The biggest band never to get a number one
At one point, getting a number one single was a bucket-list achievement for every band, which seemed pivotal in their longing to achieve superstardom. However, many artists have proved that is a fallacy and have gone on to sell out stadiums without having a number one.
In 2020, Bob Dylan finally became a number-one artist with his single, ‘Murder Most Foul’, which managed to top the ‘Rock Digital Song Sales’ chart. Although it wasn’t in the mainstream chart, Dylan finally reached the top. To make the accomplishment even more impressive, it was with a 17-minute long track.
Prior to ‘Murder Most Foul’, Dylan had several near misses in his career but fell short on every occasion. In the main chart, his highest landing efforts are ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘Rainy Day Women’, which entered at 12 and 35, respectively. Additionally, ‘Things Have Changed’ reached number two on the ‘Adult Alternative Songs’ chart.
For an artist like Dylan, a number-one record has never been an achievement he’s cared about. Fittingly, it came for a song that couldn’t be less radio-friendly. A handful of legendary bands, including Nirvana, also never earned the accolade, but the most startling group on the list is The Who.
They are one of the best-selling bands of all time and have sold over 100 million records worldwide, but no single has ever reached number one in the mainstream chart in the United States or the United Kingdom. Consistently, The Who scored hits on both sides of the Atlantic for over ten years, but they’ve never reached the promised land.
Over the course of their career, The Who have been unlucky and have had plenty of tracks come close. In 1965, ‘My Generation’ established the group as one of Britain’s most dangerous bands but could only muster a second-placed finish in the chart. The following year, they came second again with ‘I’m A Boy’, and they later secured top-five finishes with ‘Happy Jack’ and ‘Pictures of Lily’.
Meanwhile, across the band in the States, Quadrophenia took The Who to their commercial zenith. It spawned the singles, ‘The Real Me’, ‘Doctor Jimmy’ and ‘Love, Reign O’er Me’, with the album landing at two on the chart. Their most successful single Stateside came in 1968 with ‘I Can See For Miles’, which charted at eight.
Despite not having a number-one single to their name, The Who are unquestionably one of the most successful rock acts of all time. Bizarrely, it may have also benefitted the group in the long run because they didn’t have one song which defined them.
