Chart Article
Paul McCartney is about as at home on the Hot 100 as an artist can be. From the Beatles' record-setting 71 singles on the Hot 100 chart to McCartney's nine post-Beatles No. 1s, Sir Paul's songs are all over the Billboard history books.
Paul McCartney: The Billboard Cover Story
Now, upon the release of McCartney's 23rd post-Beatles album this week ("Kisses on the Bottom"), we compiled our current cover star's 40 biggest Billboard from his nearly 50-year career. Included in the ranking are not only Wings hits and Macca duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, but the Beatles' biggest chart-toppers -- some of which Paul wrote, others that he simply contributed to as part of the great Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo.
This chart of Paul McCartney's 40 biggest Billboard hits is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100. Songs are ranked using an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least.
40
Do You Want To Know A Secret
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 2
Peak Date: 1964
Reinforcing the collaborative nature of the Beatles, the first song on this McCartney countdown was based on a fond John Lennon memory and sung by George Harrison. The song, a No. 2 hit on the Hot 100, was inspired by the tune "I'm Wishing" (from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"), which Lennon's mother Julia sang to him as a child.
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39
Yellow Submarine
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 2
Peak Date: 1966
If you wrote, you sang it -- or so went the philosophy behind the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo. There are a handful of exceptions to this rule, and "Yellow Submarine" is among them. The Ringo-led tale, which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart, first appeared as a "Revolver" single in 1966 but later inspired a colorful animated film of the same name.
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38
Penny Lane
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1
Peak Date: 1967
Later released on the "Magical Mystery Tour" album, "Penny Lane" first arrived as a now-iconic double-sided single with "Strawberry Fields Forever." Capitol released the 45 so that the Beatles' chart hiatus would end at six months -- an eternity for the Fab Four at the time. There is a real Penny Lane in Liverpool, where McCartney and Lennon used to meet in the early days of their songwriting partnership. (Penny Lane street sign thefts, presumably among Beatles fans for whom owning a key souvenir trumps abiding by the law, have long been common).
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37
Got To Get You Into My Life
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 7
Peak Date: 1976
Six years after the Beatles broke up and 10 years after its initial release, "Got to Get You Into My Life" reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 chart in 1976. How? Best-of Beatles compilation "Rock 'n' Roll Music" was released, and needed a single. Even at that, the brassy track, originally off "Revolver," was not the Beatles' last top-10 single (1995's "Free as a Bird" was).
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36
Goodnight Tonight
Wings
Hot 100 Peak Position: 5
Peak Date: 1979
Paul and his band Wings went full-on flamenco for 1979's "Goodnight Tonight," which reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 chart despite only being released as a single at the time. Years later, the intensely funky "Goodnight Tonight" -- with its killer bassline from Paul himself -- made it onto McCartney's "All the Best!" compilation.
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35
Lady Madonna
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 4
Peak Date: 1968
McCartney utilized his lower register and boogie-woogie piano skills for this 1968 single about a single mother, which he later noted was inspired by Fats Domino. "Lady Madonna" is unlike any other Beatles song, featuring much more brass than the band had ever used, but it still was a hit on the charts, reaching No. 4 on the Hot 100.
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34
Eight Days A Week
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1 (two weeks)
Peak Date: 1965
An example of the Beatles' early bubblegum pop smashes, McCartney has reportedly attributed the song's inspiration to a chauffeur driver that Lennon once encountered. Asked about his schedule, the driver said that he'd been working hard. How hard? "Eight days a week." The single's flipside, "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," reached No. 39 on the Hot 100 in 1965 and became a Country Songs No. 1 for Rosanne Cash in 1989.
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33
The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1 (two weeks)
Peak Date: 1970
The Beatles' 20th -- and so far final -- No. 1 single on the Hot 100 chart hit the top of the tally on May 23, 1970. The song was remixed by producer Phil Spector previous to its release (adding strings and a choir, among other instrumentation), much to the dismay of Paul McCartney. Two non-Spectorized versions of the song can be heard on the Beatles' "Anthology 3" archival album, and the 2003 "Let It Be... Naked" album. The latter was a look back at the band's original "Let It Be" set, but stripped down, without Spector's added touches. ("The Long and Winding Road" was a double-A-sided single with "For You Blue.")
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32
Paperback Writer
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 1 (two weeks)
Peak Date: 1966
This two-minute 1966 single about an aspiring author was unlike nearly all other Beatles hits up to that point because it had nothing to do with love. The upbeat song also heralded a more psychedelic sound for the Fab Four, which fans were fond of: "Paperback Writer" spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 chart.
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31
Please Please Me
The Beatles
Hot 100 Peak Position: 3
Peak Date: 1964
The Beatles' second single, "Please Please Me," peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 1964, thanks to John Lennon and "the fifth Beatle," producer George Martin. The song's initial release in 1963 failed to make much of an impression on U.S. audiences, but upon the song's re-release nearly a year later -- with "From Me to You" as the B-side -- it fared considerably well on the charts.
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Text by Jillian Mapes, Gary Trust, Keith Caulfield, Sarah Maloy
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