ABC/Rick RowellAside from being hitmaking artists who’ve sold millions of records in their long careers, U2, Michael Jackson, Madonna and “Weird Al” Yankovic have something else in common: they’re the only artists who’ve scored at least one top-40 hit each decade since the ’80s.
As Billboard notes, U2 is the latest group to achieve this feat, thanks to the fact that they collaborated with rapper Kendrick Lamar on one of his new songs, “XXX.” That song just charted at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. As a result, U2 has now scored six top-40 hits in the ’80s, seven in the ’90s, three from 2000 to 2010 and now one since 2010.
As for the late King of Pop, he scored 18 top-40 hits in the ’80s, 10 in the ’90s, and two each in the ’00s and ’10s. His most recent hit came in 2014, with his posthumous virtual duet with Justin Timberlake, “Love Never Felt So Good.”
Madonna’s most recently top-40 hit was 2012’s “Give Me All Your Luvin’.” She had 19 top-40 hits in the ’80s, 20 in the ’90s, nine in the ’00s and one in the ’10s.
And surprisingly, “Weird Al” is among these legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. He has notched one top-40 hit per decade since the ’80s: “Eat It” in 1984, “Smells Like Nirvana” in 1992, “White & Nerdy” in 2006 and “Word Crimes” in 2014. Those four songs were parodies of, respectively, “Beat It,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Ridin'” and “Blurred Lines.”
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