Heaviest Songs ever on the Billboard Hot Top 40?

Note, not the mainstream rock chart, which is easier, has had a fair share of heavier songs, is based more solely on stuff like radio airplay, and in which Iron Maiden has a #8 hit (Flight of Icarus.)

No "Pull Me Under" either, it sadly didn't come close to the top 40.

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"Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses hit #7

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Two that come to mind, both from Metallica:

"Enter Sandman", 1991, peaked at #16

Metallica, "One", 1988, peaked at #35, possibly the only Thrash song on it.

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Metallica also had "Until I Sleep" at a career-high #10 in 1996, but it's more of a hard rock song, as are their other top 40 hits, if not just rock in a few cases I.E. "Nothing Else Matters."

Sweet Child O' Mine was #1 for GNR but it doesn't feel like it could count. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana is heavier.

edited 7th Nov '14 11:56:33 AM by ZestierThanThou

This didn't make top 40 at pop, but it did get top 40 on country. I'd say it's probably the heaviest country song ever:

Did any of Faith No More's heavier tunes ever hit the Top 40? How about Alice in Chains or Soundgarden.

The debut album by Newsted just made it into the 40th spot in its first week.

Here's its lead single:

That's the album though. There have been heavier albums higher in the album chart. I'm talking specifically about singles, which is much trickier for this kind of music.

That's a great album, it definitely needs more love.

I Can See For Miles, maybe?

Albums would be easy: I could just post Swans' "To Be Kind" on here and let the coda roll in.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

The albums chart doesn't really quite seem to be as influenced by pop trends as the singles chart is. There's a reason there are so many influential artists with extraordinarily popular albums but pretty much no hit singles.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Singles... Didn't "Paranoid" (the song, not the album, though that charted too) make it into the Top 40 back in 1970?

Maybe Metallica's "Enter Sandman" or "Sad But True". I think Iron Maiden had a hit with "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter", even if it is one of their weaker songs... Then again, that was the British charts, too...

edited 26th Nov '14 11:26:31 PM by sharkcrap11

If at first ya don't succeed, try a bit more, then give up or cheat... ;) -Myself Nothing can stop me now! -Piggy by Nine Inch Nails

Well, if we are looking at the British charts, haven't there been several movements to make metal songs the Christmas Number One in the past decade? And wasn't one of them successful?

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

I'm feeling some déjà vu here, but the song you're thinking of was Killing in the Name.

EDIT: Oh, here's why this feels familiar: this topic was semi-touched on before.

edited 26th Nov '14 11:51:33 PM by Alucard

Practically everything's been touched on here before, so that's not too surprising...

edited 27th Nov '14 1:14:08 AM by sharkcrap11

If at first ya don't succeed, try a bit more, then give up or cheat... ;) -Myself Nothing can stop me now! -Piggy by Nine Inch Nails

Everything except the people on this site, HEYOOOO.

'Scuse me, I'll just see myself out

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Please do. That was... Well, it was.

edited 30th Nov '14 8:06:45 PM by sharkcrap11

If at first ya don't succeed, try a bit more, then give up or cheat... ;) -Myself Nothing can stop me now! -Piggy by Nine Inch Nails

#36 in March of 1971.

And as a bonus, the full-length album version.

Man, people were into some depressing music in 1971. “Once You Understand” (kid O.D.s because his folks don’t understand him) and “Timothy” (desperate, trapped coal-miners cannibalize one of their own, literally) also hit the charts that year.

EDIT: I just noticed someone else already posted this. I’m an idiot. I’ll show myself out.

edited 1st Dec '14 6:37:59 PM by Bananaquit

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

I didn't know Bloodrock of all bands managed to chart. Surprising. Good, solid Proto-Metal right there...

If at first ya don't succeed, try a bit more, then give up or cheat... ;) -Myself Nothing can stop me now! -Piggy by Nine Inch Nails

Paranoid charted in 1970 but not top 40.

Heaviest song of all of these listed for the US is probably "One." I can't think of another thrash metal song on it, unless you want to argue Enter Sandman is still the thrash sub-genre. Mainstream Rock charts alone have probably had heavier, but this is the "Hot Top 40" pop chart specifically.

edited 16th Dec '14 3:57:00 PM by ZestierThanThou

Lots of Proto-Metal stuff charted in the early 70s, but singles in the genre (and the entire Hard Rock / Heavy Metal world was never much of a singles-oriented thing to begin with) generally didn't get Top 40.

Probably. A few other Thrash Metal bands had singles or albums that did alright (especially in cases where they wholly or partially abandoned Thrash, a la Metallica or Megadeth), but I don't think too many made it into the actual mainstream Top 40 chart- that'd be more Modern Rock fare. More recently, bands like Lamb of God and In Flames have managed to have singles that did alright on the Modern Rock charts, but again, not Top 40...

If at first ya don't succeed, try a bit more, then give up or cheat... ;) -Myself Nothing can stop me now! -Piggy by Nine Inch Nails

I've done a little bit more research, and yes, I'm just about dead certain that "One" is the heaviest song ever on the Billboard Hot Top 40 pop chart in the US. Mainstream Rock charts might have had something heavier and further up, but nothing touches "One" on the most unlikely, pop-drenched chart there is. No surprise that Metallica became the biggest band in the world after that hit #35.

edited 28th Jan '15 5:22:16 PM by ZestierThanThou

Makes pretty good sense. The days when any Rock songs make the Pop charts are kinda behind us nowadays (and when a Rock song actually *does* make the Top 40 or what have you, it's generally not a particularly heavy one- i.e. hits by Paramore and Coldplay, which are the only Rock bands I can recall off the top of my head who had Top 40 hits in 2014), so I kinda doubt anything is ever gonna top that one, unless some rather unexpected sea change happens in the next little while with regards to mainstream audiences and heavy music, which I find unlikely...

I believe some Grunge bands in the early 90s and some Alternative Metal and Nu Metal bands in the late 90s and early 2000s had Pop hits, but most of those hits were only in the 6-7 range on the Mohs Scale, while "One" is a low 8, I'd say.

edited 4th Feb '15 11:40:20 PM by sharkcrap11

If at first ya don't succeed, try a bit more, then give up or cheat... ;) -Myself Nothing can stop me now! -Piggy by Nine Inch Nails

Sorry but the bump but....

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/metallica-bloodrock-scary-song/

System of a Down - BYOB

It hit #27 in 2005 with no pop radio airplay whatsoever.

Blue Cheer's version of "Summertime Blues" was pretty heavy for 1968.

If we broaden the scope to the UK Singles Chart rather than the US-based Billboard chart, we can include Aphex Twin's infamous "Come to Daddy," which only made the Billboard Heatseekers chart here.