Sometimes married couples make beautiful music together, and sometimes those couples even have successful hit singles together. In a number of instances, spouses with musical talent have collaborated, either as a duo or as part of a band, to create songs that have ascended all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
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Here is a look at four married couples who conquered the U.S. singles chart at least once during their careers:
Sonny & Cher
In late 1962, 16-year-old Cheryl Sarkisian met an aspiring songwriter named Sonny Bono who was 11 years her senior. The two became friends, then lovers, and also began working together as the musical duo Sonny & Cher.
In October 1964, the couple had an unofficial wedding in Tijuana, Mexico, although they didn’t legally marry until 1969.
Meanwhile, in June 1965, the duo released what became their biggest hit together, “I Got You Babe.” Bono wrote the song as sort of a positive spin on the then-recent Bob Dylan tune “It Ain’t Me Babe.”
“I Got You Babe” spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in August 1965. During the 1970s, the couple became huge television stars as the hosts of their own comedy variety show. Cher, of course, eventually went on to become a huge solo star and Oscar-winning actress.
The couple divorced in 1975. In the 1990s, Bono became a U.S. congressman. He died in 1998 at age 623 from injuries sustained in a skiing accident.
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. of The 5th Dimension
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. were original members of the pop-soul group The 5th Dimension, which formed around 1966. Starting in 1967, The 5th Dimension enjoyed a run of successful hits.
In April 1969, the group topped the Hot 100 with a medley of two songs from the popular Broadway musical Hair, “Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures).” The tune ended up spending six weeks at No. 1 on the chart.
Meanwhile, McCoo and Davis, who had begun dating in 1966, tied the knot in July 1969. Somewhat appropriately, The 5th Dimension wound up releasing a cover of the 1966 Laura Nyro song “Wedding Bell Blues” as a single in September 1969. The tune wound up becoming the group’s second Hot 100 chart-topper, spending three weeks at No. 1 in November 1969.
McCoo and Davis left The 5th Dimension in 1975, and began performing and recording as a duo. In January 1977, the couple topped the Hot 100 with the soulful ballad “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show).”
Far from experiencing wedding bell blues, McCoo and Davis celebrated their 56th anniversary in 2025.
Paul and Linda McCartney
In 1969, The Beatles’ Paul McCartney married rock photographer Linda Eastman. After the Fab Four broke up in 1970, McCartney launched a solo career. Then, in May 1971, Paul collaborated with his wife on his second post-Beatles album, Ram.
The album’s lead single was the whimsical, multi-part tune “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” which was co-written by the couple. The song spent a week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in September 1971.
After Ram was released, McCartney formed the band Wings, with Linda on keyboards and backing vocals. Wings went on to have five singles that topped the Hot 100—“My Love” (1973), “Band On The Run” (1974), “Listen To What The Man Said” (1975), “Silly Love Songs” (1976), and “With A Little Luck” (1978).
All of those songs, except “With A Little Luck,” are credited to Paul and Linda McCartney.
Linda also contributed backing vocals to two chart-topping collaborations her husband recorded during the 1980s. They were “Ebony and Ivory” with Stevie Wonder (1982) and “Say Say Say” with Michael Jackson (1983).
Paul and Linda were married for 29 years at the time of her death from cancer in April 1998.
Captain & Tennille
Toni Tennille met Daryl Dragon in 1971 when she was auditioning keyboardists to take over for her in a production of Mother Earth, an ecology-themed musical she co-wrote. At the time, Dragon was a touring keyboardist for The Beach Boys. While playing with the famous group, Mike Love had given him the nickname “Captain Keyboard” because he liked wearing a nautical captain’s hat.
After Mother Earth’s run ended, Dragon introduced Tennille to The Beach Boys, and they both toured with the band in 1972. After that trek, they began performing together as a musical duo, and soon took on the name Captain & Tennille.
The duo released their debut single, the infectious pop tune “Love Will Keep Us Together,” in April 1975. The song was co-written by Neil Sedaka and his frequent lyricist Howard Greenfield. Sedaka had recorded his own version in 1973.
The Captain & Tennille cover of “Love Will Keep Us Together” became a huge hit, topping the Hot 100 for four weeks in June and July of 1975. That November, the couple got married. The tune went on to win a Record of the Year Grammy in 1976.
Captain & Tennille scored a second and final No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 in 1980 with “Do That To Me One More Time.” The steamy pop ballad, which was written by Tennille, spent a week atop the chart in February 1980.
Tennille and Dragon divorced in 2014 but remained friends until Daryl’s death from kidney failure in 2019.
(Photo by Stanley Bielecki/ASP/Getty Images; Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music via Getty Images)
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