Bruce Springsteen currently holds the record for most US Top 10 singles (12) without ever hitting #1. However, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band hit #1 with their cover of Blinded By The Light
Similarly, Bob Dylan reached #2 twice (Like A Rolling Stone, Rainy Day Women) but never #1. The Byrds hit #1 covering Mr. Tambourine Man.
In a US-specific example, The Kinks, while having multiple #1s in their home country, never got higher than #6 (Tired of Waiting For You, Come Dancing) in the US. But Herman’s Hermits got to #5 with their cover of Dandy.
Who else?
Like the thread title says, SUCCESSFUL artists only. I’m not interested in obscure acts, like The Arrows or the dude who wrote “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, who never had any chart success and are remembered today only as a trivia footnote to a hit song.
Is Shocking Blue successful enough to count? Bananarama had a couple other top 10 hits, but Shocking Blue gave them their only #1 hit on the Billboard Top 100.
Peter, Paul and Mary had a #1 hit with John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” in 1969, long before Denver became a household name. Up until then he was a hard-working singer-songwriter but only known on the folk circuit.
PP&M also had a minor hit (#30) with “For Lovin’ Me” by Gordon Lightfoot in 1965, a good five years before Lightfoot himself scored a hit in the US.
Carole King has had only one #1 Billboard hit as a singer (“It’s Too Late” in 1971). But, in the '60s, she was primarily a songwriter, and a number of her songs (some co-written with her then-husband Gerry Goffin) went to #1 for others, including “The Loco-Motion” (for both Little Eva, and later, for Grand Funk Railroad), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (The Shirelles), “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee), and “You’ve Got a Friend” (James Taylor).
King and Taylor both recorded “You’ve Got a Friend” at about the same time, with many of the same musicians (and King sang backup on Taylor’s version), but her version wasn’t released as a single at the time.
Linda Ronstadt’s “signature song” “Blue Bayou” was her highest charting hit at #3. It was written by and released by Roy Orbison in 1961 (highest ranking #26).
Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” not only beat out writer Dolly Parton’s 1973 release, but its 14 weeks at the top of the charts was a record in itself at the time. Even though she had a lot of hits, this was Whitney’s biggest song.
Big Mama Thornton’s original recording of “Hound Dog” was actually a #1 hit for her on the R&B charts in 1953, but of course Elvis’ version was number one on the US pop, country, and R&B charts in 1956.
The Big Mama Thornton version was re-released in 1956 to try and cash in, but it failed to chart.
Paul Anka had a pretty successful singing career (including ten top-10 US hits), but he co-wrote two songs which are probably much better known than anything he recorded himself:
He wrote “Johnny’s Theme,” the theme song for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (he let Carson write lyrics for it, so he could share in the royalties).
He wrote English lyrics for a French song (“Comme d’habitude”), which became “My Way” in English, and was a signature song for both Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Quiet Riot’s album Metal Health hit #1, but the highest charting single(#5) was a cover of Slade’s Cum On Feel The Noize. Slade’s original version was #1 in the UK, but only #98 in the USA.
Here is a cool video about the Quiet Riot version.
How about “It’s All Over Now” written by Bobby Womack, recorded by (Womack’s) Valentinos, charted on Billboard at #94; recorded a year later by the Stones and hit #1 on the British charts.
