Succeed yourself at #1

Casey answered a question this week (back in 1975) about artists replacing themselves at #1.  In ordinary times of the 70's and 80's, it seems possible but unlikely.  A follow-up song would have to be released while the earlier record was either on its way up or already #1, potentially stealing some of the sales or airplay from the earlier record.   Runs at #1 were also quite short in this time frame.

Also, until the early 2000's, "releasing" a record involved printing physical copies and shipping them to record stations and record stores.  This led to even very popular artists who pulled off multiple #1's from an album usually separated by at least a few months.

Casey noted the two times it had happened, both involving unusual breakouts by artists.  The first was Elvis, whose first top 100 hit went all the way to #1 -- "Heartbreak Hotel."  The releases then came fast and furious, and while "Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog" perched at #1 for 11 weeks, "Love me Tender" climbed and succeeded it on all the component charts.

The next run was in 1964 when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" spurred the release of all sorts of Beatles records which were owned by various labels.  In the scrum that followed, the Beatles at one point held the top 5 positions on the chart (still unmatched), and had 3 back-to-back #1's after "She Loves You" and "Can't Buy Me Love" ascended to the top.

Casey predicted this wouldn't happen again for a LONG, LONG time, and he was right!

Even just to have two #1's back to back was quite rare through the rest of the century.  Later that very year, back to back #1's were by Neil Sedaka and then Elton John.  But Sedaka's "Bad Blood" had Elton John on backing vocals.  Today, he certainly would've been credited as "featuring."

A few have come close due to huge surge in popularity -- The Bee Gees only had a couple week pause each between their 3 #1s from "Saturday Night Fever"  (including a week with all 3 in the top 10).  Donna Summer had a short gap and held 2 of the top 3 with "Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff."  Michael Jackson missed by only one week in 1983 between Billie Jean and Beat it, thwarted by "Come on Eileen."

It wasn't until 1994 that Boyz II Men hit #1 with "I'll Make Love to You" and stayed at #1 a record-tying 14 weeks, allowing "On Bended Knee" to climb and replace it.  That was made possible partly by chart methodologies changing so that airplay and sales were measured electronically rather than reported by record stores and stations (who often stopped reporting songs that they were still playing/selling to make room for new songs).

Since then, two other big changes have made replacing yourself at #1 easier...the aforementioned tidal wave of "featured" artists, and then the advent of releasing songs digitally, which avoids many time delays of the old system.  Under this new reality, for instance, Ja Rule replaced himself at #1 having been featured on Ashanti's and J' Lo's two #1's.  

Two artists have looked like they've had 3 in a row, but not quite:  Usher's big year of 2004 had "Yeah," replaced by "Burn" which was directly replaced* by "Confessions."  The asterisk?  It's because "Burn" was interrupted by a week by one of the American Idol winners, Fantasia.

Likewise, this year Drake's "God's Plan" was replaced by "Nice for What" which was replaced ultimately by "In My Feelings."  Alas, "Nice for What" was interrupted by 4 different songs!

So, you're right, Casey, but just by a hair, nearly 50 years on...