Ask Billboard is updated every Friday. As always, submit your questions about Billboard charts, sales and airplay, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and country, if outside the U.S.
WHICH SUPERSTARS HAVE YET TO REACH NO. 1? READERS RESPOND, CONTINUED
Dear Gary,
I thought of yet more artists that fit the "Ask Billboard" discussion about star acts haven't topped both the Billboard Hot 100 song chart and the Billboard 200 album chart. In fact, the following five acts, amazingly, never hit No. 1 on either chart.
How about the English group that impacted the world from the "generation" of the British Invasion to the generation currently watching "C.S.I." ... Who is this act? the Who.
If you think "My Generation," "Who Are You" (the "C.S.I." theme), "Won't Get Fooled Again" ("C.S.I.: Miami") or "Baba O'Riley" ("C.S.I.: New York") were Hot 100 No. 1s, think again. None is even the Who's highest-charting song.
The band's top-peaking title remains "I Can See for Miles," which reached No. 9 in 1967. The song marks the first and only top 10 for the group from Shepherd Bush, London.
On the Billboard 200, two albums from the Who reached No. 2: "Quadrophenia" in 1973 and "Who Are You" in 1978.
How about another group that helped lead the British Invasion yet never hit No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200: the Kinks.
If you believe that "You Really Got Me" was this band's greatest Hot 100 hit, you'd be incorrect (and could fittingly repeat the song's title upon being stumped). Two other songs peaked higher, but again, not at No. 1: "Tired of Waiting for You" in 1965 and "Come Dancing" in 1982, both at No. 6.
On the Billboard 200, the Kinks' only top 10 album - among 33 visits - was "Greatest Hits!," which peaked at No. 9 in 1966.
A legendary American band that never topped the Hot 100 and Billboard 200? the Grateful Dead. On the Hot 100, "Touch of Grey" became the group's only top 10 (No. 6, 1987), while parent album "In the Dark" (also No. 6) is its only top 10 among a whopping 49 chart entries.
Two more: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' highest-charting Hot 100 single is "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks (No. 3, 1981). On the Billboard 200, "Damn the Torpedoes" in 1979 and "Mojo" in 2010 each peaked at No. 2.
And, the Pretenders' best showing on the Hot 100 remains "Back on the Chain Gang" (No. 5, 1983). On the Billboard 200, their highest-ranking album is "Learning to Crawl." In 1984, it climbed to No. 5.
Despite not topping the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, the Who, Kinks, Grateful Dead, Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Pretenders share a more important trait. All have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, music's number one honor.
Sincerely,
Mackenzie (Mac) Scott,
Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Hi Gary,
I think that Bruce Springsteen requires an asterisk when listing major artists that haven't scored Hot 100 and Billboard 200 No. 1 hits.
As a songwriter, the Boss has done quite well on the Hot 100, notching a No. 1 back in 1977 with Manfred Mann's Earth Band's "Blinded by the Light."
Springsteen also wrote Hot 100 top fives for the Pointer Sisters ("Fire," No. 2, 1979; coincidentally, the closest that he group would come to No. 1, along with "Slow Hand" two years later) and Natalie Cole's "Pink Cadillac " (No. 5, 1988, again, tying the legendary R&B singer's best chart placement).
Springsteen also penned "Because the Night," the highest-charting Hot 100 singles for two acts: Patti Smith (No. 13, 1978) and 10,000 Maniacs (No. 11, 1994).
Best,
Brad Lyman
