(March 21, 2025). Diana Ross has a birthday coming up (March 26). As a lifelong fan, combined with the occasion of Women’s History Month, I’m celebrating by recalling one of the greatest chart runs any group has had in Billboard’s long history. With Ms. Ross being the lone surviving original member of the greatest “girl group” of all time, with twelve! No. 1 songs to their credit from 1964-69, it’s worth remembering just how formidable the Supremes were as they unleashed one chart-topping classic after another.
Motown’s premier group, which included the late Mary Wilson and late Florence Ballard, were raised in Detroit’s Brewster Projects. After signing with Motown as teenagers and first recording under the name the Primettes (as a sister group to the Primes, who were later the Temptations), the girls struggled to land a hit during their first two years with Berry Gordy’s label. But once they broke through with their first No. 1, “Where Did Our Love Go?” in 1964, there was no stopping them. Their next four singles also went to No. 1, making them the first act — male or female — to top the Billboard Hot 100 with five consecutive releases (all in the span of 9 months).
Equally astonishing, this happened just as the Beatles arrived and launched the British Invasion. Imagine three poor Black girls growing up in public housing with nary a chance to make it becoming the country’s biggest domestic musical act. Black women had topped the charts sporadically, but never with the frequency that the Supremes would. No American group had for that matter. And this was at a time when the British music scene was dominating US airwaves, thanks to the Fab Four and a host of others from across the pond topping the Hot 100 with unprecedented regularity.
But the Supremes — barely out of their teens — were undaunted. Nine of their 12 No. 1 singles were preceded or followed at the top by UK acts. Of those nine, five were adjacent to No. 1 songs by either the Beatles or The Rolling Stones — long considered the rock era’s two greatest rock bands. In one case, a Supremes No. 1 hit was sandwiched between No. 1s by the Beatles AND the Stones.
This battle of chart titans started with 1964’s “Come See About Me,” the girls’ third No. 1 single that year. The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” dethroned it in December 1964, but three weeks later, the Supremes reclaimed the top spot. It took Britain’s Petula Clark going “Downtown” to KO “Come See About Me” with a final blow in January ‘65.
Two months later, the Supremes and the Beatles clashed again. Their fourth No. 1, “Stop! In the Name of Love,” halted the Fab-some’s calendar-challenged “Eight Days a Week” in March, before another British act, Freddie and the Dreamers, delivered the Supremes a verbal takedown with “I’m Telling You Now.”
Later in November 1965, the Supremes took on the group who would become second only to the Beatles among British bands — the Stones — who had just knocked the Fab Four’s “Yesterday” from the top with “Get Off My Cloud,” only to be toppled from chart heaven two weeks later by Diana, Mary and Flo with the celestial “I Hear a Symphony,” which became the trio’s sixth chart topper.
By March 1967, the Supremes’ ninth No. 1, “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone,” found itself in a no-love-lost showdown between the Stones, who topped the charts first with the equally mournful “Ruby Tuesday,” and the Beatles, who followed “Love Is Here” with “Penny Lane.” Each song held the top spot for one week with the Supremes sandwiched between the two rock behemoths.
And finally, after a personnel change that saw Florence Ballard being replaced by Cindy Birdsong, the Supremes were the David to the Beatles’ Goliath when their “Love Child” upended the foursome’s biggest hit, “Hey Jude,” after a nine-week run at the top. It was the fourth time the Beatles and Supremes had gone back-to-back at the top of the Hot 100, which still represents the most ever between any two acts with four different song pairings.
The Supremes faced off against UK acts four other times, with “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” and ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ all trading No. 1 spots with The Animals, Manfred Mann, Donovan, and the New Vaudeville Band.
The only Supremes chart toppers that were sandwiched between all-American hits at No. 1 were “Back In My Arms Again” (replacing The Beach Boys, replaced by the Four Tops), “The Happening” (succeeding Frank & Nancy Sinatra, preceding The Young Rascals), and “Someday We’ll Be Together” (bookended by Peter, Paul & Mary and by BJ Thomas).
So the Supremes not only made history by becoming the American act with more No. 1 singles than any other in the 1960s, they also held court by battling some of the biggest bands — in fact, THE biggest on four occasions — from across the pond.
In an era when the British Invasion dominated the charts, the Supremes stood their ground, proving that American soul and pop had just as much power and staying power as rock’s biggest titans. They weren’t just Motown’s crown jewel — they were a force of their own, repeatedly trading blows with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones at the very top, and amassing twelve No. 1s before they were out of their mid-20s.
Their success wasn’t just a triumph for women in music, but for Black artists who shattered barriers on their way to making history. More than half a century later, their songs remain anthems, their legacy untouchable, and their chart battles a testament to just how supreme they truly were.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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Hi Rob – I don’t have my Whitburn in front of me, but I think “Love Is Here” was between “Ruby Tuesday” and “Penny Lane,” not “All You Need Is Love” (which came out in summer).
Let me check and correct that!