What was Patti Smith’s biggest hit?

Patti Smith’s biggest hit was “Because the Night”, a rock song that was first released in 1978 as a single from the Patti Smith Group album, Easter.

In 1987, the song was ranked No. 116 on NME magazine’s list of “The Top 150 Singles of All Time”. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 358 on “Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

Patti Smith’s best widely known song, “Because the Night”, co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978 and became number five on the UK charts.

In 2005, Patti Smith was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

In 2018, Patti Smith’s concert-documentary film Horses: Patti Smith and her Band, premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Smith was the subject of a 2008 documentary film by Steven Sebring, Patti Smith: Dream of Life.

Patti Smith received an honorary doctorate degree for her contributions to popular culture at the 2008 Rowan Commencement ceremony.