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’60s Girl Groups with #1 Hits
Females who reigned “supreme” in Sixties rock
“Girl groups” hold an important place in the annals of rock history. Typically, the groups were formed by teenage family members and schoolmates. Beginning in the 1950s and cresting even during the 1964 British Invasion in the United States, pop music groups composed exclusively of these young women proliferated. Hundreds of girl groups appropriated doo-wop, added their own special something, and created a distinct musical sound.
The ’60s were the most dominant era for girl groups, with 20 of the 44 total Hot 100 №1s achieved in that decade. Of those 20 №1s, 12 were by the Supremes alone — the most by an all-woman group in the chart’s history.
Despite the popularity of songs by girl groups, very often the girls themselves got little recognition as performing artists. At the time, male record executives called the shots. What mattered to record companies were sales of hit singles. The conventional sexist, racist wisdom was that female singers, most of whom were Black, were largely seen not as personalities to be promoted but more like backup or studio groups — invisible, expendable and even interchangeable. They were rarely groomed to have continuing musical careers.
