Facts And Figures From “The Number Ones”

In 2020, half of you TNOCS veterans might know that Tom Breihan, writer of the famed column, had released a survey inspecting every single statistic on the column so far.

You might also acknowledge that there was an entire article dedicated to Tom’s ratings and variances when he reached his thousandth article.

It’s December 2026, and Tom is about to cover the last #1 of 2020, so I better get this out while I still can.

After a tumultuous year of me starting a mini-column where I rate songs that Tom might certainly never rate in any column, and Stereogum putting subscriptions to comments and unlimited articles, I think we’ll need this as relief.

But enough of the preamble, the first few words explained it already! Let’s get to the juice of the meat; more specifically, statistics!

The 10s (basically just an updated version of Tom’s 10/10s):

• Ray Charles — “Georgia On My Mind”
• Roy Orbison — “Running Scared”
• The Tokens — “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
• Little Stevie Wonder — “Fingertips (Pt. II)”
• The Kingsmen — “Louie Louie”
• The Beatles — “A Hard Days’ Night”
• The Animals — “The House Of The Rising Sun”
• The Shangri-Las — “Leader Of The Pack”
• The Temptations — “My Girl”

• Rolling Stones — “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
• The Rolling Stones — “Get Off Of My Cloud”
• Nancy Sinatra — “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”
• The Rolling Stones — “Paint It Black”
• The Beatles — “Paperback Writer”
• The Four Tops — “Reach Out I’ll Be There”
• The Supremes — “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”
• The Beach Boys — “Good Vibrations”
• Aretha Franklin — “Respect”
• Bobbie Gentry — “Ode To Billie Joe”

• Jeannie C. Riley — “Harper Valley P.T.A.
• Diana Ross & The Supremes — “Love Child“
• Marvin Gaye — “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”
• Tommy James & The Shondells — “Crimson And Clover”
• Simon & Garfunkel — “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
• Jackson 5 — “ABC”
• The Jackson 5 — “I’ll Be There”
• Janis Joplin — “Me And Bobby McGee”
• The Temptations — “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

• Al Green — “Let’s Stay Together”
• Bill Withers — “Lean On Me”
• The Temptations — “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone”
• Stevie Wonder — “Superstition”
• Marvin Gaye — “Let’s Get It On”
• Gladys Knight & The Pips — “Midnight Train To Georgia”
• Stevie Wonder — “You Haven’t Done Nothin’”
• Freddy Fender — “Before The Next Teardrop Falls”
• David Bowie — “Fame”

• ABBA — “Dancing Queen”
• Thelma Houston — “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
• Fleetwood Mac — “Dreams”
• Marvin Gaye — “Got To Give It Up (Part 1)”
• The Bee Gees — “Stayin’ Alive”
• The Rolling Stones — “Miss You”
• Chic — “Le Freak”
• Gloria Gaynor — “I Will Survive”
• Blondie — “Heart Of Glass”
• Chic — “Good Times”

• Blondie — “Call Me”
• Lipps, Inc. — “Funkytown”
• Diana Ross — “Upside Down”
• Queen and David Bowie — “Under Pressure”
• The Human League — “Don’t You Want Me”
• Michael Jackson — “Billie Jean”
• David Bowie — “Let’s Dance”
• Eurythmics — “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)”
• Talking Heads — “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”
• Bonnie Tyler — “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”
• Prince — “When Doves Cry”
• Prince & The Revolution — “Let’s Go Crazy”

• Madonna — “Open Your Heart”
• INXS — “Need You Tonight”
• Guns N’ Roses — “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
• Bobby Brown — “My Prerogative”
• The Bangles — “Eternal Flame”
• Madonna — “Like A Prayer”
• Sinéad O’Connor — “Nothing Compares 2 U”
• George Michael — “Praying For Time”
• Nirvana — “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
• Ini Kamoze — “Here Comes The Hotstepper”
• Mariah Carey — “Fantasy” (Tom himself admitted that the original without ODB is a 9)
• Blackstreet, Dr. Dre, and Queen Pen — “No Diggity”

• Hanson — “MMMBop”
• Janet Jackson — “Together Again”
• Britney Spears — “…Baby One More Time”
• TLC — “Unpretty”
• Destiny’s Child — “Say My Name”Aaliyah — “Try Again”
• Destiny’s Child — “Bootylicious”
• Sean Paul — “Get Busy”
• Beyoncé and Jay-Z — “Crazy In Love”
• Usher, Lil Jon, and Ludacris — “Yeah!”
• Beyoncé — “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”

• Rihanna and Calvin Harris — “We Found Love”
• Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe”
• Miley Cyrus — “Wrecking Ball”
• Lorde — “Royals”
• Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert — “Bad and Boujee”
• Kendrick Lamar — “HUMBLE.”
• Cardi B — “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”
• Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus — “Old Town Road”
• Mariah Carey — “All I Want For Christmas Is You”
• Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion — “WAP”

THE 1s:

• Larry Verne — “Mr. Custer”
• Pat Boone — “Moody River”
• Steve Lawrence — “Go Away Little Girl”
• Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler — “The Ballad Of The Green Berets”
• Bobby Goldsboro — “Honey”
• Tony Orlando & Dawn — “Knock Three Times”
• Donny Osmond — “Go Away Little Girl”

• Chuck Berry — “My Ding-A-Ling”

• Tony Orlando & Dawn — “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree”
• Ray Stevens — “The Streak”
• Paul Anka (feat. Odia Coates) — “(You’re) Having My Baby”
• Steve Miller Band — “Abracadabra”
• USA For Africa — “We Are The World”

• Billy Joel — “We Didn’t Start The Fire”
• Michael Bolton — “When A Man Loves A Woman”
• Barenaked Ladies — “One Week”
• R. Kelly and Celine Dion — “I’m Your Angel”
• Eminem, Dr. Dre, and 50 Cent — “Crack A Bottle”
• Magic! — “Rude”

As you might notice, a great half of the 10/10 songs are hip-hop tracks, not surprising since that’s Tom’s favorite genre, and most of them have the biggest negative variances between Tom Breihan and the community in the entire column.

You can view those in this helpful spreadsheet created by Contributing Author Bill Bois.

ARTISTS WITH ALL #1 HITS BEING PERFECT 10s”

• Marvin Gaye (3)

• David Bowie/Chic (2)

• Bill Withers/Kendrick Lamar/Lorde/Miley Cyrus/Carly Rae Jepsen/Jeannie Riley/The Drifters/The Tokens/Ini Kamoze/Migos/Calvin Harris/Lil Uzi Vert/Hanson/Aaliyah/Lil Jon/Guns N’ Roses/Sinead O’Connor/Eurythmics/Blackstreet/Bobbie Gentry/Otis Redding/Janis Joplin/ABBA/Billy Ray Cyrus/INXS/Fleetwood Mac/The Shang-Ri Las and more: (1)

ARTISTS WITH THE MOST 10/10 #1 HITS:

• The Rolling Stones/Beyonce (both as a solo artist and member of Destiny’s Child) (4)
• Stevie Wonder/The Jackson 5/Marvin Gaye/The Beatles/The Temptations (3)
• Madonna/David Bowie/Chic/Prince/Diana Ross/The Supremes (2)

ARTISTS WITH THE MOST 10/10 SONGS:

• Prince (10)
• Marvin Gaye (8)
• The Rolling Stones (7)
• The Temptations/Stevie Wonder (6 each)
• Aretha Franklin/Madonna/Diana Ross (both as a solo artist and a member of The Supremes) (5 each)

ARTISTS WITH THE MOST #1 HITS:

The Beatles (20)
Mariah Carey (19)
Rihanna (14)
Michael Jackson (13)
Madonna / The Supremes (12 each)

SONGWRITERS WITH THE MOST #1 HITS:

Paul McCartney (32)
John Lennon (26)
Max Martin (23)
Mariah Carey (18)
Dr. Luke (17)

PRODUCERS WITH THE MOST #1 HITS:

George Martin (23)
Max Martin (21)
Dr. Luke (17)
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (16)
Mariah Carey (15)

Years with the highest weighted-average scores:

• 1. 2015 (8.08)
• 2. 2004 (7.96)
• 3. 1964 (7.88)
• 4. 2019 (7.83)
• 5. 2003 (7.71)

Years with the lowest weighted-average scores:

• 1. 1988 (5.91)
• 2. 1958 (5.77)
• 3. 2004 (5.74)
• 4. 2009 (5.63)
• 5. 1974 (5.60)

You can view a few other statistics in these articles made by contributing author Ozmoe, showing additional rating-related statistics in the TNOCS community.

• Oldest person to hit #1:

Youngest person to hit #1:

• Michael Jackson, 11 (The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” 1970)

First debut at #1:

• Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone”, 1995

Longest song title to hit #1:

• Stars On 45’s “Stars on 45 Medley” (or, known by its official title as “Medley: Intro ‘Venus’ / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I’ll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want to Know a Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You’re Going to Lose That Girl / Stars on 45”)

You can view some additional content on this document that covers a few interesting facts. It’s a work in progress, but make sure to stay tuned for more updates.

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