Having already covered the 40th to the 26th highest selling acts never to have had a UK #1 single (check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you missed them), and having already met names as illustrious as Bob Marley, Van Halen and Johnny Cash, what artists sit just shy of the Top 20?

25. Tina Turner

Biggest Hits: ‘River Deep, Mountain High’, with Ike Turner (#3 in 1966), ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ (#3 in 1984) & ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ (#3 in 1985)

One of rock ‘n’ roll’s great voices, great females, great survivors: Tina Turner. I did an entire ‘Never Had a #1’ post on her a few years back, so enjoy that at your leisure. Of her trio of #3s, I’m posting ‘River Deep, Mountain High’. Which is technically not a solo record – given that Ike is credited and Phil Spector’s touch is all over the production – but you try telling Tina that this is not her song. She sings it like the song is the ragdoll in the lyrics, and no way she’s giving it up for anyone.

24. Gloria Estefan

Biggest Hit: ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You’ (#6 in 1989)

Many of the acts in this Top 40 are US artists who sold bucketloads in their homeland but not so much elsewhere. And yes, Gloria Estefan is Cuban, but she moved to the US when she was two, so we can claim her for America whether she likes it or not! Anyway, she has multiple Top 10s and three #1s on the Billboard Hot 100, but never climbed higher than #6 in Britain.

‘I Don’t Wanna Lose’ you is a by-numbers late-eighties power ballad. For every classic power ballad that decade gave us, there are nine lesser examples. This is fine but largely unmemorable. Estefan’s voice is the best thing about it, by far. I was sorely tempted to post ‘Dr. Beat’ as her biggest hit (another #6, in 1984) but the OCC credits it to Miami Sound Machine, without a ‘ft.’, and rules are rules.

23. Genesis

Biggest Hit: ‘Mama’ (#4 in 1983)

Amazingly, one of only four British acts to feature in this Top 40 (they are all ‘classic rock’ groups, of one shade or another) Genesis took their time over singles chart success. Their first single release was in the late sixties, but it took until the late ’70s before they made the Top 10, and it was over fifteen years into their career that they had their biggest hit.

‘Mama’ is a deeply weird, synthy, sexy epic, about a young teenager’s obession with a much older prostitute. Phil Collins delivers the haha-ha-urgh refrain like the girl from ‘The Exorcist’, yet still has plenty of competition for the song’s creepiest moment. Personally, I think the intro is the eeriest part, with the industrial drum machine rubbing against some proper horror soundtrack synths.

22. Def Leppard

Biggest Hits: ‘Let’s Get Rocked’ (#2 in 1992) & ‘When Love and Hate Collide’ (#2 in 1995)

And straight away, here’s British act number two. For a band best know for ’80s hair metal classics like ‘Animal’, and ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’, it is disappointing that Def Leppard’s biggest hits are a couple of average #2s from the following decade.

I chose ‘Let’s Get Rocked’ as the video choice because I do admire their commitment to the clunky ‘rock’ innuendo (Let’s get the rock outta here…). And because the once cutting-edge CGI in the video is now utterly, utterly terrifying. Whereas ‘When Love and Hate Collide’ is a plodding power-ballad.

21. Earth, Wind & Fire

Biggest Hits: ‘September’ (#3 in 1978) & ‘Let’s Groove’ (#3 in 1981)

I am suprised that Earth, Wind & Fire are sitting so high up this list, above some legendary names and some huge-selling stadium rock acts. Seems that groove must count for something… Once again, they were much more popular in the US than across the Atlantic.

Since everyone and their dog has heard ‘September’, I’m going for the second of their joint-highest charting singles, the aptly named ‘Let’s Groove’. It’s got a filthy baseline, and great distortion on the opening vocals. It’s a perfect bridge between seventies disco and eighties synth pop. And there’s still the classic EW&F horns. What more do we need?

So, we’ve reached the halfway point in our Top 40. Twenty acts remain, and we’ll cover them in four further parts in the coming year or so. Of the twenty, two acts are British, one is Australian. The rest are American. Twelve are groups, with seven solo acts, and one duo. And only three females are left to appear – two as solo artists, and one as part of said duo…