Artists with at least 20 recognizable hits

Interesting thread. The "recognizable" qualifier is the kicker. While an artist may have managed to rack up an impressive amount of hit singles the longer you get from their "prime" history begins to boil their careers down to a handful of memorable songs.

My personal favorite, Olivia Newton-John, had a long string of Top 40 hits across the pop, country, adult contemporary and even R&B charts from 1973 until 1985, but today in 2019, she's basically remembered for being in "Grease." I work with high school and college students and "Grease" is about the extent of their ONJ knowledge. So it's a good chance that depending on the age of the people you ask I'd say that most people will give you the "Grease" tracks first.
1. You're The One That I Want
2. Hopelessly Devoted To You
3. Summer Night

Beyond that, they might know
4. Physical (or as it's become known as "Let's Get Physical.")

And maaaaybe they'll be familiar with the big hits from "Xanadu" since that movie has a cult following and was a hit Broadway show not too long ago.
5. Magic
6. Xanadu

I'd say that viewers of "Stranger Things" would recognize
7. Twist of Fate (a #5 hit from late '83/early '84)
since that was used in a popular episode

After that?
8. I Honestly Love You?

That's just eight (out of over 30) hits that I would say the "man on the street" would be familiar with.
Which is a shame because she's had some really great singles that seemed to have been lost to time.
Song like,
9. If Not For You
10. Let Me Be There
11. If You Love Me, Let Me Know
12. Have You Never Been Mellow
13. Please Mr. Please
14. Don't Stop Believin'
15. Sam
16. A Little More Love
17. Deeper Than The Night
18. Suddenly
19. Make A Move On Me
20. Soul Kiss

Fans know all of these songs, but I would be surprised if they register with the average person nowadays.
Does she get played on "oldies" stations as much as say Elton John or The Carpenters?

 

Hey, no fair padding her resume with a Journey song!

 

Very good point. I grew up during ONJ's "reign" on the charts. Her very early stuff like Please Mr. Please was a little before my time, but I was in grade school when Grease got popular and I remember her most for her album "Totally Hot" because she was. It seems like from a hit perspective she was pretty much done after that. But to your point, I couldn't tell anyone anything about her big hits before Grease. I'm pretty good with 70s pop music, but out of your list of 9-20, there are 7 that I know from the title so I imagine most people my age or younger would be clueless to most or all of those songs.

 

Not in USA

 

Don't worry, this was a ridiculous entry even for the US.

 

For the Golden Earring it is possible to make such a list, but only within the Netherlands

 

I'd say only 4-5 of those are widely recognized by the general public (not ONLY the young people). Though, of course, most were hits.

 

Makes sense.

 

Here's a list of the biggest-charting artists in the U.S.
https://ena.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisat_of_best-charting_music_artists_in_the_United_States
Note that is only a list of artists' singles, not the artists' most-remembered songs.

 

I don't think BLONDIE has been mentioned yet, apologies if they have.

X Offender
In The Flesh
Rip Her To Shreds
Denis
(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear
Hanging On The Telephone
One Way Or Another
Picture This
Heart Of Glass
Sunday Girl
Dreaming
Atomic
Union City Blue
Call Me
The Tide Is High
Rapture
Island Of Lost Souls
War Child
Maria
Good Boys
Long Time

For some reason they weren't all that popular in the US (a lack of good taste is a possibility), but most of these songs were top 40 hits either in the UK or Australia.
Some became well known through their use in commercials, Television or films such as One Way Or Another.

 

Maybe "Mother's" list reflects local preferences, but it's sure not global. "DJ"?

"All the Young Dudes" is recognizable as a Mott song, not a Bowie song.

And the list leaves off "Life on Mars?", one that's gotten very well-known, as well as "Ziggy"!

 

Definitely Madonna - just a ridiculous number of hits there. I did the tally in another thread and the total was something like 38 top 10 US hits!

But overall you're right. People are picking songs that even fans of the artist might not know, much less the Great Unwashed!

 

In the U.S., the bolded ones are likely best remembered.
Hey, if John Lennon only has 2 (Imagine, the Christmas song), then same for this group.

Maybe the record co. didn't release those songs in the U.S. as singles?
Big mistake as one of them, from 1980, I can't recall its title at the moment, had a distinctive 1960s Motown vibe to it.

 

Kate Bush: 17 x top 20's, and about 23 top 40 inc those 17

 

Synchronicity II?

 

Rapture went to #1 in the US, the first song to contain a Rap segment to do so, so you would think it would be remembered.

There were a couple of songs from the Parallel Lines albums that were released in some countries, but not others. Sunday Girl was released in the UK but not the US, and One Way Or Another was released in the US, but not in the UK. It probably would have been a huge hit in the UK if released as it's always been a fan favourite.

 

I grew up during ONJ’s heyday, and I certainly remember Let Me Be There, If You Love Me, Let Me Know, Have You Never Been Mellow, and Please Mr. Please as huge radio hits.

 

I recognize Peace Train, Wild World, etc. but have never heard of Lady D’Arbanville, Moonshadow, I Love My Dog, etc.

 

Thinking of Queen's recognisable songs,

Killer Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
You're My Best Friend
Love of My Life (flopped as a single, but well known through live performances)
Somebody To Love
We Are The Champions
We Will Rock You
Bicycle Race
Fat Bottomed Girls
Don't Stop Me Now
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Another One Bites The Dust
Under Pressure
Radio Ga Ga
I Want To Break Free
Hammer To Fall
One Vision
A Kind of Magic
I Want It All
These Are The Days of Our Lives

These are genuinely well known in the UK and get played a lot on radio, in adverts, cover versions etc. Queen's music seems to be everywhere here, even before the film. There are more very familiar songs too, but the ones above don't seem to fade. They are almost all on the massive selling Greatest Hits albums too. I know Queen aren't as beloved in the US as they are here, but I still expect at least half of those would be well known there too.

 

Tear It Up?!

 

Beatles and stones.
Maybe beach boys.
Beatles in 5 years
Stones in 40 years

 

Can you name 20 hits from them?
I can’t even think of 5 to be honest that we’re huge songs.

 

I'm not a singles guy ... It got lots of airplay in Aus ... I actually assumed it was a single
Apologies

 

Glenn Miller would have kicked butt on this thread, 50 years ago.

 

I would reduce the number of highly recognizable songs to these:

Joy To The World
Shambala

You think people recognized Pieces Of April, Let Me Serenade You, Sure As I'm Sittin' Here and Play Something Sweet?

While all those on the list were charting hits, that doesn't mean they're as recognized as songs like Imagine today.
But then again, neither are most Paul McCartney solo songs. I can only name a handful of McCartney songs that stand the test of time.