The Beatles had the most (20), and Elvis Presley is second (18).
Michael Jackson
solo artist with the most number one hits of all time and she broke the beattles record for most weeks at number one of all time
I am assuming pop/rock is the genre you are interested in. If you include songs with joint authorship the answer is overwhelmingly Paul McCartney. He had 20 cowritten number 1 hits with The Beatles and nine with Wings and in his solo career. Nobody else is even close.
The Beatles (20)Mariah Carey (18)Elvis Presley (17)
George Wyle
Queen Elizabeth the I
Gioacchino Rossini.
People who could write at the time Shakespeare wrote most likely wrote. I assume at least one of your (the reader or who the reader is reading to) ancestors wrote unless I'm wrong somehow.
Pete rose 4256 hits
Shakespeare did not write for time periods. He wrote for audiences. He wrote in a number of time periods, depending on how you want to define time periods: the sixteenth century, the seventeenth century, the Elizabethan Era, the Jacobean Era, the 1590s, the 1600s, the 1610s, the Renaissance, etc.
im sot sure but george staight has quite a few number 1s like over 50
Cascada wrote Every Time You Touch.