Elton John’s “Island Girl” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 1, 1975, 51 years ago today. Yet its three weeks at the top did not protect it from a review decades later.
In 2021, Cleveland.com placed the track at No. 224 in its ranking of the decade’s 253 chart-toppers.
The review stated, “It’s one of the most forgettable singles he ever released.” Still, its chart history tells a story about how much John shaped pop music that year.
Elton John replaced a No. 1 hit featuring his own voice
Before “Island Girl” took over, Neil Sedaka held the top spot with “Bad Blood.” Interestingly, John sang backing vocals on that record, which came out on his Rocket label.
Together, the two songs led the chart for six weeks. So, John’s voice remained part of America’s No. 1 single even as the lead artist changed.
Meanwhile, “Island Girl” gave him his fifth chart-topper. The song appeared on Rock of the Westies, with John writing the music and Bernie Taupin supplying the words.
Bernie Taupin later turned against “Island Girl”
Years later, Taupin offered a colder view of their hit.
In a September 2023 Vulture interview, he said, “It’s horrible. I don’t know what I was thinking of.”
Asked whether he saw the song as potentially racist, Taupin rejected that label. Instead, he described its treatment of women in blunt terms: “It was just a straight sexist, misogynistic song.”
Although the upbeat tune suggests light fun, its lyrics describe a Jamaican sex worker in New York. That gap between sound and subject helps explain the song’s uneasy place in their catalog.
This anniversary is a reminder that commercial success and lasting affection do not always follow the same path.
