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Reading many posts about the passing of the all-time great keyboardist and singer-songwriter Christine McVie, and it got me to thinking: ‘Just how many hits did Fleetwood Mac have?’ Well, I went to Wikipedia and looked up the numbers for the three biggest global markets: the United States, the UK, and (West) Germany. While most (not all) of these chart hits are well-remembered today all over the world, this served as a good exercise as to why chart positions do not tell the whole tale. A good number of the most popular songs from their two most popular albums - 1975’s Fleetwood Mac and 1977’s Rumours - were never released as commercial singles, and therefore were not eligible to chart. So for those wondering where are ‘The Chain,’ ‘Gold Dust Woman,’ ‘Songbird,’ the studio version of ‘Landslide,’ ‘Never Going Back Again,’ 'Oh Daddy,' 'World Turning,' or ‘I’m So Afraid,’ they are not here. This was actually very smart business, largely pioneered by The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and then taken to another level by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and most of the major rock bands of the time: Make people buy the album if they want the hits. And we all know the self-titled Fleetwood Mac and Rumours sold more copies than the Bible, and continue to sell in large numbers to this day …
More interesting caveats and factoids: Peter Green’s ‘Black Magic Woman’ was a middling chart hit in the UK in 1967, but became a major hit for Santana in 1970. The haunting ‘Hypnotized’ was a popular album rock radio hit in 1973, and one may still hear it on some classic rock stations today. ‘Sentimental Lady’ was originally done by the band in 1972 and was released as a single, but failed to chart anywhere. Bob Welch - with Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and Lindsey Buckingham backing him - re-recorded it in 1978, and it did become a major hit in the United States at that time, peaking at number 8. And the Stevie Nicks classic ‘Silver Springs,’ from 1997’s huge-selling comeback album, The Dance, was not released as a commercial single, but the song was everywhere and undeniably a hit by any other standard. As for solo work, Christine McVie had one fairly big hit in 1984 with ‘Got a Hold of Me’ (number 10 in the U.S.), while Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and the aforementioned Bob Welch all had multiple hit singles on their own. Much of the reason for this disparity is that Christine simply did not record very much in the way of solo material, and she did retire from the music business for a lengthy spell beginning in 1998 before eventually returning. In fact, just in the last year she was out on the road with Fleetwood Mac …
Interesting to note that Fleetwood Mac’s most commercially successful period as a singles act in the UK was actually during the Peter Green era in the late ‘60s, whereas the period between 1975 and 1977 was easily their biggest period in the U.S. The singles from those two big records performed much more modestly in the UK and Germany, perhaps a testament to how dramatically American and European musical tastes diverged around that time. However, 45 years later, I’m fairly certain those albums and songs are just as well-known and beloved in the UK as they are in America or anywhere else. Their biggest-ever hit in the UK, and only number one, is an instrumental, the immortal ‘Albatross.’ Their only number one in America is, not surprisingly, ‘Dreams’ (but only 24 in the UK, and 33 in Germany.) Notice how barren the period between 1971 and 1974 is; the sad thing about that is the group actually made some really great records during that period. Future Games, the first album with Christine as a full member from 1971, is a particular favorite of mine. Sadly, ‘Dragonfly’ is the only Danny Kirwan song to chart anywhere (No. 52 in 1970 in the UK), but so many of his songs are absolute gems that deserved to be heard. My favorite Fleetwood Mac album will always be Then Play On, from 1969: Christine McVie was not an official member of the band at the time, but she was very much in their orbit as Mrs. John McVie, and does contribute some keyboards on it. (I will take this opportunity to point out that Mr. McVie is one of the most underrated bassists ever, bar none) ...
Commercial hits do not tell the whole tale of any artist or band, nor do they necessarily speak to musical quality. There are at least a few Fleetwood Mac ‘deep tracks’ - particularly from that commercially-barren period in the early ‘70s - that I would rank ahead of some of these songs that charted. ‘Sisters of the Moon’ may have only reached no. 86, but on every level it is far superior to ‘Big Love,’ a worldwide top ten in 1987. But the impressive tallies of Fleetwood Mac certainly speaks to how beloved and influential they will forever be. So, without further ado, here are the lists of all the top 100 Fleetwood Mac singles from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Thank you for your life, Christine McVie, and condolences to (first and foremost) John, Mick, Lindsey, Stevie, and all the others still living that came and went through this amazing band over the years. It is hard to imagine that with Christine gone, Lindsey Buckingham out of the picture, and everyone else being up in years that Fleetwood Mac is going to continue. I am immensely grateful this legendary band existed, and their music will live forever. -
UK [28 total]: 1967 - 'Black Magic Woman' (37); 1968 - 'Need Your Love So Bad' (31), 'Albatross' (1); 1969 - 'Man of the World' (2), 'Oh Well' (2); 1970 - 'Green Manalishi' (10), 'Dragonfly' (52); 1976 - 'Rhiannon' (46), 'Say You Love Me' (40), 'Go Your Own Way' (38); 1977 - 'Dreams' (24), 'Don’t Stop' (32), 'You Make Loving Fun' (45); 1979 - 'Tusk' (6), 'Sara' (37); 1982 - 'Hold Me' (94), 'Gypsy' (46), 'Oh Diane' (9); 1983 - 'Can’t Go Back' (83); 1987 - 'Big Love' (9), 'Seven Wonders' (56), 'Little Lies' (5); 1988 - 'Everywhere' (4), 'Family Man' (54), 'Isn’t It Midnight' (60), 'As Long As You Follow' (66); 1990 - 'Save Me' (53), 'In the Back of My Mind' (58).
America [25 total]: 1969 - 'Oh Well' (55); 1975 - 'Over My Head' (20); 1976 - 'Rhiannon' (11), 'Say You Love Me' (11), 'Go Your Own Way' (10); 1977 - 'Dreams' (1), 'Don’t Stop' (3), 'You Make Loving Fun' (9); 1979 - 'Tusk' (8), 'Sara' (7); 1980 - 'Think About Me' (20), 'Sisters of the Moon' (86); 1981 - 'Fireflies' (60); 1982 - 'Hold Me' (4), 'Gypsy' (12), 'Love In Store' (22); 1987 - 'Big Love' (5), 'Seven Wonders' (19), 'Little Lies' (4); 1988 - 'Everywhere' (14), 'Family Man' (90), 'As Long As You Follow' (43); 1990 - 'Save Me' (33); 1998 - 'Landslide,' live version (51); 2003 - 'Peacekeeper' (80).
Germany [18 total]: 1968 - 'Albatross' (19); 1969 - 'Man of the World' (23), 'Oh Well' (5); 1970 - 'Green Manalishi' (16); 1976 - 'Go Your Own Way' (11); 1977 - 'Dreams' (33), 'Don’t Stop' (41); 1979 - 'Tusk' (7), 'Sara' (44); 1982 - 'Hold Me' (64), 'Gypsy' (35), 'Oh Diane' (46); 1987 - 'Big Love' (17), 'Seven Wonders' (47), 'Little Lies' (3); 1988 - 'Family Man' (29); 1990 - 'Save Me' (36); 1997 - 'Temporary One,' live version (99).
