Carole King or Linda Ronstadt: Who had more number one hits?
It feels unfair at best, impossible at worst, to pit two female titans of the scene together in the form of Carole King and Linda Ronstadt.
But sometimes that is just the business they call show, and more often than not, the numbers will do all the talking needed to prove which one outshines the other. That is, of course, a pretty brutal way of putting it, but even though they are two of the very best, there is still only one winner when it comes to the competition between King and Ronstadt.
To be clear, this is not a suggestion that one of them has had a more illustrious career or made more impact than the other. It would be completely disingenuous to claim otherwise for either of them, since they both started out in the heady days of the 1960s and never looked back. In fairness, this was the perfect time to strike while the iron was hot – it seemed that most people who began a musical tenure during that decade never did too badly.
Whether it was penning the hits, performing them, or a selection of both, there’s no denying that King and Ronstadt were the two undisputed female forces of the scene at that specific moment in time, let alone still remaining so now some six decades down the line. Both of them have a valid vie to the throne in terms of their influence on the music of the 20th century.
But this still doesn’t escape the fact that the facts don’t lie, and one has had a handful more number one tunes than the other. Winning that race is King – regal by name, regal by nature – whose five chart-toppers from across the scores of her career clinch her the crown. What’s perhaps more surprising, in this respect, is that Ronstadt has only ever had one number one.
Carole King and Linda Ronstadt’s number ones
That bombshell of a statistic may come as a shock to some, but it nevertheless remains true that Ronstadt’s 1975 hit song ‘You’re No Good’ was the only time she was ever able to reign at the top of the charts. The essential caveat in all of this is that her albums tell a different story, as she joins the likes of David Bowie and Bob Dylan as artists whose records were far more successful than their singles ever were.
On the other hand, King’s five number one hits came in the form of ‘It’s Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move’, ‘Jazzman’, ‘Nightingale’, ‘Sweet Seasons’, and a cover of The Chiffons’ ‘One Fine Day’. Of course, I can already hear the shouts of protestations – but if we were to count the amount of chart toppers she clocked up through songs she wrote for other artists, we’d be here all day.
So, alas, King continues her reign of supremacy over Ronstadt, as well as a whole slew of other singers, in terms of the length of time she spent hogging the number one spot. Naturally, it’s not as though this matters too much: every artist is on their own path, and the old adage goes that comparison is the thief of joy.
Yet it also just goes to show what an unbeatable force King has within her midst, even when put in hypothetical competition with such a fellow titan. Of course, there are many things which stand her apart from others in terms of the songwriting, the stories, and the success, but when it comes to the number one spot, it almost feels like a second home.
