only emerged as a streaming hit in the last few years. Ask anyone who remembers H&O from the 80s and 90s, they'd definitely not cite that song and pick half a dozen other hits before it. Like Janet, I think they were bigger in America than over here so its not totally absurd that they didn't have a #1 here in my opinion.

I picked Bon Jovi for the survey but Bruce and Tina were a close second as their success transcends at least 3 or 4 decades of many hits that I believe most can recognise as bona fide "hits"!

god bless Amy’s soul, but she was only a serious chart concern for one album.

Dylan, Springsteen and Marley for me.

1 hour ago, Ongarboy said:

To say "You Make My Dreams" is what most people only know Hall & Oates by suggests someone who only grew up in the streaming era as that song only emerged as a streaming hit in the last few years. Ask anyone who remembers H&O from the 80s and 90s, they'd definitely not cite that song and pick half a dozen other hits before it. Like Janet, I think they were bigger in America than over here so its not totally absurd that they didn't have a #1 here in my opinion.

It feels like Hall & Oates were bigger UK radio acts than sales in the 80s, Kiss On My List and Private Eyes were both very well known songs at the time but both missed the top 30

You Make My Dreams Come True though was not one of their big UK airplay tracks, I don’t think I’d ever heard of it until it was used on an ad (McDonalds?) in the 2010s and then US-based playlists got it more repeat plays

54 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Tina turner

Bon Jovi

Bruce Springsteen

3 legends that I was genuinely surprised to find out had never had #1s. 🤯

Snap. Although I knew none of them had Number 1s.

11 minutes ago, chartjack2 said:

ofc all these acts have fewer #1s than James Corden!

It’s a shame his version of ‘Only You’ didn’t make a Number 1.

3 hours ago, Uls2000 said:

It feels like Hall & Oates were bigger UK radio acts than sales in the 80s, Kiss On My List and Private Eyes were both very well known songs at the time but both missed the top 30

You Make My Dreams Come True though was not one of their big UK airplay tracks, I don’t think I’d ever heard of it until it was used on an ad (McDonalds?) in the 2010s and then US-based playlists got it more repeat plays

I remember when I first started going out in like 2010 there was an 80s bar and one of their go-to's was 'You Make My Dreams'. While I know other songs by them, I've never really heard them on radio at all (I didn't realise 'Maneater' was by them, and mostly recall that from some films). I was born in 1990!

Maybe 'You Make My Dreams' felt bigger to me because I was hearing it out, I dunno. I assumed it was just one of those 'Summer of 69' type non-charting but widely expected to be a #1 type songs 🤣

I’m not sure which of Tina Turner’s songs I’d have expected to get to #1… maybe River Deep at a push but not convinced any of her others sound like #1s

I feel the same about the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, I don’t really see any of their individual songs as being huge enough in the UK to think they would have been #1s, even though they clearly had longevity and are critically acclaimed etc

32 minutes ago, dandy* said:

I’m not sure which of Tina Turner’s songs I’d have expected to get to #1… maybe River Deep at a push but not convinced any of her others sound like #1s

I feel the same about the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, I don’t really see any of their individual songs as being huge enough in the UK to think they would have been #1s, even though they clearly had longevity and are critically acclaimed etc

I feel like all of these artists have songs that sound like number ones - Bruce has Born To Run and Dancing In The Dark, Bob has Blowing In The Wind and Like A Rolling Stone and I'd actually say Tina's most number-one-sounding songs are The Best and Proud Mary.

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1 hour ago, dandy* said:

I’m not sure which of Tina Turner’s songs I’d have expected to get to #1… maybe River Deep at a push but not convinced any of her others sound like #1s

'The Best' surely sounds like a massive 80s number one, no?

37 minutes ago, WhoOdyssey said:

and Captain Tom Moore!

Tbf his felt like a sympathy number 1 for all his charity work during covid god bless RIP

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