How many number-one hits did Michael Jackson have on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist?

How to get close to this number

Bracket it with the all-time record. This site's companion question puts the group record at twenty, and solo artists generally sit below a group with multiple songwriters and a shorter, more concentrated peak. A career-long solo total in the teens is therefore the right range for the most successful individual performers.

The comparison in the explanation is the telling one: a tie with a contemporary artist whose number-ones arrived within a single decade rather than across four. The chart era matters enormously — reaching the top spot when sales were the only measure is a different achievement from reaching it when streaming counts, and totals across eras are not directly comparable.

The qualifier "as a solo artist" is doing real work. Group and solo chart records are kept separately, and a performer who had hits in both capacities has two different totals. Chart statistics are full of these boundary conditions, which is why any record in this area needs the chart, the country, the format and the credit specified.