Mariah Reigns as Female Songwriter with the Most #1s

This week's Ask Billboard lists the Songwriters with the Most Hot 100 #1s. Mariah tops the list for a female artist with 17 #1s, and no other female is even remotely close! Songwriter Diane Warren comes in at a distant 2nd with 9 #1s.

Here is a look at the leader board (compiled with assistance from Fred Bronson's invaluable "The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits"):

32, Paul McCartney
26, John Lennon
17, Mariah Carey
16, Barry Gibb
15, Brian Holland
14, Lamont Dozier
14, James Harris III
14, Terry Lewis
13, Robin Gibb
13, Eddie Holland
11, Jermaine Dupri
11, Maurice Gibb
11, Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald
11, Martin Karl "Max Martin" Sandberg

Reinforcing the timelessness of their craft, Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland are again scaling the Hot 100. The Motown legends appear as writers on Marsha Ambrosius' "Far Away," which rises 92-84.

And, Diane Warren has written nine Hot 100 No. 1s, with Brandy's "Have You Ever?" (1999) her last to-date. Warren graced the chart as a writer as recently as last month when Justin Bieber's "Born to Be Somebody" spent a week (March 5) at No. 74.