LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Billboard Magazine Pop Music researcher, Joel Whitburn is the definitive source for all facts musical.

In a Los Angeles Times review of his most recent offering, Whitburn named Carole King as the #1 most successful female songwriter of the 1955-99 pop music era.

By Whitburn's calculation, King has written or co-written 118 pop hits that have made the Billboard Top 100 Charts during that period. Leading all comers is Paul McCartney with 169 charted hits.