In Honor of Her Birthday, Let's Revisit Cher's 16 Greatest Hits

Today we raise a toast to Cher, one of the LGBT community's most outspoken allies, as the singer, actress, and social activist (and lively Twitter personality!) turns 70 years old.

Let's take a look back through the decades at some highlights from the birthday girl's musical career. Notice how often during the 1960s and 1970s the solo Cher competed with her famous pop duo Sonny & Cher for Top 10 pop hits in the Billboard Hot 100? This was something hubby Sonny Bono encouraged — at first.

Notice too how the solo star went on to have Billboard Top 10 hits spanning four decades. (Six decades if you count her hits on the Billboard dance charts, and why not?) There's a reason she's a legend, folks!

The so-happy-in-love tune, written by Sonny, saw the hippie couple reach the number 1 spot on the charts.

A sadder song of Sonny's helped the duo hit the number 5 spot just a few months later.

A number 2 surprise solo hit for Cher. But, Sonny wasn't worried — he wrote the song for her to record.

This sultry beatnik anthem finds Cher and the hubs in the number 6 spot.

Cher finishes the year with a bizarre number 9 solo hit about divorce, told from a man's point of view. Foreshadowing? Sonny wrote it.

Cher scored her first solo number 1 hit with this song about rapscallions. But Sonny didn't write this one. More foreshadowing? (Also, is anyone ever going to point out that gypsies is spelled wrong?)

A month later, the Bonos score a much-needed number 7 hit together. Here they are performing it on their famed television variety show The Sonny & Cher Show.

And just a few months later, a number 7 hit for solo Cher. Another one Sonny didn't write...

Followed the next month by a number 8 hit for Sonny & Cher. It's their last Top 10 hit together. The couple separated the following year and divorced in 1975.

Another solo number 1 song, this one about being persecuted for being part Cherokee. (But is she?) Trigger warning for the culturally sensitive: Cher's in a headdress in the clip below. 

A few months later, another solo number 1 song. In this one, she's a murderous fortune-teller. 

Closing out the 1970s with a divorce from second husband Gregg Allman, and a disco hit. This song shot to the number 8 spot.

With Cher's Hollywood career in overdrive throughout the 1980s, the music hits slowed, until she released 1987's platinum-selling Cher album and landed in the number 10 spot with this rocking ballad.

The nostalgic tune showed it had real legs and climbed to the number 3 spot. It also had Cher climbing aboard a gigantic cannon in the song's racy video.

Why not wrap up the decade with a number 8 hit?

There's a reason Cher fans rejoiced over this catchy, vocoder-drenched dance club gem. The powerful manifesto of self-love helped Cher, then 53, land after more than two decades back at the very top of the charts. Her last number 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. (She's racked up a few more on the Billboard dance charts.)