These Songs Ended The Longest No. 1 Streaks In Classic Rock History

So many songs that we now regard as hallmarks of classic rock aren't just legacy hits — they were bona fide pop smashes when first released. Such guitar-driven rock 'n' roll bangers topped the Billboard Hot 100, the pop chart of record in the United States, for six weeks or more apiece. But not even the longest No. 1 streaks in classic rock history could go on forever. After their cultural saturation went into effect, and people stopped buying the 45s and bombarding radio stations with requests, they dropped from the top spot, replaced with another. It's those songs that go down in classic rock history for toppling the mightiest rock hits ever.

The singles that happened to be rising in popularity at the exact moment when monumental, cultural touchstone songs began to fall out of favor aren't necessarily as memorable or important as the ones they replaced at No. 1. There are shifts involved, but also luck, and these transitions are fascinating time capsules into the tastes of certain moments in time. Here then are the giant killers, the songs by The Supremes, The Rolling Stones, Vangelis, and The Eurythmics that took away the No. 1 position from the Beatles, Zager and Evans, Three Dog Night, Joan Jett, and The Police.

No act has ever taken more singles to the No. 1 spot than The Beatles. Of the Fab Four's 20 chart toppers, "Hey Jude" was the biggest hit. Just two weeks after it debuted on the Hot 100 in September 1968, it was the No. 1 song in the country, and it held firm there for nine weeks. A seven-minute tune with a lengthy, celebratory, sing-along outro, Paul McCartney conceived the song to console Julian Lennon, son of his bandmate John Lennon, upon the news of his father's divorce.

It's fitting that the group that knocked The Beatles from their Billboard perch was the only one that came remotely close in terms of pop chart success. The Supremes had 12 No. 1 hits, all in the 1960s, and "Love Child," which ascended to No. 1 on November 30, 1968, would be their second-to-last. The premier purveyors of the Motown Records brand, The Supremes also launched the career of lead singer Diana Ross. "Love Child" represented a major transition for the trio as they approached their final days. It was their first No. 1 under the billing of "Diana Ross and The Supremes," while also ditching their pop-R&B style for a groovier, funkier, late-'60s sound.

"In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" was a menacing science fiction diatribe about humanity's future set to chugging acoustic guitars. In the summer of 1969, this single by harmonizing folk-rockers Zager & Evans went all the way to No. 1. And for six weeks, that was the song that the most Americans wanted to hear, one in which each verse jumps forward by hundreds of years to detail developments like food pills, an evolution away from teeth and eyes, and the end of the world.

On August 23, 1969, "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones, a classic rock song with more cowbell than "(Don't Fear) the Reaper," began a stay in the No. 1 slot. A derivation of a previously recorded and released Rolling Stones attempt at traditional American music called "Country Honk," "Honky Tonk Women" hit stores the same week that the band mourned the death of just-exited guitarist Brian Jones. The fifth of eight No. 1 hits for the band in the U.S., no Rolling Stones song would ever top the four weeks that "Honky Tonk Women" enjoyed there.

The longest-running No. 1 hit of 1971, with a six-week occupation of the apex of the Hot 100, and the most successful single overall of that year, was "Joy to the World." Quirky but undeniably catchy, "Joy to the World" is an anthem about peace and fun that's also full of groovy organ licks, the voices of the band's three singers, and the emphatic and memorable first line, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog!" Frequently used in TV shows and movies since, it was the most significant hit for Three Dog Night, a successful but ultimately forgotten musical act of the 1970s.

It's a rock song from the '70s that aged poorly, but nevertheless, the song that ended Three Dog Night's tight grasp on No. 1 status was "Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones. At the time, the ultra-famous rock band was mired in scandal, with most of its members moving out of England in favor of France and its more agreeable taxation rates, and then releasing a song widely reported to be about the objectification of a woman of color. "Brown Sugar" moved into the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 on May 29, 1971.

Long periods of time and Joan Jett and The Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" are intrinsically related. It took Jett years to record the song, let alone bask in its success. Originally written and performed by British pop-rock act Arrows, Jett couldn't convince her cohort in the late '70s band The Runaways to record it. When she went solo, her first version was relegated to the B-side of a European single release. After she founded The Blackhearts and rerecorded "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," the taut and tight stomper got massive, spending seven weeks as the No. 1 song in the United States in the spring of 1982.

While synth pop, new wave, arena rock, and Jett ruled the charts in 1982, a new age composer outperformed everyone else for a week. For the week of May 8, 1982, the No. 1 song in the country was "Chariots of Fire — Titles," a showy and enchanting excerpt from the score of "Chariots of Fire," a drama about British runners competing in the 1924 Olympics. The synthesizer-created, sweeping score was the first film work for instrumental artist Vangelis, and the musical portion went to No. 1 in the U.S. after the musician had already won the Academy Award for best music, original score.

With an earnest and plaintive guitar riff and lyrics seemingly about love and devotion (but actually telling an alarming story about a stalker), "Every Breath You Take" was somehow the biggest song of 1983, according to Billboard. The Police scored nine top 40 hits across their career, but "Every Breath You Take" was the only one to go to No. 1, and stayed put there for eight weeks.

After that long domination, the follow-up No. 1 hit spent only a single week at the very top, and that song was "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics, lording over the Hot 100 the week of September 3, 1983. The duo, a vehicle for the passionate and operatic vocal stylings of Annie Lennox and the studio trickery and multi-instrumental mastery of Dave Stewart, brought the sound that would define the '80s with "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." A slice of icy, brooding, and menacing synth pop, the electronics-heavy single kicked off Eurythmics' period as hit-makers.