Heavy Metal bands (for this list meaning heavy metal, glam metal, hair metal and hard rock) and Billboard Top 40 Hits are two things that rarely go together. In fact, it’s considered non-Heavy Metal to have a hit. Despite that truth, many heavy bands have entered the Billboard Top 40 through the years. In fact, one of the heaviest of all bands – Metallica – is also one of the leaders in terms of frequency in the Top 40 with eight entries. Meanwhile, some of the lighter bands in the genre such as Quiet Riot only made it twice. That Metallica has been in the Top 40 eight times is a testament to their lasting creativity and overall outstanding songcraft to merge heavy riffs with radio friendly tunes.
Not surprising, many of the bands on the list had their biggest hit with a ballad – also known as the Power Ballad. Look at the list below and notice Motley Crue’s “Without You” as a Top 10 hit, for instance. When Crue first hit MTV with “Looks That Kill,” most viewers would never guess they would someday be a Top 40 act. One step further and look at Ozzy Osbourne – one of the most successful metal artists of all time – having only one Top 40 hit on his own in all his years and it was the ballad “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (he did hit the Top 40 with Lita Ford and more recently with Post Malone). Suffice to say, Heavy Metal is not really a Top 40 genre but the list below shows that sometimes even the heaviest bands can appeal to the mass audience.
Motley Crue (6) – Smokin’ in the Boys Room (#12), Dr. Feelgood” (#6), “Kickstart My Heart” (#27), Without You (#8), “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” (#19), “Home Sweet Home ’91 (#37)
Ratt (2) – “Round and Round” (#12), “Lay it Down” (#40)
Guns n Roses (9) – “Welcome to the Jungle” (#7), Sweet Child of Mine” (#1), “Paradise City” (#5), “Patience” (#4), “You Could Be Mine” (#29), “Don’t Cry” (#10), “Live and Let Die” (#33), “November Rain” (#3), “Chinese Democracy” (#34)
Quiet Riot (2) – “Cum on Feel the Noize” (#5), “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)” (#31)
Cinderella (5) – “Nobody’s Fool” (#13), “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)” (#12), “The Last Mile” (#36), “Coming Home” (#20), Shelter Me” (#36)
Metallica (8) – “Master of Puppets” (#40), “One” (#35), “Enter Sandman (#16), The Unforgiven” (#35), “Nothing Else Matters” (#34), “Until it Sleeps (#10), “The Memory Remains” (#28), “The Day That Never Comes” (#31)
Tesla (2) – “Love Song” (#10), “Signs (#8)
L.A. Guns (1) – “The Ballad of Jayne” (#33)
Ozzy Osbourne (1) – “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (#28)
Lita Ford (2) – “Kiss Me Deadly (#12), “If I Close My Eyes Forever” (with Ozzy Osbourne) (#8)
Scorpions (2) – “Rock You Like a Hurricane” (#25), “Wind of Change” (#4)
AC/DC (3) – “You Shook Me All Night Long” (#35), “Back in Black” (#37), “Moneytalks” (#23)
Aldo Nova (1) – “Fantasy” (#23)
Whitesnake(4) – “Here I Go Again ’87” (#1), “Is This Love” (#2), “Fool for Your Loving ’89” (#37), “The Deeper the Love” (#28)
Buckcherry (1) – “Sorry” (#9)
White Lion (2) – “Wait” (#8), “When the Children Cry” (#3)
