In honor of the legendary diva’s birthday, we’ve ranked the biggest songs of her inimitable six-decade-long career.
To celebrate superstar dance/pop diva Cher‘s 74th birthday today (May 20), Billboard has unveiled the legendary performer’s top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits.
As we … turn back time … in our chart archives, we find that the Academy-, Emmy- and Grammy Award-winner’s 1973 No. 1 hit “Half Breed” leads this exclusive list.
The Cher song is one of five No. 1s on this tally; four are by Cher as a solo artist and one from her time as half of Sonny & Cher. The husband-and-wife duo place five songs on this recap, including all five of its top 10 Hot 100 hits.
At No. 20 on the tally is Cher’s debut chart hit as a soloist, the Bob Dylan-penned “All I Really Want to Do,” which arrived on the Hot 100 dated July 3, 1965 (the same week that the Byrds’ version of the song bowed; her recording went on to peak at No. 15, while their take hit No. 40.) A week later, Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” debuted.
Here are the 20 biggest Cher songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rank. Title, Hot 100 Peak Year, Position (Weeks Spent at No. 1)
1. “Half Breed” 1973 Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (two weeks)
2. “Believe” 1999 Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (four)
3. “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” 1971 Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (two)
4. “I Got You Babe” 1965 Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (three)*
5. “Dark Lady” 1974 Hot 100 Peak: No. 1 (one)
6. “If I Could Turn Back Time” 1989 Hot 100 Peak: No. 3
7. “Just Like Jesse James” 1989 Hot 100 Peak: No. 8
8. “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” 1966 Hot 100 Peak: No. 2
9. “After All” 1989 Hot 100 Peak: No. 6
10. “I Found Someone” 1988 Hot 100 Peak: No. 10
11. “Take Me Home” 1979 Hot 100 Peak: No. 8
12. “The Beat Goes On” 1967 Hot 100 Peak: No. 6*
13. “All I Ever Need Is You” 1971 Hot 100 Peak: No. 7*
14. “The Way Of Love” 1972 Hot 100 Peak: No. 7
15. “A Cowboy’s Work Is Never Done” 1972 Hot 100 Peak: No. 8*
16. “Baby Don’t Go” 1965 Hot 100 Peak: No. 8*
17. “You Better Sit Down Kids” 1967 Hot 100 Peak: No. 9
18. “We All Sleep Alone” 1988 Hot 100 Peak: No. 14
19. “Love and Understanding” 1991 Hot 100 Peak: No. 17
20. “All I Really Want to Do” 1965 Hot 100 Peak: No. 15
* Sonny & Cher
** Cher & Peter Cetera
This ranking is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart, through the May 23, 2020 ranking. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from each era, certain time frames were weighted to account for the difference between turnover rates from those years. (Thus, a song like “Half Breed,” which spent two weeks at No. 1 and 20 weeks on the chart in 1973, is ahead of “Believe” on this list. That’s despite the latter’s four weeks at No. 1, and 31 weeks on the chart, in 1998-99).
