David Bowie’s first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 was “Fame.”
Released in 1975, “Fame” became Bowie’s first US number-one single, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of 20 September. It appeared on Young Americans, an album shaped by Philadelphia soul and funk influences, and was released as the record’s second US single.
The song grew out of a collaboration with John Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar. Alomar developed the central guitar riff, Lennon contributed backing vocals and guitar, and Bowie built the lyrics around the pressures, distortions and commercial demands of celebrity. Its sharp, repeated vocal delivery helped give the track an unusually confrontational sound.
“Fame” was a much bigger success in North America than in Britain, where it peaked at number 17. That contrast can cause confusion with “Space Oddity,” which was Bowie’s first major UK hit but did not top the US chart. Bowie later revisited the song in the 1990 remix “Fame ’90.”