Never Had a #1… Part 5

/ UK #1s blog

It’s been a while, so here is the next instalment of our look through the Top 40 biggest-selling global acts never to have had a UK #1 single.

We’re into the Top 20 today, counting down acts twenty through sixteen. Before we get going though, why not recap with Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

20. Carpenters

Biggest hits: ‘Yesterday Once More’ (#2 in 1973) & ‘Please Mr. Postman’ (#2 in 1975)

The Carpenters are possibly the most surprising name on this list. They weren’t a rock act that sold more albums than singles; they were a singles act that produced some of the best pop music of the seventies. It’s amazing that they didn’t manage a chart-topper in Britain, despite scoring three in the USA.

‘Yesterday Once More’ has one of their best melodies, and one of their catchiest hooks. Every shalalala, Every whoa-oh-oh… It was a very ’70s phenomenon, songs about how the old songs were the best, when the ‘old songs’ had barely come of age. And I’m sure I mentioned this in my post on how the Carpenters had never had a number one, but having traveled widely across Asia I can confirm that ‘Yesterday Once More’, and ‘Top of the World’, are two of the best-known English language songs every recorded.

‘Please Mr. Postman’, one of their American chart-toppers, is a decent enough cover. It was once voted as the duo’s best song by ITV viewers, which is just silly.

19. Bob Dylan

Biggest hit: ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ (#4 in 1965)

A man who needs little to no introduction from me, and another about whom I have previously done a ‘Never Had a #1’ post on.

What I will say specifically about Dylan’s biggest hit, is I think it quite fun that following worthy folk anthems like ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’, it took a six-minute, sneering bitchfest to bring about his biggest British hit. He then followed it up with the even nastier ‘Positively 4th Street’, one of the great ‘haters gonna hate’ records, proving that he truly was the Taylor Swift of his day.

18. Dire Straits

Biggest hits: ‘Private Investigations’ (#2 in 1982) & ‘Walk of Life’ (#2 in 1986)

Only the third British act in this Top 40, after Genesis (#23) and Def Leppard (#22), and the second highest. (I won’t give the game away, but I’m sure most of you can work out the final British band left to appear…) Anyway, Dire Straits have made number two twice. Once with the languorous Spanish guitars and spoken word combo of ‘Private Investigations’, which really doesn’t sound much like a Top 40, let alone a #2, hit. And then with the far catchier and more immediate ‘Walk of Life’, from their fourteen-times-platinum monster album ‘Brothers in Arms’.

17. The Doors

Biggest hit: ‘Light My Fire’ (#7 in 1967)

Back to the usual ‘bigger in the US’ type of acts that have populated this rundown so far, and it’s The Doors. Despite having two number ones to their name back home, ‘Light My Fire’ was their only Top 10 hit in the British Isles. And while the seven-minute organ solo version is great (the solo now has it’s own ‘chapter’ on this YouTube video), I have included the band’s shorter but much more controversial performance on the Ed Sullivan show, in which Jim Morrison reneged on a promise not to sing the girl we couldn’t get much higher… line. Sullivan refused to shake their hands, and banned them from the show indefinitely.

I have also already done a Doors ‘Never Had a #1…’ post, if you would like to read more.

16. Santana

Biggest hit: ‘Smooth’ ft. Rob Thomas (#3 in 2000)

Carlos Santana had been active since the sixties, both by himself and as leader of his eponymous band, but had never troubled the UK Top 10 until this late nineties classic.

It’s an interesting plot line of the fin de 20th siecle: classic rock acts having a renaissance. Aerosmith had their biggest ever hit in 1998, Blondie made an unexpected chart-topping comeback a few months later, and Santana finally breached the UK Top 10. With a little help from Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas (who weren’t a British chart force either) they brought about this sexy, Latin-rock groover. (That little Mariachi drumbeat key change that leads to the solo is pop perfection in my book). In my mind this was the sound of the summer of ’99, when the record was initially released, but in reality it reached its chart peak in March 2000, and March is never a particularly hot and steamy time of the year…

So we’re almost into the Top 15, where we have remaining two solo females, three solo males, and ten bands, all of whom rock and/or roll, to varying extents. Until Part VI, then….

6 thoughts on “Never Had a #1… Part 5”

  1. Well…you have what must be among the best-selling albums acts of all time in the first three of these names. At least The Carpenters made up for it in the album chart when ’Singles 1969-1973’ spent 17 non-consecutive weeks in pole position in the UK in 1974. Bob Dylan had two No. 2 singles in the US during his mid-60s peak, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Rainy Day Women 12 and 35’, both Top 10 over here, although he often charted much higher with singles in the UK than at home, like the wonderfully snarling ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’ (58 US, 17 UK). As for Dire Straits, ‘Private Investigations’ must be one of the least commercial singles ever to make No. 2, but a compelling piece of music all the same. (Come to think of it, Queen’s ‘Innuendo’ at No. 1 was pretty remarkable, though I suspect that EMI’s marketing during the sleepy post-Christmas and new year season and the fact that we knew Freddie Mercury was very ill at the time may have had a lot to do with it).

    Oh, and I have a fairly shrewd idea about the final British name on the list to come, but I could have overlooked the real answer…won’t have long to wait to find out!

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    1. Love The Carpenters’ singles. Their albums are fine (unlike ABBA who actually have fantastic albums, I think The Carpenters warrant their singles-act reputation), but they are a terrific singles group. I have a copy of Gold: Greatest Hits on vinyl and it’s wonderful. I definitely hear the influence of their music on adult contemporary music even today.
    2. Bob Dylan, I used to be a hater, but I’ve been converted to the Church of Dylan. I love how much Bob Dylan doesn’t give a damn. He’ll do whatever the hell he wants and he doesn’t give two craps what people think. I used to think he was a bad singer but now I think he’s a great singer in terms of vocal performances. I enjoy pretty much all his albums (haven’t listened to absolutely everything, but have 3/4ths of the catalogue listened to). Even the Christian trilogy I enjoy. But his 60s and 70s albums were his masterworks are. Love his lyricism obviously. My favourite Dylan album is Bringing It All Back Home which contains a lot of my favourite Dylan songs.
    3. Dire Straits are a band I really want to love, but I can only just like. I find them a bit too languid and laid-back and sleepy and noodily for my liking, especially on their albums. They’re actually one of the artists I can only take in small doses (another big one is Lana Del Rey for me). But they have absolutely sensational songs, especially on their first four albums. And Mark Knopfler is an incredible guitar player.
    4. The Doors are a band I love. I’ve liked them ever since I first got into classic rock and my love for them holds strong nearly a decade later. They have their flaws and not every song works, but I think overall they were one of the best bands of the 20th century. Such a unique band – very few bands sound like them. They’re weirdly more influential on British music than American music despite being vastly bigger in North America. And Jim Morrison takes up so much of the limelight the rest of the band gets overshadowed in the eye of the rest of the public, but the rest of the band is just as integral to their sound.
    5. Santana are a really cool band. Their most famous period is the late-90s/early-2000s latin pop/R&B stuff, but their most acclaimed and second most famous period is the early 70s material. They have so many albums it’s an intimidating band to get into and I won’t pretend to have listened to all their albums, but I’d recommend checking out Abraxas and Santana III at least. They’re a cool mix of latin rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock and hard rock with a bit of jam band thrown in there. And I think Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” performance at Woodstock is in contention for the greatest live performance ever, especially knowing the story about how they were all strung out on acid as they had thought they would play later on the day but they were suddenly bumped up to play when several acts were delayed while they were high as kites. It’s absolutely mesmerising that performance.
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  4. ITV votes not to be taken seriously…Everyone knows Close To You or Goodbye To Love is peak Carpenters! I remember Billboard printing Japan charts of the late 60’s early 70s and Carpenters inevitably the only non-Japanese act to feature. They very much were popular in Singapore in 1970/71 I can vouch for that from the radio.

    Dylan a great songwriter, and of course has topped the charts in that respect with Mighty Quin. Dire Straits’ Private Investigations should have done the extra one place. The Doors’ never made the top 20 in their lifetime – Light My Fire was in the 90’s when the film came out and it peaked at 7. Santana sporadically good in the 70’s and then massive in the 2000’s. Much as I love Samba Pa Ti (and I saw them in 1980 at Knebworth Festival), Smooth and The Game Of Love are even better in the 00’s.

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