Classic Rock Albums With The Most Hit Singles, Ranked

A precious few classic rock albums are spoken of in rarefied air because of the absurd volume of hit singles they contain. While they were certainly significant on their own, these LPs all earned their spot in 20th-century music history for generating the most high-charting singles, which were all over the radio for months. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, the first two decades of the classic rock era, record labels didn't repeatedly release singles from their artists' albums, often because singles were standalone affairs or because acts would quickly head back into the studio and come out with a new LP to promote. By the 1980s, the conventional wisdom shifted: Album sales could remain robust for many months or even years if new promotional singles hit record stores and radio stations in succession. Fans would give in and purchase an LP once they knew it included so many familiar and likable songs. 

While three or four singles were commonplace, some LPs were little hit factories, sending upwards of five songs into the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100. Here are the classic albums by rock acts such as Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, ranked from most to least hit singles, which were a seemingly endless source of hits.

Critically adored in the 1970s for both his stark portraits of American life and anthemic singles, Bruce Springsteen, with or without the E Street Band, didn't have a Top 10 hit until "Hungry Heart" in 1980. That showed that the bluesy, thoughtful, and literary Springsteen could also be a pop star, a notion confirmed with the release of the "Born in the U.S.A." LP in 1984. The lead-off single "Dancing in the Dark" was the broadest and most radio-friendly of Springsteen's career to that point, and the synth-driven tune soared to No. 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1984, the musician's best-charting track ever.

Following "Dancing in the Dark" on the singles chart was the rowdy and simmering rocker "Cover Me," which peaked at No. 7 in October 1984. Then came the outspokenly political screed of a title track disguised as a patriotic jam, which made it to No. 9 in January 1985. The sensual "I'm on Fire," nostalgic rave-up "Glory Days," and plaintive "I'm Goin' Down" reached No. 6, No. 5, and No. 9 in mid-1985, respectively, with "My Hometown" heading up at No. 6 in January 1986. That's seven Top 10 smash hits for Springsteen, all from one album.

U.K. populist hard rock band Def Leppard's breakthrough 1983 album "Pyromania" would go on to sell over 10 million copies, but it took the group about four years to deliver another LP. This was a direct result of a tragic chapter in Def Leppard's story: Rick Allen's harrowing car accident that resulted in the loss of an arm. His recovery and relearning the drums meant that the '80s group was out of the public eye for a long time, but pent-up demand for new Def Leppard material meant that 1987's "Hysteria" was an absolute monster, moving 12 million copies and unleashing six pop hits (and one that barely charted).

"Animal" led the charge, peaking at a modest No. 19 in late December 1987. The next single, "Women," faltered, only getting as far as No. 80, but Def Leppard recovered when the layered titular power ballad "Hysteria" cruised into the Top 10 in March 1988. Hair metal classic "Pour Some Sugar on Me" did even better by topping out at No. 2, followed by the soaring and bitter power ballad "Love Bites," which went all the way to No. 1 for a week in October of '88. The raucous "Armageddon It" reached No. 3 early the next year, and the "Hysteria" frenzy ended with the No. 12 hit "Rocket" that spring.

Back in the 1970s, Genesis ranked among the most challenging and ambitious of all progressive rock bands. After original frontman Peter Gabriel exited in 1975, drummer Phil Collins took on lead singer duties. Over the next decade, the band gradually dropped its weirder impulses in favor of a broadly appealing and mainstream pop-rock sensibility. This new Genesis was fully realized with the 1986 album "Invisible Touch" and its five hit singles.

Propelled by the powerful pipes of Collins, who by that point had also become a solo soft rock superstar, Genesis had the public's attention. Collins proved he could still rock as effectively as he sang ballads: Within a year, all five singles from "Invisible Touch" peaked within the Top 5 of the Hot 100, including "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight," "Land of Confusion, "In Too Deep," and "Throwing It All Away." The jittery title song even spent a week at No. 1, until it was knocked off the chart throne by former band member Peter Gabriel with his only No. 1 hit, "Sledgehammer."

Huey Lewis and the News was a new wave band outfitted with muscular guitars, lyrical saxophone solos, and their frontman's raspy, vulnerable vocals. Huey Lewis is worth a lot of money, and a significant portion of that wealth comes from the revenue generated by a string of hits from two consecutive 1980s classic rock albums: "Sports" and Fore!," both of which stormed the charts with five hits apiece. 

In 1983, Huey Lewis and the News released the LP "Sports," full of adult-oriented, easygoing, populist rock that resonated with millions of Americans. Five singles from that 7-million-selling record placed in the Top 20: "Heart and Soul," "I Want a New Drug," "Walking on a Thin Line," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," and "If This Is It." The band went on to deliver an iconic soundtrack song for the summer of 1985's blockbuster movie, "Back to the Future," which helped catapult "The Power of Love" to the top spot of the Hot 100.

Remarkably, when Huey Lewis and the News returned with new music in 1986 in the form of the album "Fore!," the residual attention from "Sports" and "The Power of Love" helped make it another LP with five hits. Besting the feat of "Sports," all of them peaked in the Top 10. Along with "Hip to Be Square," "I Know What I Like," and "Doing It All for My Baby," both "Stuck With You" and "Jacob's Ladder" climbed to No. 1.

In the early 1980s, New Jersey musician John Bongiovi assembled a band and named it after an anglicized spelling of his last name. Bon Jovi was born, and while they began as a simple hard rock band, they adopted a hybrid of arena rock and hair metal. That formula proved to be exactly what hordes of rock fans of the time were after, as demonstrated by the success of 1986's "Slippery When Wet." Bon Jovi didn't keep the millions who bought "Slippery When Wet" waiting long, and "New Jersey" arrived in 1988.

In terms of hit songs, "New Jersey" was even more fruitful and generous than its predecessor. Lead-off single "Bad Medicine" shot to No. 1 in November 1988, while "Born to Be My Baby" got up to No. 3 in February 1989. The rest of the year, Bon Jovi was all over the Hot 100. "I'll Be There For You" was also a No. 1 hit, while subsequent releases "Lay Your Hands on Me" and "Living in Sin" both entered the Top 10. That's five huge singles in total from "New Jersey."