80's UK & US Charts.

Yes, let us know what you think. I have the Dream Academy CD somewhere but don't think I've listened to it in about fifteen years or even longer. Might dig it out on the weekend. Hope you enjoy I Wanna Have Some Fun; it pretty much does what it says on the tin!

 

There used to be a chain of US discount stores named Gold Circle. They did a promotion when that album was hot with giant displays in their stores; he did a TV commercial where he mouthed "Rock on!" along to the music and pointed at the camera with both fingers. Then he talked about the album being available there. I can't find the commercial on YouTube, but I remember it vividly! I also remember seeing those displays in the stores filled with albums and CDs and cassettes...but not much movement of them as I would regularly visit the store. Not sure how many were actually sold that way.

 

US Top 40 Singles Week Ending September 2, 1989
TW LW TITLE Artist – Weeks on Chart (Peak Position)



1 2 COLD HEARTED –•– Paula Abdul – 11 (1)
2 1 RIGHT HERE WAITING –•– Richard Marx – 9 (1)
3 3 HANGIN’ TOUGH –•– New Kids On The Block – 8 (3)
4 4 DON’T WANNA LOSE YOU –•– Gloria Estefan – 9 (4)
5 10 ANGEL EYES –•– Jeff Healey Band – 12 (5)
6 15 HEAVEN –•– Warrant – 7 (6)
7 6 SECRET RENDEZVOUS –•– Karyn White – 15 (6)
8 12 SHOWER ME WITH YOUR LOVE –•– Surface – 10 (8)
9 8 THE END OF THE INNOCENCE –•– Don Henley – 11 (8)
10 9 FRIENDS –•– Jody Watley with Eric B. & Rakim – 12 (9)

11 17 IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME –•– Cher – 9 (11)
12 19 GIRL I’M GONNA MISS YOU –•– Milli Vanilli – 5 (12)
13 16 18 AND LIFE –•– Skid Row – 9 (13)
14 14 KEEP ON MOVIN’ –•– Soul II Soul – 11 (14)
15 5 ON OUR OWN –•– Bobby Brown – 13 (2)
16 13 SACRED EMOTION –•– Donny Osmond – 12 (13)
17 7 ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY –•– Great White – 17 (5)
18 11 I LIKE IT –•– Dino – 17 (7)
19 23 ONE –•– Bee Gees – 6 (19)
20 28 CHERISH –•– Madonna – 3 (20)

21 22 TALK IT OVER –•– Grayson Hugh – 11 (21)
22 26 KISSES ON THE WIND –•– Neneh Cherry – 7 (22)
23 25 SOUL PROVIDER –•– Michael Bolton – 10 (23)
24 27 THAT’S THE WAY –•– Katrina & The Waves – 7 (24)
25 18 BATDANCE –•– Prince – 12 (1)
26 21 SO ALIVE –•– Love And Rockets – 16 (3)
27 34 PUT YOUR MOUTH ON ME –•– Eddie Murphy – 6 (27)
28 20 HEADED FOR A HEARTBREAK –•– Winger – 14 (19)
29 35 IT’S NOT ENOUGH –•– Starship – 5 (29)
30 38 DON’T LOOK BACK –•– Fine Young Cannibals – 4 (30)

31 36 LOVE SONG –•– The Cure – 4 (31)
32 24 TOY SOLDIERS –•– Martika – 16 (1)
33 30 THE PRISONER –•– Howard Jones – 10 (30)
34 39 RUNNIN’ DOWN A DREAM –•– Tom Petty – 6 (34)
35 40 BUST A MOVE –•– Young M.C. – 6 (35)
36 37 HEY LADIES –•– Beastie Boys – 5 (36)
37 44 YOU’RE MY ONE AND ONLY (TRUE LOVE) –•– Seduction – 9 (37)
38 31 IF YOU DON’T KNOW ME BY NOW –•– Simply Red – 18 (1)
39 47 WHEN I LOOKED AT HIM –•– Expose – 3 (39)
40 46 PARTYMAN –•– Prince – 2 (40)

US top 40 26 years ago this week.

 

US Top 40 Singles Week Ending September 5, 1981
TW LW TITLE Artist (Label)-Weeks on Chart (Peak Position)



1 1 ENDLESS LOVE –•– Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (Motown)-9 (4 weeks at #1) (1)
2 2 SLOW HAND –•– The Pointer Sisters (Planet)-15 (4)
3 4 STOP DRAGGIN’ MY HEART AROUND –•– Stevie Nicks (with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) (Modern)-7 (3)
4 8 URGENT –•– Foreigner (Atlantic)-10 (4)
5 7 (There’s) NO GETTIN’ OVER ME –•– Ronnie Milsap (RCA)-11 (5)
6 6 QUEEN OF HEARTS –•– Juice Newton (Capitol)-15 (6)
7 10 WHO’S CRYING NOW –•– Journey (Columbia)-8 (7)
8 9 LADY (You Bring Me Up) –•– The Commodores (Motown)-12 (8)
9 5 JESSIE’S GIRL –•– Rick Springfield (RCA)-24 (1)
10 3 THEME FROM “GREATEST AMERICAN HERO” (Believe It Or Not) –•– Joey Scarbury (Elektra)-18 (2)

11 11 I DON’T NEED YOU –•– Kenny Rogers (Liberty)-13 (3)
12 16 STEP BY STEP –•– Eddie Rabbitt (Elektra)-7 (12)
13 15 COOL LOVE –•– Pablo Cruise (A&M)-10 (13)
14 12 BOY FROM NEW YORK CITY –•– The Manhattan Transfer (Atlantic)-16 (7)
15 17 THE BREAKUP SONG (They Don’t Write ‘Em) –•– The Greg Kihn Band (Beserkley)-16 (15)
16 18 REALLY WANNA KNOW YOU –•– Gary Wright (Warner Brothers)-10 (16)
17 19 FIRE AND ICE –•– Pat Benatar (Chrysalis)-8 (17)
18 21 HOLD ON TIGHT –•– ELO (Jet)-7 (18)
19 24 THE BEACH BOYS MEDLEY –•– The Beach Boys (Capitol)-7 (19)
20 22 FEELS SO RIGHT –•– Alabama (RCA)-14 (20)

21 23 THAT OLD SONG –•– Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio (Arista)-9 (21)
22 25 THE VOICE –•– The Moody Blues (Threshold)-5 (22)
23 29 FOR YOUR EYES ONLY –•– Sheena Easton (EMI-America)-7 (23)
24 31 ARTHUR’S THEME (Best That You Can Do) –•– Christopher Cross (Warner Brothers)-4 (24)
25 30 I COULD NEVER MISS YOU (More Than I Do) –•– Lulu (Alfa)-6 (25)
26 28 LOVE ON A TWO WAY STREET –•– Stacy Lattisaw (Cotillion)-12 (26)
27 13 HEARTS –•– Marty Balin (EMI-America)-16 (8)
28 34 IN YOUR LETTER –•– REO Speedwagon (Epic)-5 (28)
29 35 START ME UP –•– The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones)-3 (29)
30 33 BREAKING AWAY –•– Balance (Portrait)-9 (30)

31 14 ELVIRA –•– The Oak Ridge Boys (MCA)-17 (5)
32 36 DRAW OF THE CARDS –•– Kim Carnes (EMI-America)-5 (32)
33 43 SUPER FREAK (Part 1) –•– Rick James (Gordy)-5 (33)
34 20 IT’S NOW OR NEVER –•– John Schneider (Scotti Brothers)-15 (14)
35 26 DON’T GIVE IT UP –•– Robbie Patton (Liberty)-9 (26)
36 42 CHLOE –•– Elton John (Geffen)-7 (36)
37 39 YOU COULD TAKE MY HEART AWAY –•– Silver Condor (Columbia)-7 (37)
38 41 SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS (Some Days Are Stone) –•– John Denver (RCA)-13 (38)
39 40 NICOLE –•– Point Blank (MCA)-11 (39)
40 48 THE NIGHT OWLS –•– The Little River Band (Capitol)-3 (40)

34 years ago.

 

Only got #31 and 33 from this list . . .

 

You're slipping.

 

I have all of those on CD/iPod except for #37 and #39. Never heard of those two at all.

 

Me neither. For what it's worth.

 

The 1989 chart is dire - so much blandness. "Love Song" by The Cure is the diamond in the rough.

By comparison the 1981 chart is stacked with classics. The #1 is one of my favorite love songs of all time

 

The only one in the 1981 top ten I'm not familiar with is the Ronnie Milsap song.

I loved the Joey Scarbury single though.

 

I like the 1989 chart. I believe it's the only one Bobby's posted so far in which I actually have all 40 of the songs on CD and/or on my iPod.

 

Great song - also like George from Seinfeld's version!

I reckon I'd like more from the UK chart - a couple of others I like from the US one are Toy Soldiers and Bust A Move.

 

If there's any top 40 chart you'd like to see from a specific year, let me know.

 

Yeah, 1989 was a weird year - definitely the most "pop" year since the early '80s; not a lot of "alternative" music in the upper reaches of the charts. At that time, the term "new wave" was long since dead, and I don't believe "alternative" came into play until the '90s. I think it was still "college rock" at that time.

But, there's lots that I love from 1989 - I love a lot from every year of that decade. As I've noted previously, it was a big year for comebacks - Bee Gees, Doobie Brothers, Rolling Stones, Donny Osmond, Poco, Roy Orbison, Donna Summer - lots of hits from bands no one expected hits from anymore (at that time). I loved Paula Abdul so much at the time (probably my biggest chart crush then, although Susanna Hoffs was still charting with the Bangles) - and Karyn White adorned my walls as well! That is a solid R&B album for anyone who hasn't heard it.

As mentioned above, one great thing about 1989 is that The Cure had their first legitimate US hit in "Lovesong" - their other songs had only grazed the lower reaches of the chart at that point. And who would have expected Love & Rockets to have a big hit? Not me (but I was very happy about it!)

 

Post #578, the 1989 chart: I must have heard a few of these, but other than Cherish, for which I can recall one phrase, nothing really registers. I'm not even sure about Love Song by the Cure. If the Fine Young Cannibals track is on one of their LPs then I've heard it, and I thought both were decent.

Post #579, the 1981 chart: I might have only heard nos. 3, 22, 29 and 33. Nothing for me to get excited about.

 

I'd forgotten Donny Osmond had a couple of big singles in 1989. It didn't really work for him here, though 'Soldier Of Love' was a minor hit.

 

Thanks, much appreciated. I'd probably be more interested in the UK charts, because I have all the Joel Whitburn Record Research books that reproduced the original "Hot 100" charts from the 60's to the 2000's (as well as several other of their books). I've been getting into the UK charts over the past 5 years, so that's what I've been trying to learn more about. I basically just go to Wikipedia or The Official Charts Company to find information on the UK charts.

But now that I'm thinking about it, would you (or anyone else here) know offhand which songs hold the record for biggest jump into and biggest fall out of the #1 position in the UK? One site I used to go to a few years ago (since taken down) had the week-by-week chart positions of all the UK chart hits, and I remember seeing that Elvis Presley's "One Night/I Got Stung" fell from #1 to #20 upon its re-release in 2005. I didn't take the time to look through every #1 UK hit, but I thought that must hold the record for biggest drop from #1. I also like the fact that there seems to be more of a turnover of #1 singles in the UK. Since Billboard started using Soundscan to compile the "Hot 100", I don't think any year from 1992 to today has seen 20 #1 singles in a year in the US. (At least on the Pop Chart).

 

I don't know the answer to your question. Singles have always had a fast turnaround here. Even in the huge-selling 70's 'glory days'. I've known singles enter our charts at #1 only to be out of the top 40 a handful of weeks later.

I can do you the UK top 40 any week you want from the 60's to the early 00's, though.

 

There was alternative stuff going on but not reflected in the US charts. I think the Manchester scene started around then - Stone Roses etc. There was also some great electronic music like S-Express.

David Cassidy also staged a minor comeback with a top 1o in '85

 

Yes, I remember David's hit, 'The Last Kiss'. If I recall, it was a rewrite of a Cliff Richard song, 'Young Love'.

 

Yes, I've noticed that when researching the UK charts. What's the cause of that, anyway? Are the charts based on sales alone, or is airplay factored in? If it's sales, I can see why songs would take huge drops like that, but I can't imagine airplay for a hit song dropping that dramatically for a #1 song over the course of a couple weeks, unless something happened with the artist who recorded it.

 

You know, I really don't know the answer to that... It probably was just sales back in the 70's and 80's. Not sure about now.

 

He also had a minor comeback hit in the US in 1990 with his song, "Lyin' To Myself". It was in the Top 40 simultaneously with fellow-70's teen heartthrob Donny Osmond's song "My Love Is A Fire".

 

I think I read somewhere that digital downloads are factored into the UK charts nowadays. I don't know about airplay or streaming, though.

 

George Michael sings the backing vocals on that track. It was a great single.