Five Top 40 Singles from Black Sabbath (No, Really.)

Few listeners would ever consider Black Sabbath a “singles band.” Pioneers of drop-tuned, doomy heavy metal, the Birmingham, England quartet exerted a massive influence on hard rock of the 1970s and beyond. Critical praise came much later: early volumes of Rolling Stone’s Record Guide awarded most Sabbath albums a bullet or one star. More recent editions ranked most of the band’s Ozzy Osbourne-era albums at four or even five stars.

All of Black Sabbath’s albums with the original lineup – the eight released between 1970 and 1979 – went Gold or better in the U.S. Yet not once during those years did Black Sabbath place a single on the U.S. Top 40 chart. In their home of England, however, it was a different story: the Ozzy-fronted group landed three singles on the UK charts. And when Osbourne was replaced by American vocalist Ronnie James Dio, Black Sabbath scored two more. All in all, five Top 40 singles from an “album band” is an impressive feat, and one that’s too often overlooked. So on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Black Sabbath’s sixth hit LP Sabotage, here are five songs from the group that put them on the singles charts in Britain.

“Paranoid” from Paranoid (1970)
The group’s second single reached No. 19 on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 pop singles chart, an achievement the group wouldn’t repeat for more than a decade. However, the title track from their second LP, “Paranoid” is a prime exemplar of the Sabbath aesthetic. It made it to No. 4 on the UK singles chart.

“Never Say Die” from Never Say Die! (1978)
After their self-titled debut and Paranoid, Black Sabbath’s run of ‘70s albums – Master of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage and 1976’s Technical Ecstasy – each sold well and expanded the group’s fan base. What those albums didn’t do is reward Black Sabbath with a hit single in the U.S. or UK. Oddly enough, the band’s second placing on the UK singles charts was the title cut from their 1978 LP Never Say Die! The single reached No. 21 in Britain.

“Hard Road” from Never Say Die! (1978)
In retrospect, Never Say Die! is often considered the least remarkable among Black Sabbath’s first eight albums, all made with Ozzy Osbourne as singer. Yet the album spawned not one but two hit singles in the UK. The second of those, “Hard Road” (renamed “A Hard Road” for its U.S. release) scored the quartet a No. 33 single in the UK.

“Neon Knights” from Heaven and Hell (1980)
When Ronnie James Dio joined Black Sabbath, his commanding presence and powerful vocals breathed new life into the group. Listeners agreed, sending the first single from the new lineup’s debut Heaven and Hell to the No. 21 spot on the UK chart. The album itself did quite well, too, earning a Platinum award in the U.S., the first Black Sabbath album to earn that designation since 1973’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

“Turn Up the Night” from Mob Rules (1981)
Again with Dio out front, Black Sabbath landed a song off of their ninth album, Mob Rules, on the UK singles chart. The speedy “Turn Up the Night” bears the influence of the then-burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and of guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, but flashes of classic Sabbath remain. “Turn Up the Night” gave Black Sabbath its final UK Top 40 single, placing at No. 37. In his initial run with the group, Dio would only remain with Black Sabbath for a short time, leaving after the release of 1981’s Mob Rules. The group would experience a revolving door lineup of singers – six, plus a returning Dio – before Osbourne returned in 1998. (Ozzy would leave yet again, with Dio replacing him yet a third time before Ozzy returned for a final run that ended with a live concert in July 2025.