On This Day, March 18, 1972: Neil Young lands his first and only #1 with ‘Heart of Gold’

By Jill Lances

March 18, 2025 at 6:30 am CDT

On This Day, March 18, 1972...

Neil Young topped the Billboard singles chart with "Heart of Gold," his first, and to this day, only solo #1 single.

The track featured backup vocals from Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor.

"Heart of Gold" was featured on Neil's fourth studio album Harvest, which spent two weeks on top of the Billboard Albums chart, and was Billboard's top album of 1972. It also included the hit single "Old Man," which was a top 40 hit for Neil.

In January, Young and his new band The Chrome Hearts, released the new single "big change." They are due to hit the road this summer, with U.S. dates kicking off Aug. 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina.