Most UK No.1 singles by a songwriter

John Lennon (UK) has scored 30 No.1 hits on the UK’s Official Singles Chart as a songwriter, including 18 as a member of The Beatles (in collaboration with Paul McCartney) and three as a solo artist: “(Just Like) Starting Over”, “Imagine” and “Woman”. Additionally, he co-wrote eight UK chart-toppers, alongside McCartney, for other artists: “Bad to Me” (Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas); “A World Without Love” (Peter & Gordon); “Michelle” (The Overlanders); “With a Little Help from My Friends” (Joe Cocker in 1968, Wet Wet Wet in 1988 (as a double A-side with “She’s Leaving Home” by Billy Bragg & Cara Tivey) and Sam & Mark in 2004); “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” (Marmalade) and “Let It Be” (Ferry Aid). Lennon also penned Roxy Music’s “Jealous Guy”, which, after his fatal shooting on 8 December 1980, climbed to No.1 on 14 March 1981.

Credited to all four members of The Beatles, “Now and Then”, originally written and recorded by Lennon as a home demo in the late 1970s and finished by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr from abandoned 1995 Anthology 1 sessions, climbed to No.1 on the UK Official Singles Chart on 16 November 2023 to give Lennon a 30th and McCartney a 29th UK chart-topper.

“With a Little Help from My Friends”/“She’s Leaving Home”, the double A-side of Lennon-McCartney compositions covered by Wet Wet Wet/Billy Bragg & Cara Tivey in 1988, is counted as one chart-topper rather than two separate No.1 singles.