USA Best Selling Singles of 1971

1971 was a funny year. In UK Three Dog Night couldn’t sell any albums at all and never charted a long player. “Joy To The World” got to #24 and “Mama Told Me Not To Come” #3 and that was it. But stateside they were, for a while, one of the best-selling bands. I don’t know a lot about them but they seem to straddle the freak-out rock audience and the melodic pop mainstream well for 1971.

Usually the best-selling singles go down in history as a classic but here at #13 is “Want Ads” by the oddly-named Honey Cone, which was a female trio which certainly never made waves over here.  

The same can be said for Lee Michaels, who never charted in the UK but had his moment in the sun, stateside. 

One of the oddest records on this list is "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul & Linda McCartney. It went to #1 in the USA but wasn’t released as a single in the UK and in its 4:49 goes through about six different mood and temp changes. The more conventional “Another Day” is one of McCartney’s brilliant, simple pop songs about everyday life. Quietly moving.

And there at #99 are The Doors with FM radio’s perennial “Riders On The Storm” which I’d have thought would’ve been much higher.;  

1 "Joy to the World" Three Dog Night.

2 "Maggie May"/"Reason to Believe" Rod Stewart

3 "It's Too Late"/"I Feel the Earth Move" Carole King

4 "One Bad Apple" The Osmonds

5 "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" Bee Gees

6 "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" Paul Revere & the Raiders

7 "Go Away Little Girl" Donny Osmond

8 "Take Me Home, Country Roads" John Denver

9 "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" The Temptations

10 "Knock Three Times" Tony Orlando and Dawn

11 "Me and Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin

12 "Tired of Being Alone" Al Green

13 "Want Ads" Honey Cone

14 "Smiling Faces Sometimes" The Undisputed Truth

15 "Treat Her Like a Lady" Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose

16 "You've Got a Friend" James Taylor

17 "Mr. Big Stuff" Jean Knight

18 "Brown Sugar" The Rolling Stones

19 "Do You Know What I Mean" Lee Michaels

20 "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" Joan Baez

21 "What's Going On" Marvin Gaye

22 "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" Paul & Linda McCartney

23 "Ain't No Sunshine" Bill Withers

24 "Signs" Five Man Electrical Band

25 "She's a Lady" Tom Jones

26 "Superstar" Murray Head & The Trinidad Singers

27 "I've Found Someone of My Own" The Free Movement

28 "Amos Moses" Jerry Reed

29 "Temptation Eyes" The Grass Roots

30 "Superstar" The Carpenters

31 "My Sweet Lord" George Harrison

32 "Sweet and Innocent" Donny Osmond

33 "Put Your Hand in the Hand" Ocean

34 "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)" Daddy Dewdrop

35 "For All We Know" The Carpenters

36 "Help Me Make It Through the Night" Sammi Smith

37 "Rainy Days and Mondays" The Carpenters

38 "If You Could Read My Mind" Gordon Lightfoot

39 "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" Cher

40 "Never Can Say Goodbye" The Jackson 5

41 "Rose Garden" Lynn Anderson

42 "Don't Pull Your Love" Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds

43 "It Don't Come Easy" Ringo Starr

44 "Mr. Bojangles" Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

45 "I Love You for All Seasons" The Fuzz

46 "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get" The Dramatics

47 "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" Carly Simon

48 "If You Really Love Me" Stevie Wonder

49 "Spanish Harlem" Aretha Franklin

50 "I Don't Know How to Love Him" Helen Reddy

51 "Yo-Yo" The Osmonds

52 "Bridge over Troubled Water" Aretha Franklin

53 "Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted" The Partridge Family

54 "Draggin' the Line" Tommy James

55 "Proud Mary" Ike & Tina Turner

56 "Beginnings"/"Colour My World" Chicago

57 "Stay Awhile" The Bells

58 "Sweet City Woman" The Stampeders

59 "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" Lobo

60 "Another Day"/"Oh Woman, Oh Why" Paul McCartney

61 "If" Bread

62 "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" Marvin Gaye

63 "One Toke Over the Line" Brewer & Shipley

64 "She's Not Just Another Woman" 8th Day

65 "Bring the Boys Home" Freda Payne

66 "I Just Want to Celebrate" Rare Earth

67 "Never Ending Song of Love" Delaney & Bonnie & Friends

68 "Easy Loving" Freddie Hart

69 "Liar" Three Dog Night

70 "Stick-Up" Honey Cone

71 "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" Mac and Katie Kissoon

72 "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" Andy Williams

73 "Wild World" Cat Stevens

74 "When You're Hot, You're Hot" Jerry Reed

75 "Funky Nassau" The Beginning of the End

76 "If Not for You" Olivia Newton-John

77 "Groove Me" King Floyd

78 "Watching Scotty Grow" Bobby Goldsboro

79 "Woodstock" Matthews Southern Comfort

80 "Amazing Grace" Judy Collins

81 "I Hear You Knocking" Dave Edmunds

82 "Lonely Days" Bee Gees

83 "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again" The Fortunes

84 "Won't Get Fooled Again" The Who

85 "Trapped By a Thing Called Love" Denise LaSalle

86 "Mama's Pearl" The Jackson 5

87 "Timothy" The Buoys

88 "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" The Partridge Family

89 "Theme from Shaft" Isaac Hayes

90 "If I Were Your Woman" Gladys Knight & the Pips

91 "I Am...I Said" Neil Diamond

92 "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" Paul Stookey

93 "Don't Knock My Love" Wilson Pickett

94 "Love Her Madly" The Doors

95 "Here Comes the Sun" Richie Havens

96 "Sweet Mary" Wadsworth Mansion

97 "Right on the Tip of My Tongue" Brenda & the Tabulations

98 "One Less Bell to Answer" The 5th Dimension

99 "Riders on the Storm" The Doors

100 "It's Impossible" Perry Como