Did Bob Dylan ever reach the top of the single charts?
Rockapedia, 2025
Bob Dylan has never really been a hit singles
kind of artist, and honestly, that’s part of the legend. Even so, he’s popped up on the charts more than a few times over the years. The real surprise? Despite one of the most influential careers in music history, Dylan has never scored a number one single.
Over the course of his long and wildly successful career, Dylan has released a staggering 40 studio albums and 96 singles. His very first single, 1962’s Mixed-Up Confusion
, came out during The Freewheelin
Bob Dylan sessions. The song went nowhere on the charts, and when the album finally dropped, the track didn’t even make the cut.
Things started to shift with Subterranean Homesick Blues
, which gave Dylan his first taste of chart success by climbing to No. 39 in the U.S. It also marked a major turning point, this was Dylan going electric, and there was no going back. That transition was fully cemented with Like A Rolling Stone
, a career-defining track that shot all the way to No. 2 and landed him his first Top 20 hit.
Later in 1965, Dylan followed up with Positively 4th Street
, which cracked the Top 10 at No. 7. Not every release was a winner, though. Singles like Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
and One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
failed to break into the Top 20.
In 1966, Dylan was back near the top with Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35
, which peaked at No. 2, his second time stopping just short of the top spot. Along with Like A Rolling Stone
, it stands as one of his biggest chart hits.
After that, chart appearances became more sporadic. Dylan would only return to Billboard’s Top 20 three more times: I Want You
hit No. 20 in 1966, Lay Lady Lay
reached No. 7 in 1969, and Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
, his final major chart hit peaked at No. 12 in 1973.
No number ones, no problem. For Bob Dylan, chart positions were never the point - and history has more than backed him up.
