Longest song recording that hit the charts

Question

There are many lists (like this one) of songs on albums that go for 10s of minutes, and performers have often extended their songs in concerts to go for a long time, but is there a list available of the longest songs (songs with the greatest duration) that hit one of the big charts (e.g. American Top 40)?

I'm asking specifically about the length of the version of the song that hits the charts - for example, apparently Jethro Tull made a recording of "Thick as a Brick" that runs for over 40 minutes, but that's not the version that hit the charts so it wouldn't "count".

Answer 1

I searched for "American Pie Duration" and in the Google results I saw "is the fourth longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100, at the time of release it was the longest". Wikipedia then had a link to this:

The Longest Hot 100 Hits

(9:57) "Blackstar," David Bowie, No. 78 peak, 2016

(9:30) "Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2)," Harry Chapin, No. 86, 1976

(8:55) "November Rain," Guns N' Roses, No. 3, 1992

(8:37) "American Pie (Parts I & II)," Don McLean, No. 1 (four weeks), 1972

(8:16) "Untitled 07 L Levitate," Kendrick Lamar, No. 90, 2016

Answer 2

I was sure it would be Don McLean's "American Pie" weighing in at eight minutes and thirty-six seconds - The single had to be split into two parts but it did chart as one piece.

But recently it was surpassed by David Bowie, whose "Blackstar" clocks in at at 9:57

Answer 3

In August 2019 "Fear Inoculum" by the band "Tool" charted in Billboard Hot 100 with a length of 10:21 (Position 93). As of October 2020 it's the longest song in Hot 100.

Answer 4

"In a Gadda da Vida" broke the top forty and took up the entire B side of the album. They also had a shorter version that went much higher in the charts.

Answer 5

As a single, Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" reached #30 on the charts (17 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100), but it was only 2:52 in length.

The album of the same name reached #4, with the second side entirely taken up by a 17:05 version of that piece.

Given that no one in history has ever listened to the A side of the album a second time, one could easily argue that the LP is actually an EP single, making "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by far the longest hit single.