Fleetwood Mac toiled for a decade before they achieved massive success by adding Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham to the lineup. The duo provided the spark that helped the band explode in popularity. Twenty-five Fleetwood Mac songs landed on the Billboard singles chart, including nine in the top 10. Continuing without Christine McVie seems unlikely, according to Mick Fleetwood, so those nine tunes, including Fleetwood Mac’s only No. 1 hit, could be their only top-10 songs. Let’s look at how they stack up.
Note: We ranked Fleetwood Mac’s nine top-10 songs based on weeks atop the Billboard singles chart and total weeks on the chart.
9. ‘Go Your Own Way’
Lindsey Buckingham said The Rolling Stones’ song “Street Fighting Man” inspired the drum beat for this song. The lyrics about Buckingham and Nicks’ relationship were so savage that Nicks asked Buckingham to remove the line about “shacking up.” He refused.
“Go Your Own Way” became Rumours’ lead single. It debuted in the chart in early 1977 and peaked at No. 10 in mid-March. The song spent 15 weeks on the Billboard hot 100.
8. ‘You Make Loving Fun’
Like Buckingham and Nicks, McVie’s marriage to Mac bassist John McVie was in a bad spot when Fleetwood Mac worked on Rumours. Christine McVie wrote the exuberant “You Make Loving Fun” about her affair with the band’s lighting director.
McVie’s tune peaked at No. 9 during its 14 weeks on the chart to be one of the most successful Fleetwood Mac songs on the Billboard singles chart.
7. ‘Tusk’
Tusk followed Rumours in 1979. The album itself, which Buckingham considered more of a solo album, was a top-10 hit itself, and the namesake single lasted 15 weeks on Billboard’s singles chart, peaking at No. 8 in November 1979.
6. ‘Sara’
Nicks fought a legal battle over “Sara,” which was one of her most personal songs. Whether it was about her friend’s relationship with Mick Fleetwood or an ode to a daughter she never had isn’t quite clear.
What’s indisputable is that “Sara” was one of the highest-charting Fleetwood Mac songs from the band’s peak era. The Tusk tune reached No. 7 in February 1980 and spent 14 weeks on the chart.
5. ‘Big Love’
If Buckingham believed Tusk was more like his first solo record, then Tango in the Night might have been the second. He produced the album at his house. Drugs were as rampant as ever among the other Fleetwood Mac members. Nicks barely contributed to the album, and Buckingham called out her singing on the album.
The troubled recording process didn’t impact the album’s success. Two of the highest-charting Fleetwood Mac songs came from Tango in the Night. “Big Love” reached No. 5 on Billboard’s singles chart.
4. ‘Hold Me’
Another of Christine McVie’s successful songs (co-written by Robbie Patton), “Hold Me” found itself buried on Side 2 of Mirage, but that didn’t impact its success as a single. Like the next song on our list, it reached No. 4 and spent 17 weeks on the charts.
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3. ‘Little Lies’
Christine McVie strikes again. Her collaboration with Eddy Quintela, who became her second husband, is a jaunty, synth-driven tune that shines a spotlight on McVie’s strong vocal talents.
Its No. 4 peak chart position ranks it third among Fleetwood Mac’s hit songs, but the 21 weeks it spent on the chart are second among the band’s singles.
2. ‘Don’t Stop’
Rumours provided the top two Fleetwood Mac songs on our list. It’s another McVie song. It dealt with her feelings about the end of her marriage to John McVie. A complicated subject, to be sure, but she wrapped it up in saccharine melody and somehow put a positive spin on it with lyrics like, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow” and “It’ll be better than before.”
Fleetwood Mac’s producer didn’t like the song, but the band’s fans loved it. They kept it on the charts for 18 weeks and it peaked at No. 3 in September 1977.
1. ‘Dreams’
The only Fleetwood Mac song to reach No. 1 spent 23 weeks on the Billboard hot 100 in 1977. More than 40 years later, it found new life because of a viral TikTok video that used the song as the soundtrack.
“Dreams” isn’t a complicated tune. Its backbone consists of two chords with some additional guitar flourishes from Buckingham. Perhaps it’s too simple. Christine McVie thought the song was boring, but the song that Nicks wrote in just a few minutes became Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hit.
Four Fleetwood Mac albums found the No. 1 spot
Before we look at Fleetwood Mac’s hit songs, it’s worth noting that they saw four albums reach the top spot on Billboard’s album charts.
Their 1975 self-titled record, their first after adding Nicks and Buckingham, hit No. 1 in September 1976 and spent 168 weeks on the charts. The Dance debuted at No. 1 in 1997 and held the top spot for a week.
Mirage held No. 1 for five weeks in 1982, but none of those Fleetwood Mac albums stack up to the smash hit Rumours. The band’s defining album sold millions of copies, but its performance on the Billboard album chart adds to its impressive legacy. Only six other albums ever spent more consecutive weeks at No. 1, per Billboard, and the album spawned four of Fleetwood Mac’s most successful songs.
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