#1 Motown Hits of the 1960's

[woodward]

I recently purchased on eBay a 62 page catalog entitled Fall/Winter 1985 Motown Catalog. Lots of interesting and valuable information included in it. It would be interesting to see similar data for 1971-1972 before Motown left Detroit.

The catalog had a listing of #1 Motown Hits of the 1960's so I decided to break it down by artist from the most to the least. Here is what I have accumulated.

There were a total of 48 songs that hit #1 in the 1960's.

First place with 12 songs - Supremes [[no surprise here)

Second place with 9 songs - Temptations

Third place with 5 songs - Stevie Wonder

Fourth place with 4 songs - Marvin Gaye

Fifth place with 3 songs - Miracles, Mary Wells

Sixth place with 2 songs - Martha & Vandellas, Four Tops, Junior Walker & All Stars, and Marvin & Tammi

Seventh place with 1 song - Marvelettes, Contours, Originals, Gladys Knight & Pips

[RanRan79]

Shouldn't Marvin's tally include the two with Tammi and not separately, or is that the way Motown broke it down?

[jobeterob]

Not sure where the list is from and if it is a Pop List or an R & B List. But Marvin & Tammi's songs did not get to #1 pop; but I don't think the Temptations had 9 #1 pop hits either - so maybe it's a run of both Charts.

[thanxal]

I still can't believe the Tops only had two #1s. Should have been at least eight.

[RanRan79]

Not sure where the list is from and if it is a Pop List or an R & B List. But Marvin & Tammi's songs did not get to #1 pop; but I don't think the Temptations had 9 #1 pop hits either - so maybe it's a run of both Charts.

I figured it was a combo of pop and r&b, as it should be since ignoring one for the other often doesn't give a clear picture of how popular some of the acts and songs really were.

[RanRan79]

I still can't believe the Tops only had two #1s. Should have been at least eight.

I'm most surprised that "Baby I Need Your Loving", "Ask the Lonely", "It's the Same Old Song" and "Still Water Love" weren't number one hits. It's mind boggling that "Baby I Need Your Loving" just missed the top 10! What were folks thinking? I might add "Standing In the Shadows of Love" to that list also.

Also think Martha and the Vandellas' numbers should be higher. "Dancing In the Street", "Nowhere to Run", "My Baby Loves Me" and "I'm Ready for Love" sound like easy number ones to my ears.

[longtimefan]

Not sure where the list is from and if it is a Pop List or an R & B List. But Marvin & Tammi's songs did not get to #1 pop; but I don't think the Temptations had 9 #1 pop hits either - so maybe it's a run of both Charts.

It must be a combination, in which case The Supremes would have more than 12. :-)

I don't think Martha and The Vandellas has 2 on the pop chart.

[motownjohnny]

Martha and The Vandellas did have two number 1's on the R&B chart in the U.S. - "Heat Wave" and "Jimmy Mack", but not on the pop charts. Surprisingly, "Dancing In The Street" didn't make it to no. 1 - it peaked at no. 2 on the pop charts and 8 on the R&B one.

[jobeterob]

In Great Britain, the Tops were more popular than the Temptations.

But yes, these figures are a mix of something.

[vgalindo]

Yes this list can not be Billboards pop charts. Mary Wells only had one number 1 song with My Guy. And I don't think Martha and the Vandellas had any number 1 pop hits.

[woodward]

Shouldn't Marvin's tally include the two with Tammi and not separately, or is that the way Motown broke it down?


The two Marvin and Tammi's were shown not separately. The songs were Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing and You're All I Need to Get By - both from 1968.

[woodward]

The two songs mentioned, Heat Wave and Jimmy Mack according to the discography in Wikipedia both hit #1 on the R & B chart. Apparently the person at Motown who compiled this official Motown publication failed to mention anything about #1 pop vs. #1 R&B.

The book is a 62 page publication of Motown Record Corporation.

[woodward]

According to the Four Tops discography at Wikipedia, the only two #1's were I Can't Help Myself and Reach Out. Both were #1 on both charts.
I wholeheartedly agree with your statement there should have been eight.