Rock Legends From The '70s Who Waited Years For A No. 1 Hit

There's never a perfect overlap between a musician's popularity — in terms of sales or streams — and their historical impact. The 1970s, a time of experimentation and eclecticism, saw plenty of one-hit wonders skyrocket to the top of the chart. Some of those artists, like Lipps Inc., you'd likely never know about if not for a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, in this case "Funkytown," while other artists were mega-huge right off the bat, such as The Eagles. Then there are those musicians who either took some time to reach their peak or were extremely successful during the '70s, yet didn't get a No. 1 hit until later.

In fact, there's a really interesting middle ground that some of our most legendary musicians occupy — rockers, especially — where they made a tremendous mark but never had a No. 1 song. We're talking AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Judas Priest, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, The Who, and many, many more. Even Metallica never charted higher than No. 10 with 1991's "Enter Sandman."

Nonetheless, some '70s rockers did eventually get their due — think Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty, Foreigner, and David Bowie — the kind of chart-topping due that more or less corresponded with their popularity and impact.

There's little chance that you don't know Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), even if you don't know that you don't know. "Fortunate Son," "Proud Mary," "Born on the Bayou," "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," and so forth: Just about every single CCR song is a masterclass in faultless, succinct, and singable songcraft. Practically all of the band's musical genius falls on the shoulders of singer and guitarist John Fogerty, who split from CCR after a relatively brief tenure of actively writing and recording music from 1967 to 1972. This flash-in-the-pan window of time makes their accomplishments all the more impressive.

And yet, CCR's legendary songs and status only ever carried it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and five times, no less. It took all the way until 2025 — over half a century after the band broke up — for John Fogerty to reach No. 1. Fogerty, mind you, not CCR. Fogerty fought the entire half-century to regain the rights to his CCR songs from Concord Records, and finally won in 2023. Then, he set about re-recording those songs and releasing them on an album of hits titled "Legacy –- The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years." A quick scan of the album's songs reveals exactly what hits Fogerty wrote.

So immense was Fogerty's impact, and so unforgettable was his music, that his collection of 50-year-old songs hit No. 1 on the Official Americana chart in 2025. This included downloads as well as physical record sales, which helped introduce his music to a new generation.

Is it possible to imagine modern rock music history without David Bowie? Starting with his initial release way back in 1964 under the name Davie Jones, Bowie mutated from era after era, donning one chameleonic, artistic shell after another. Bowie's final album, "Blackstar," was released a mere two days before his death in 2016. But despite his legacy, Bowie had to wait a full six years for his now-much-loved song "Space Oddity" to reach No. 1 in his home country. He released it in 1969 and it went nowhere. It then got released in 1975 and made its way to No. 1 for two weeks.

Interestingly, Bowie reached No. 1 the same year in the U.S. for the first time, but with a different song that very tellingly illustrates the cultural differences between the U.S. and U.K. While the downtempo, singer-songwriter track "Space Oddity" reached No. 1 in the U.K., the uptempo, dancey bopper "Fame" reached No. 1 in the U.S. (and conversely made little impact in the U.K.). In perfectly ironic fashion, "Fame" is actually a send-up of fame, complete with on-the-nose lines like, "Fame puts you where things are hollow."

"Space Oddity," meanwhile, got literally sent up into space right where Starman would have wanted it. In 2013, Commander Chris Hadfield created the first orbital music video, featuring him singing "Space Oddity" on the International Space Station. And to think, if not for a 1975 RCA release of "archive" singles that included "Space Oddity," the track would have never caught on with newer fans and made it to No. 1.

Originally a band of three Americans and three Brits (hence the name), Foreigner has long since carved out a chunk of the music-listening public's oozy, sentimental, rock ballad-loving heart. Founded in 1976 by Mick Jones, the only member of the original band who's stuck around till the present (as of late 2025), Foreigner has sold a whopping 80 million albums worldwide. It's also left behind a trail of hits that everyone knows by their hooks, even if they know nothing else about Foreigner: "Waiting for a Girl Like You," "Cold as Ice," and, top of the list, "I Want to Know What Love Is." But it wasn't until that last song hit the airwaves in 1984 that Foreigner got its first and only No. 1 hit, which also played a huge role in why singer Lou Gramm left.

"I Want to Know What Love Is" represented the apex of Foreigner's commercial success and also became the reason why the band went downhill. In what's become a never-ending bone of contention between Lou Gramm and Mick Jones, Gramm told The Sessions Panel a very specific story about how he and Jones co-wrote "I Want to Know What Love Is," despite Jones claiming that he wrote 95% of it. Gramm chalked it up to "greed," plain and simple. 

Gramm eventually left Foreigner in 1990, returned in 1992, left again in 2003, and then got inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame — along with Jones – in 2013. In late 2025, Gramm announced a final tour with Foreigner in 2026. Hopefully, the crowd's cheers will once again help him know what love is.

You might not guess it from looking at the guy, but Rick Springfield has been making music and playing on TV shows for quite some time. Indeed, Springfield was so young when he released his first 1972 album that its first song is titled "Mother Can You Carry Me." That album was much more of a hum-along, acoustic guitar affair built very much in the mold of "Revolver"-era Beatles, far different from the rock hit that everyone probably knows Springfield for: "Jessie's Girl," a song about a guy pining over his friend's girlfriend. That song, released in 1981, was Springfield's first and only No. 1 hit. 

Even though "Jessie's Girl" wouldn't come until almost a decade after Springfield's initial album, aptly titled "Beginnings," that album paved the way for Springfield's future. Its second track, "Speak to the Sky," is an odd, oompa-oompa, tuba-and-keys-filled outing that would make folks at a country fair slap their knees. Nonetheless, this might be exactly why it reached No. 14 and allowed Springfield to not wilt into '70s obscurity. 

Come 1977, Springfield made his first TV show appearance on "The Six Million Dollar Man," and in 1981, he landed his role on the soap opera, "General Hospital." "Jessie's Girl" hit the airwaves that same year. Springfield played on "General Hospital" all the way till 2013, making music all the while, though never to the same degree of acclaim as "Jessie's Girl." Nonetheless, he's still selling out stadium shows in late 2025.