Looks like we have a very clear top 5!

3 hours ago, Mangø said:

Looks like we have a very clear top 5!

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 to as classics. In fact, of the top 5 artists, Janet is probably the one I hear the least.

I do think her biggest song (regardless of peak) is Together Again.

With her being in the press lately due to the Harry tour I just realised that Shania Twain hasn’t had a mention. Many of the Come on Over tracks feel like they crossed over generations and are very well known!

56 minutes ago, Jordanlee1402 said:

With her being in the press lately due to the Harry tour I just realised that Shania Twain hasn’t had a mention. Many of the Come on Over tracks feel like they crossed over generations and are very well known!

For me, the thing about Shania is she only really had one big album. She was mentioned in the previous thread. Tina Turner and Bon Jovi, for example, had several big albums and singles in different periods of their careers.

Having seen her live though she clearly does have a big following and is an amazing performer.

8 hours ago, GreyAsh said:

For me, the thing about Shania is she only really had one big album. She was mentioned in the previous thread. Tina Turner and Bon Jovi, for example, had several big albums and singles in different periods of their careers.

In that respect though, so does Amy!

4 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:

In that respect though, so does Amy!

Kind of agree - find it strange that The Killers were dismissed by many in this for essentially being 'one hit wonders', when they've had more Top 10 hits than Amy.

I can see the argument that Amy had more cultural impact, but in terms of the singles chart she only had three particularly sizeable hits.

On 11/06/2026 at 13:20, 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

You must be listening to different songs to me then 😂

The best by Tina Turner screams #1 and is better than many that actually were, What's love got to do with it, We don't need another hero then as you mentioned River Deep Mountain High. and of course Rolling on the river!

I'd say Bruce's Dancing in the dark sounds like a massive #1 hit too it has a similar vibe / feel to Sex on fire to me. I'd also say Born to run, Thunder road and Born in the USA sound like they could have been #1s.

I agree with Bob Dylan but that's mainly because he sounds shite. 😂

Edited Tuesday at 21:424 days by Spiceboy

I think Janet deserves the points she’s been picking up in this poll. Although nowhere near as big in the UK as she was in the US but she was still a massive deal in the 80s and 90s especially.

Thats the way love goes, the best things in life are free, together again, let’s wait a while, when I think of you, runaway, again are all tunes. And I absolutely love the whole of the Rhythm Nation 1814 album - really overlooked in this country.

One name not mentioned on here so far are Tears for Fears. I’m sure many of the general public would assume at least one of everybody want to rule the world, shout, mad world, head over heels, etc. made number 1.

Gone for Avril, Green Day and Tina Turner.

Big arguments can be made for Bruce and The Killers too.

11 hours ago, Jessie Where said:

In that respect though, so does Amy!

I agree - that’s why I wouldn’t vote for Amy here. The album was great - but I wouldn’t put her the same bracket as some of the other acts for that reason.

7 hours ago, StoneDragon said:

Thats the way love goes, the best things in life are free, together again, let’s wait a while, when I think of you, runaway, again are all tunes

Yes. I still don’t feel she’s as big as, say, Bon Jovi, but I feel she is bigger than I remember. And yes - though it wasn’t her biggest hit - ‘Again’ is my favourite.

14 hours ago, StoneDragon said:

One name not mentioned on here so far are Tears for Fears. I’m sure many of the general public would assume at least one of everybody want to rule the world, shout, mad world, head over heels, etc. made number 1.

Tears For Fears don't feel in the same league as the others to me. Also I'm not sure I've ever knowingly heard 'Head Over Heels', let alone be surprised that it didn't reach #1!

7 hours ago, GreyAsh said:

And yes - though it wasn’t her biggest hit - ‘Again’ is my favourite.

Unsurprisingly 'Again' is also my favourite Janet Jackson song, it's so beautiful it doesn't feel like a #1 in the same way that some of her others do but yeah it's stunning!

In my opinion if you're an obvious singles act with several Top 10's but no number 1 in your heyday then you're probably not big enough to have a number 1.

Of the Top 5 in this poll I think Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi have the best case because neither are obvious singles acts but have sold lots of albums and played lots of stadiums. Back to my school days in the early 90s plenty of people had the "Keep The Faith" album but I don't recall anyone buying the singles. Also their older albums at the time were arguably better known than the singles. Many of us knew they had the album "7800° Fahrenheit" and that didn't have any Top 40 hits on it.

Tina Turner has a case at a stretch, she's big enough to have her own West End musical for example and had quite a few well known songs. My main reservation is that Tina Turner the solo artist and Ike & Tina Turner are not the same act. Both big in their own right big not as big as if you were to treat it as a single entity.

Janet Jackson's UK Top 40 record is reflective of how big she is, I think the fact she was bigger in America and she's Michael's sister may give the impression she's bigger than she really is.

As for Amy Winehouse, not even close. Her best known song is one where she simply provided vocals on a Mark Ronson song. Her celebrity status was bigger than her music. Yes she had a big album but she had 5 years to make another but didn't

With global sales counted at around the 200M mark AC/DC are a glaring omission from this list.

Their UK sales at nearly 12M also dwarf the likes of Nirvana, Radiohead, The Cure, Green Day, REM, etc

In fact there's few there that can compete.

Edited Thursday at 20:452 days by Severin

16 minutes ago, Severin said:

With global sales counted at around the 200M mark AC/DC are a glaring omission from this list.

Their UK sales at nearly 12M also dwarf the likes of Nirvana, Radiohead, The Cure, Green Day, REM, etc

In fact there's few there that can compete.

Good shout. If they were an option they'd be my 3rd vote.

For a long time they were the act to have the most hits without a Top 10 but finally got one as part of an anti-X Factor campaign as I recall.

42 minutes ago, My Random Music said:

In my opinion if you're an obvious singles act with several Top 10's but no number 1 in your heyday then you're probably not big enough to have a number 1.

Of the Top 5 in this poll I think Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi have the best case because neither are obvious singles acts but have sold lots of albums and played lots of stadiums. Back to my school days in the early 90s plenty of people had the "Keep The Faith" album but I don't recall anyone buying the singles. Also their older albums at the time were arguably better known than the singles. Many of us knew they had the album "7800° Fahrenheit" and that didn't have any Top 40 hits on it.

Tina Turner has a case at a stretch, she's big enough to have her own West End musical for example and had quite a few well known songs. My main reservation is that Tina Turner the solo artist and Ike & Tina Turner are not the same act. Both big in their own right big not as big as if you were to treat it as a single entity.

Janet Jackson's UK Top 40 record is reflective of how big she is, I think the fact she was bigger in America and she's Michael's sister may give the impression she's bigger than she really is.

As for Amy Winehouse, not even close. Her best known song is one where she simply provided vocals on a Mark Ronson song. Her celebrity status was bigger than her music. Yes she had a big album but she had 5 years to make another but didn't

Tina Turner was the first female solo artist to sell out Wembley Stadium. She also had far more hits on her own than she did with Ike Turner.

17 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Tina Turner was the first female solo artist to sell out Wembley Stadium. She also had far more hits on her own than she did with Ike Turner.

I did say she has a case but whilst I can't say for sure I'd hazard a guess that Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi have played more stadium concerts than Tina Turner did. Yes she had more hits on her own but Ike & Tina Turner were bigger than their Top 40 career suggests.

3 minutes ago, My Random Music said:

I did say she has a case but whilst I can't say for sure I'd hazard a guess that Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi have played more stadium concerts than Tina Turner did. Yes she had more hits on her own but Ike & Tina Turner were bigger than their Top 40 career suggests.

I would argue quite strongly that Tina Turner the solo star was much bigger than Ike and Tina the duo ever were though. Based on chart performance for albums and singles alone she outdid anything the duo did and she is known as the Queen or Rock and Roll.

Yes Bon Jovi and Bruce surely played more stadiums than her but when you think B*Witched and Geri Halliwell both had 4 #1 singles - Tina Turner not having one at all at her iconic status is wild.

Ps I appreciate you said she had a case lol but you did say "at a stretch." 😝

Edited Thursday at 21:462 days by Spiceboy

25 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

I would argue quite strongly that Tina Turner the solo star was much bigger than Ike and Tina the duo ever were though. Based on chart performance for albums and singles alone she outdid anything the duo did and she is known as the Queen or Rock and Roll.

Yes Bon Jovi and Bruce surely played more stadiums than her but when you think B*Witched and Geri Halliwell both had 4 #1 singles - Tina Turner not having one at all at her iconic status is wild.

Ps I appreciate you said she had a case lol but you did say "at a stretch." 😝

I 100% agree that Tina Turner was far more worthy of a number 1 than Geri Halliwell and B*Witched but that in itself shows how the charts can be misleading. Maybe Tina Turner was bigger as a solo artist but it's not that clear cut. I've been to the Tina Turner musical and it was roughly 50/50 between Ike & Tina Turner songs and Tina Turner solo. You've got to remember Ike & Tina Turner were unknown when they started out and took a long time get to the heights they reached. I know it didn't immediately click for Tina Turner as a solo artist but she always had that legacy there which is always going to help.

42 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Yes Bon Jovi and Bruce surely played more stadiums than her but when you think B*Witched and Geri Halliwell both had 4 #1 singles - Tina Turner not having one at all at her iconic status is wild.

We will have none of that B*witched slander thank you very much, Geri on the other hand carry on