Which rock singer has had the most number one songs?
From a young age, Jack Black taught me that rock music was about one thing and one thing only: sticking it to the man. At seven years old, I had absolutely no idea what that meant, but I believed in it. Was the man my dad? My teacher? Any man on the street? I had no idea what the man meant, but I knew sticking it to them happened to the soundtrack of unbridled rock.
Of course, as I grew up, I realised what it meant. A metaphorical figurehead for the nastiness of systemic life. The glossy nature of commercialism lets us down, or the oppression of ingrained social structures robs us of that primal sense of freedom. The man is normal life, and rock is the vehicle through which we escape it.
But, resistance against normality isn’t rare. So fractured has society been for decades that feeling as though you exist outside the lines of normality has become a widespread attitude, and so rock inadvertently became commercial. Through the very idea of it speaking to the disillusioned masses, it became the mainstream and so accidentally sleepwalked into the hands of commercialism.
Businessmen all over the world got their grubby mits on music authenticity and realised their was money to be made in the leveraging of resistance. One such villainous pioneer was Colonel Tom Parker. He was the hard-nosed titan of business who saw nothing but dollar signs in the charismatic voice of a young Elvis Presley, and squeezed every ounce of potential out of him in the name of chart success.
After bursting onto the music scene with his captivating brand of blues rock in the 1960s, Parker quickly pivoted his career plan upon Elvis’ long-awaited return from the army. Quickly identifying that there was money to be made in the world of film soundtracks, he made the young musician a cross-platform star. He sold out cinema tickets nationwide while also ensuring his signature drawl made it onto the soundtrack, thus doubling the income.
Ultimately, it was a plan that worked, albeit at the expense of Elvis’ artistry. Elvis spent two decades rocketing to the top of the charts, with the only The Beatles threatening his position in the 1960s. In the United Kingdom, he racked up 21 number one hits while in the United States he achieved that feat 18 times, making him the highest hitter within rock circles.
What rock band had the most number one hits?
Unsurprisingly, that record is reserved for The Beatles who in the United Kingdom have racked up 18 number ones, three behind Elvis, while in the United States they topped The King by pretty much the reverse number, scoring 20 to his 18. Together the two artists jostled at the top of the pops, with The Beatles building on the charismatic foundations he laid in the 1950s and turning it into something else altogether.
But despite their eclipsing of his records, The Beatles never shied away from heralding Elvis as their ultimate influence. And while many critics like to micro-analyse various quips made by The King about their conquering of America and their musical innovation that achieved it, it was ultimately a reciprocated relationship, for he was perhaps the only man on Earth who understood what it felt like to endure those levels of fame.
As his wife Priscilla explained, “He respected them. Mostly he respected the way they had achieved their artistic freedom. He saw how they did whatever they liked to do.”
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