Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2: Pink Floyd's First Billboard Hot 100 No. 1

Pink Floyd only ever had one single hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and it was “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.” Released in early 1980 from The Wall, it climbed to number one on the chart dated March 22, 1980, and stayed there for four weeks.

It’s a weird kind of chart-topper — a disco-inflected, minimalist track about authoritarian schooling, with a children’s choir singing the chorus. The song was banned in South Africa and briefly in the UK after being linked to real school protests. For a band that built its reputation on sprawling, non-commercial epics, this was their one brief, surprising brush with pure pop ubiquity.