Which classic rock song held the number one spot for the longest in the 20th century?
Elton John, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin all managed to have successful number one singles, but which of them did the best?
Of course, that’s a pretty impossible question to answer, as what music we would consider “successful” differs. When we look back at rock music, there are a lot of bands that didn’t see a great deal of commercial success, and yet we now consider them total pioneers of not just their own genre, but music as a whole.
Captain Beefheart comes to mind. He was an incredibly wacky soul who made music that, for many, was totally inaccessible, and as such, it wasn’t a commercial boom. That being said, a lot of musicians these days praise him as a sonic innovator. That inaccessible style of music was a pivotal part of genres such as punk and heavy metal, so we can certainly consider that sound a success, but all financial figures would disagree with you.
Then you have the flip side of this, which is where bands were financially successful and had charting songs, but then didn’t go on to have a huge impact in the world of music. Their music might still be great to listen to, but they’re not cited as influences by the masses as much. Consider an outfit like Ten Years After, who made a real splash at Woodstock, but wound up getting overshadowed by other artists in the long run, like Eric Clapton.
Measuring success remains incredibly difficult, but sometimes, figures are so high, so astronomical, that even if you don’t know the context behind a song’s success, you should be able to recognise it as something monumental. Given that the 20th Century was the 100 years credited with the creation, perfection and dissolution of classic rock, we can essentially bet that the track which stayed at number one for the longest time throughout the century will have been the most impactful, right? Well, decide for yourself.
So, what song held the number one spot for the longest?
There are a lot of strong contenders when it comes to the bands that had number ones for elongated periods of time in the 20th Century.
The Beatles managed to top the charts for nine whole weeks with their anthem ‘Hey Jude’, and the impact of that track can still be heard in the way that crowds continue to belt out that outro at any given opportunity. However, those nine weeks fell five short of first place.
The song that managed to stay at the top of the charts for the longest period of time in the 20th century was Elton John’s ‘Candle In The Wind’. The track spent a whopping 14 weeks in the top spot in 1997 – 1998, as not only was it a great track, but given how John changed the hits muse, it took on real cultural significance as well.
…and who did Elton John write ‘Candle In The Wind’ about?
When Elton John originally wrote the song in 1973, it was about Marilyn Monroe, the famous pop culture icon who passed away in 1962.
The title of the track was a reference to her relatively short but incredibly bright life. Anyone who’s remotely a fan of Monroe would recognise her as the inspiration behind the song, given the opening line “Goodbye Norma Jeane,” was John calling her by her birth name.
However, the reason the song charted for such a long period of time at the end of the ‘90s was because of the death of Princess Diana. She was killed in a car accident on August 31st, 1997, and given that she and John were friends, he re-released the song with altered lyrics in tribute to the Princess. One example is that the opening “Goodbye Norma Jeane” was changed to “Goodbye England’s Rose”.
The song marked such a huge moment in time that people went out and bought the album en masse, so much so that it stayed at the top of the charts for the longest period of time recorded in the 20th century.
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