Who was the “real” lead singer of the Beatles?

One thing that makes the Beatles unique is that all four band members would take turns singing lead vocals.  But who was the Fab Four’s true frontman?  The folks at Ultimate Classic Rock did the math.  And thank goodness somebody did!

Turns out John Lennon led the pack, having sung lead on 109 Beatles tunes.  Paul McCartney was a very close 2nd with 98.  But while Lennon dominated the early Beatles albums (songs like “Please Please Me”), McCartney tended to sing more leads on the band’s later recordings.  “And the rest” — George Harrison took the lead on 39 songs, while Ringo sang lead on 14.

Other bands followed suit later.  Freddie Mercury sang lead on the vast majority of Queen songs, but usually when Roger Taylor or Brian May wrote a song, they’d take the lead vocals.  The only one who didn’t do that was John Deacon, who wrote “You’re My Best Friend” and “Another One Bites the Dust”, but never sang lead.

The Eagles split the lead vocals fairly evenly between Glenn Frey and Don Henley, though Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmidt had their moments in the sun.  BTO even occasionally had someone other than Randy Bachman sing lead.

What other bands can you name that had more than just one frontman?