As pointed out earlier, this song has a bass line, and so is not a capella.
Only by 13 years.
Wow, I really do have to learn to pay more attention to the posting dates in these threads! :o
I thought “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega might be a contender, but a quick look at Wikipedia indicates it never cracked the Top 40 (although the D&A remix certainly did).
There should be a helpful little zombie icon attached to these old threads.
Take 6’s “Spread Love” won a Grammy – does it have to be pop Top 40?
Very old thread.
Struggling for the right answer to “other than Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin, have any other a capella songs gone to number one both sides of the Atlantic?”
Found this thread in my Google searching and had to mention that Because I got High is not a capella.
It has instrumental accompaniment.
Can anyone help me with my question while I’m here?
I am such a loser.
Huey Lewis & the News did a fair number of a capella songs. None made the top 40?
Pentatonix got to number one here, did they do it in the UK?
Here’s a real oddity–Cheech and Chong’s “Sister Mary Elephant”, which hit the top 40 in early 1974 despite the fact it has no music OR singing. According to chart expert Joel Whitburn, it’s the only top 40 record with neither.
I don’t know if it was the a cappella version that charted, I can’t really tell from the Wiki article, but the Yes song Leave It was released in an a cappella version that I remember hearing on the radio more often than the album version (probably because it’s much, much better performed a cappella)…