Strange or Surprising #1 songs

[Alan Stallion]

The most successful of the novelty "break-in" music sampling style

#1 in the US Cash Box Top 100 chart (#4 on Billboard Top 100)

Mr. Jaws - Dickie Goodman

 

[Alan Stallion]

#1 in the United States and New Zealand

Alley Oop - The Hollywood Argyles

 

[Alan Stallion]

The legendary Spike Jones tops the chart with this Christmas classic in 1948 and again in 1949

All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) - Spike Jones and his City Slickers

 

[Ringo]

#1 in New Zealand 1970

 

[Alan Stallion]

#1 circa 1950

The Thing - Phil Harris

 

[Alan Stallion]

Cuteness overload

#1 in Germany and Austria

Kuschel Song - Schnuffel Bunny


English version...
Snuggle Song - Schnuffel Bunny

 

[Alan Stallion]

The best cartoon band (a.k.a., virtual band) since... Josie and the Pussycats? Heh.

#1 in Italy. Makes sense, since "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" is a classic Italian spaghetti western.

Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz

 

[Alan Stallion]

Gorillaz would hit #1 in the UK with...

DARE - Gorillaz (featuring Shawn Ryder of Happy Mondays and Black Grape fame, plus Rosie Wilson, also known as Roses Gabor)

 

[Alan Stallion]

Gorillaz hit #1 in New Zealand with 19-2000. Not sure if it was with the original version or the Soulchild remix version, the latter I prefer over the former, so here's the remix version...

19-2000 (Soulchild remix) - Gorillaz (Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads fame sings here)

 

[Alan Stallion]

Gorillaz hit #1 in... Greece and Spain (plus US alternative and Ireland Dance charts) with this one...

Feel Good, Inc. - Gorillaz (featuring De La Soul)

Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaa!

 

[Alan Stallion]

Enya makes new age music #1 and rekindles interest in Celtic music from there...

#1 Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, the Eurochart, and of course Ireland.

Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) - Enya

 

[Alan Stallion]

Topping the American chart in 1973, a song about race and not being accepted by other side as a mixed-race person

Cringy term you don't hear these days (thankfully).

Half-Breed - Cher

 

[Alan Stallion]

Surprising #1 in 1994 only because at the time Lisa Loeb wasn't signed to a record contract, the first person to achieve #1 as an unsigned artist. A chance meeting with neighbor actor Ethan Hawke, an inclusion in the movie "Reality Bites," and Lisa had a #1 song in the United States and Canada.

Stay (I Missed You) - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

Video directed by Ethan Hawke

 

[Alan Stallion]

And then there was the Boney M craze, not so much in America, but was big in their native Germany and had #1's internationally.

Starting with...

Daddy Cool - Boney M

 

[Failzero]

MY Sharonna

 

[Alan Stallion]

You may not know, and I didn't until recently, but Ringo Starr had a fairly successful singles career in the 1970s.

In the 1970s in America, Ringo Starr had more #1's in the 1970s (two) than John Lennon in the 1970s (one, but would score a second #1 in 1980, sadly after Lennon was murdered). George Harrison had two #1s in the 1970s and scored one more in the 1980s.


Here is one of those Ringo #1s...

Photograph - Ringo Starr

 

[Alan Stallion]

And the follow-up #1 (a Johnny Burnette cover)

You're Sixteen You're Beautiful (and You're Mine) - Ringo Starr


Older men singing about sixteen year old girls... ick

 

[Alan Stallion]

Back to Boney M.

#1 in Germany, Austria, and Australia

Rasputin - Boney M.

 

[Alan Stallion]

And you may ask, Mr. Stallion, did Boney M. do Christmas music as well?

Well, they sure did, and of course they scored #1s in Europe as well...

Mary's Boy Child - Boney M.

 

[Alan Stallion]

I opened this thread with a #1 by a singing nun.

As it turns out, not the only #1 by a singing nun.

1973-1974 saw Sister janet Mead take a song-version of The Lord's Prayer and it hit #4 in the US and New Zealand, #3 in Canada and her native Australia, and #1 on the Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary chart.

The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead