If no results I don't want the .articles div or main h1. Without using {if no_results} to output content.

gistfile1.html

<div class="articles">
	<h1>Recent Articles</h1>

	{exp:channel:entries channel="articles"}
	<article>
		<h1>{title}</h1>
		{body}
	</article>
	{/exp:channel:entries}

</div>

You could probably do something like the following:

{exp:channel:entries channel="articles"}
{if count==1}

Recent Articles

{/if}

{title}

{body} {if count==absolute_count}

{/if}
{/exp:channel:entries}

@cwcrawley your example won't work with pagination (and when not on the first page).

{total_results} - Total results being displayed
{absolute_count} - The absolute “count” out of the current entries being displayed by the tag, including those entries on previous pages (if using pagination).