Sort of. Yeah, most players never get the top hammer at all. But remember, Crazy Kong has 22 levels, but 4 screens per level, so a total of 85 screens, including the kill screen. DK has 117 screens. This is probably what accounts for the lower scoring. A typical CK kill screen will be 525-575k. However, point pressing (mostly the barrels) can yield 700k, according to Phil Tudose, who has the current high score on MARP (685k).
On a side note, with practice, it is not that difficult to get the top hammer. It does not have to be (according to Phil) pixel perfect.