Joni Mitchell’s Only No. 1 Hit Was a Throwaway Song to Her: “I’d Feel Like the Radio Was Crying for One of My Ballads”

Joni Mitchell’s only No. 1 hit was “Help Me”, a lively song from her 1974 album *Court and Spark*. Her record label chose it as a single, and it topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, though Mitchell felt the choice overlooked the ballads she thought radio listeners wanted.

Mitchell described “Help Me” as a throwaway song about lust and said she generally had little say in which tracks became singles. She recalled that labels tended to select her fastest songs, while she regretted that some quieter tracks received little radio exposure. The song’s success illustrates the gap between commercial reception and Mitchell’s own artistic preferences.