As Cheryl becomes the first British Solo Female Artist to rack up five no.1s on The Official UK Singles Chart this week, we thought we’d take a look at which International Females have scored more and who Cheryl should be gunning for.
Madonna – 13 no.1s
The undisputed Queen of pop is out in the lead with 13 no.1s starting with 1985’s Into The Groove and enjoying her last no.1 in 2008 with the Justin Timberlake featuring Four Minutes from her Hard Candy album. She has been an unstoppable force on the music scene for decades, however, her last album MDNA failed to spawn any real hit singles despite the album debuting at no.1 with lead single Give Me All Your Luvin’, featuring Nicki Minaj and MIA, scraping into the top 40 at no.37. It remains to be seen if her new material will fare better and see her back at the top of the charts and if rumours are to be believed the lead single may well feature Miley Cyrus and see Nicki Minaj make another appearance. We’ll watch this space!
Rihanna – 8 no.1s
Perhaps the biggest threat to Madonna’s crown, the Bajan beauty churned out seven albums in seven years and the no.1s came rolling in, starting with a ten week run for Umbrella at the top of the charts. Not afraid of a collaboration, she’s soared to the top spot with Jay-Z, Eminem and Calvin Harris. Last year was the first year in a while that we didn’t get a Rihanna album, but with new music imminent, it’s only a matter of time before she’s racking up her ninth no.1 single.
Kylie – 7 no.1s
It all began with a song that was allegedly written in just 10 minutes by pop factory SAW and went on to give a certain Neighbours actress her first UK no.1 single with I Should Be So Lucky. It soon became a winning partnership as 3 no.1 singles followed, including her duet Especially For You with on and off screen beau at the time, Jason Donavan. Then she had to wait 10 years after her last no.1, bouncing back to no.1 with Spinning Around, kickstarting the second coming of Kylie, one that also gave her, her biggest no.1 single Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and her first self-penned no.1 in Slow.  Unfortunately, this year’s Kiss Me Once album hasn’t managed to generate a top ten hit despite her stint as a judge on The Voice being well received, but don’t write her off just yet, she’s already shown us that like her name (which means boomerang) she’ll be back.
Britney Spears – 6 no.1s
Bursting on to the music scene with the massive Baby…One More Time in 1999, the schoolgirl next door Britney Spears, took the world by storm with her unique pop sound. She followed up this no.1 with a second chart topper, Born To Make You Happy, from her debut album and then Oops..she did it again with a third no.1 with the first single from her second album in 2000. The hits kept coming, but not even a duet with Madonna could see her hit the chart summit again until that is, the Cathy Dennis penned Toxic which flew to no.1 in 2004 and was quickly followed by another no.1 single in the form of the heartfelt ballad Everytime. Britney’s latest no.1 was care of a feature on Will.i.am’s track Scream & Shout which topped the chart in 2013.
Who is hot on her heels?
We’ve seen who has more no.1s than our Cheryl above, but who is catching up quick and could well overtake her in the coming years? Take a look below at the biggest contenders.
Beyonce – 5 no.1s
No stranger to no.1s with her band Destiny’s Child, her solo career started with a bang as the horn laden Crazy In Love shot straight to the top of the chart. Swiftly followed by the lead single from her second album B Day, Deja Vu once again featured Jay-Z proving to be a winning combo. In fact 4 of her 5 no.1s have been with other artists. The Jay-Z features mentioned, plus duets with Shakira and Lady Gaga. Her only purely Beyoncé no.1 is If I Was A Boy in 2008. Last year, she shocked the world by surprise releasing her latest album Beyoncé and is no doubt already planning her next move to keep her fans excited.
Katy Perry – 4 no.1s
Launching her career with the cheeky no.1 I Kissed A Girl, Katy Perry has gone from strength-to-strength to become one of today’s best-loved popstars. It wasn’t until her second album Teenage Dream, that she cemented her place as a pop super power, with it spawning the no.1s California Gurls and Part Of Me (from the special edition of the album). Last year she scored a million selling no.1 single with her hit ‘Roar’ and now the world awaits new music from her.
Lady Gaga – 4 no.1s
The kooky, fashion obsessed singer burst on to the scene in 2009 with Just Dance giving her her first no.1 single and swiftly followed up with Poker Face. She then put out a special extended version of her debut album The Fame adding 8 new tracks of which two went on to be no.1 singles, Bad Romance and Telephone. Since then her popularity seems to have been on the wane and last year’s ArtPop album seemed to divide fans. This year she’s released a jazz duets album with Tony Bennett, but it’s a return to pop that we’re all awaiting.
Rita Ora – 4 no.1s
With a new album scheduled for January and a judging stint on The Voice lined up, it’s only a matter of time before she’ll be equally Cheryl’s record for most no.1s by a UK solo female. Starting her run of chart toppers by lending her vocals to DJ Fresh’s Hot Right Now, she then teamed up with Tinie Tempah for her first single R.I.P. and scored another no.1 with next single How We Do (Party) giving her three straight no.1s in a row and a great start to her music career. Her fourth no.1 came earlier this year with I Will Never Let You Down which she penned with then boyfriend DJ/Producer Calvin Harris. Expect a new single early next year and probably a fifth no.1!
Christina Aguilera – 4 no.1s
Britney’s arch rival from back in Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club days, she was always the edgier alternative to Britney’s squeaky clean image, but she followed in her footsteps as her debut single Genie In A Bottle went straight to the top of the charts. She then shocked the music world when she went all big hair and over the top make up for her stand out performance on a new version of Lady Marmalade for the film Moulin Rouge, performing alongside P!nk, Mya and Lil Kim. This was a hint of things to come as her first single from her second album, Stripped, came with a whole new sexy, unwashed look and we lapped it up as she rocketed to no.1 with Dirrty and then showed she wasn’t all filth by slowing it down with her fourth no.1 Beautiful. Since then she’s come close to topping the chart with features on Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger and Pitbull’s Feel This Moment. Teasing fans that’s she’s back in the studio, could 2015 see a resurgence of Xtina?
It’s also worth mentioning Geri Halliwell, Whitney Houston and Cher who’ve all scored 4 no.1 singles in the UK and even though Geri keeps threatening a comeback she’ll have to do a lot better than Half Of Me. Still we do love a bit of Geri!
