Tag: 1985

Hot Adult Contemporary #1s for 1985

Beverly Hills Cop

Here are the Hot Adult Contemporary #1s for 1985. The category went from Easy Listening in 1965 to Adult Contemporary in 1979, to Hot Adult Contemporary with the 20 October 1984 Billboard.

There was a lot of crossover between these and the pop and soul charts.

Cherish – Kool and the Gang, six weeks at #1. It was #2 for three weeks on the pop charts.

Careless Whisper – Wham!, featuring George Michael, five weeks at #1, three weeks at #1 pop.

Say You, Say Me – Lionel Richie, five weeks at #1, four weeks at #1 pop

The Search Is Over – Survivor, four weeks at #1. It went to #4 pop.

One More Night – Phil Collins, three weeks at #1

Who’s Holding Donna Now – DeBarge, three weeks at #1. #6 pop.

Saving All My Love For You – Whitney Houston, three weeks at #1, one week at #1 pop

Part-Time Lover, three weeks at #1. “It was the first single from his twentieth studio album, In Square Circle. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, R&B, dance, and adult contemporary charts, becoming Wonder’s final number one hit to date.”

Separate Lives – Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin, three weeks at #1, one week at #1 pop

Two weeks at #1

All I Need -Jack Wagner. He was on the soap opera General Hospital. Madonna’s Like A Virgin kept him from reaching #1 on the pop charts

You’re My Inspiration – Chicago. #3 for two weeks pop.

Too Late For Goodbye – Julian Lennon. It was released in September 1984 in the UK, but not until January 1985 in the US, where it reached #5 on the pop charts. Sam Peckinpah directed a music video for the song, but I don’t know for certain that this is it. 

We Are The World – USA for Africa, #1 for four weeks pop. This is the radio edit. 

Suddenly – Billy Ocean. #4 pop.

Smooth Operator – Sade. #5 pop.

Axel F – Harold Faltermeyer, two weeks at #1. This is the “theme tune to the film Beverly Hills Cop, its eponymous character played by Eddie Murphy, and the film franchise it is based on.” It became an international number one hit in 1985, but only went to #3 on the pop charts for three weeks in the US. I believe it’s Faltermeyer in the video.

Every Time You Go Away – Paul Young,  two weeks at #1, #1 for one week pop

The only song to top the AC charts in 1985 for only one week was Rhythm of the Night—DeBarge. It went to #3 for two weeks on the pop charts. 

1985 #1 Top Rock Tracks

the Pauls Carrack and Rodgers

These are the 1985 #1 Top Rock Tracks. What am I talking about? Earlier this year, I bought the book Joel Whitburn Presents Rock Tracks. It is “compiled from Billboard’s alternative Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.” The mainstream rock chart was first published in 1981.

Further, “there’s a weekly Top 60 airplay chart compiled from rock radio as indicated by the Nation’s leading album-oriented and top track stations. What is a track? Billboard’s Mike Harrison said, “Quite simply, a track is any individual song played on the raw merits of its popularity, regardless of its mechanical configuration, meaning, regardless of whether it is a 45 RPM single, LP cut, or whatever.”

Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) – Mike + The Mechanics, five weeks at #1, #6 pop. It also appeared on the soundtrack of the film On Dangerous Ground. The track features former Ace and Squeeze singer Paul Carrack on lead vocals.

Lonely Ol’ Night – John Cougar Mellencamp, five weeks at #1, #6 pop

The Old Man Down The Road – John Fogerty, three weeks at #1, #10 pop

Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds, three weeks at #1, #1 pop

Trapped – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, three weeks at #1. #2 for four weeks pop. This was on the We Are the World album by USA for Africa.

If You Love Somebody Set Them Free – Sting, three weeks at #1, #3 for two weeks pop. Linguistically ahead of the curve. 

Money For Nothing – Dire Straits, three weeks at #1, #1 for three weeks pop

You Belong To The City – Glenn Frey, three weeks at #1, #2 for two weeks, from the Miami Vice soundtrack.

Tonight She Comes – The Cars, three weeks at #1, #7 pop, from the Cars’ Greatest Hits.

Also

Somebody – Bryan Adams, two weeks at #1, #11 pop

Just Another Night – Mick Jagger, two weeks at #1, #12 pop

All She Wants To Do Is Dance – Don Henley, two weeks at #1, #9 pop

Forever Man – Eric Clapton, two weeks at #1, #26 pop

Little By Little – Robert Plant – two weeks at #1, #36 pop

Tough All Over – John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band – two weeks at #1, #22 pop

The Power Of Love – Huey Lewis and The News, two weeks at #1, #1 for two weeks pop

Fortress Around Your Heart – Sting, two weeks at #1, #8 pop

Sleeping Bag – ZZ Top, two weeks at #1, #8 pop

Talk To Me – Stevie Nicks, two weeks at #1, #4 pop

The rest for a single week at #1

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner, #1 for two weeks pop

Radioactive – The Firm, #28 pop. The Firm was a British rock supergroup formed in 1984, featuring singer Paul Rodgers (Free and Bad Company), guitarist Jimmy Page (The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin), drummer Chris Slade (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Uriah Heep, and later AC/DC), and bass player Tony Franklin.

We Built This City – Starship, #1 for two weeks pop

Part 2 of the country hits of 1985

Exile, Earl Thomas Conley

This is part 2 of the country hits of 1985. The discussion here describes the weird things that happened on the charts, especially in the 1980s.

Tim Neely’s observations are particularly on point:

Sometime in the 1980s, the Billboard country singles chart became… almost entirely, airplay-based… Billboard always relied on airplay lists received by radio stations in that genre. They were almost as ‘scientific’ as the lists from retailers on which they based sales-related charts…. It sure seemed as if, through the 1980s, country radio station lists had a habit of removing songs or dropping them to the bottom as soon as a song hit #1. This probably didn’t reflect what actually happened on the station, but without proof to the contrary, Billboard could only go on what was reported to it.

“On January 20, 1990, the Billboard country charts were one of the first to convert entirely to the BDS method of compilation, which used actual airplay on actual stations to determine the charts. Two things happened as a result, both almost immediately:

“– The size of the chart shrank from 100 spots to 75, because hardly anyone was actually playing those indie-label records in the lower 25 positions.
“– Songs began to stay at #1 for more than one week again on a regular basis. Indeed, the very first chart-topper on the BDS-based country chart, ‘Nobody’s Home'” by Clint Black, stayed on top for three weeks.

“As it turned out, what radio said it was playing, and what it was actually playing, were two different things.”

The second half of 1985

These are all songs, charting from July through December, that charted for exactly one week.

She’s A Miracle – Exile

Forgiving You Was Easy – Willie Nelson

Dixie Road – Lee Greenwood

Love Don’t Care (Whose Heart It Breaks) – Earl Thomas Conley

Forty Hour Week (For A Living) – Alabama

I’m For Love – Hank Williams, Jr.

Highwayman – Highwaymen. The legendary quartet of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and the still living Willie Nelson.

Real Love – Dolly Parton (with Kenny Rogers)

Love Is Alive – The Judds

I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me – Rosanne Cash

Modern Day Romance – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

I Fell In Love Again Last Night – The Forester Sisters. I have one of their albums from 1990.

Meet Me In Montana – Marie Osmond with Dan Seals

You Make Me Want To Make You Mine – Juice Newton

Touch A Hand, Make A Friend – The Oak Ridge Boys

Some Fools Never Learn – Steve Wariner

Can’t Keep A Good Man Down – Alabama

Hang On To Your Heart – Exile

I’ll Never Stop Loving You – Gary Morris

Too Much On My Heart – The Statler Brothers

I Don’t Mind The Thorn (If You’re The Rose) – Lee Greenwood

Nobody Falls Like A Fool – Earl Thomas Conley

The Chair – George Strait

I wonder how many of these songs would have made it to #1. Many of the hits are tied to romance, so I surmise that the songs NOT about affairs of the heart, such as Forty Hour Week or The Highwayman, would have been #1 regardless..

Hot Country Singles of 1985, part 1

Ray and Willie

These are the Billboard Hot Country Singles of 1985, part 1. Why only part 1?  Because 51 songs made it to #1 that year. And it wasn’t just 1985 but the whole decade. There were 33 #1s in 1979. In the ’80s, there were, in chronological order: 43, 47, 47, 50, 50, 51, 51, 49, 48, and  49, #1 country hits. In 1990, 24, and never more than 32 in any year for the rest of the century.

Why was that? From this music forum: “I just received a response to my question from Joel Whitburn himself, who sheds some more light on the issue.” The late Whitburn was the publisher of the Record Research books that line my bookshelves.

“I’m well aware of the different methodologies Billboard has used in compiling their charts. I was told by Billboard’s chart manager back in the mid-70’s that the Country charts were tabulated mostly by airplay and that the record companies wanted fast turnover at the top of the charts, so that more artists (and labels) would share in the bounty of a #1 hit. He said the promotional staffs of the record labels worked with radio so that as soon as a song hit #1, it would be pulled from their hot playlist and another song would peak at #1, etc.

It’s a different story today, as the Country chart is compiled by a combination of monitored airplay and sales data.”

This created a dizzying list of songs where only two, Have Mercy – The Judds, and Lost In The Fifties Tonight (In The Still Of The Night) – Ronnie Milsap, led the charts for even two weeks. BTW, In The Still Of The Night was a hit single by the Five Satins as early as 1956 (#3 RB, #24 pop).
First half, in chronological order, all one week at #1
The Best Year Of My Life – Eddie Rabbit
How Blue – Reba McEntire
A Place To Fall Apart – Merle Haggard (with Janie Frick)
Ain’t She Something Else – Conway Twitty
Make My Life With You – Oak Ridge Boys
Baby Bye Bye -Gary Morris
My Only Love -The Statler Brothers
Seven Spanish Angels – Ray Charles with Willie Nelson; the one song I recognized straightaway
Crazy – Kenny Rogers; yes, this is the cover of the Willie Nelson song that Patsy Cline took to #2 CW and AC for two weeks, and #9 pop in 1961/62
Country Girls – John Schneider, Bo Duke on the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard 
Honor Bound – Earl Thomas Conley
I Need More Of You – The Bellamy Brothers
Girls Night Out – The Judds
There’s No Way – Alabama; this is classic country rock harmony.
Somebody Should Leave – Reba McEntire
Step That Step – Sawyer Brown
Radio Heart – Charly McLean
Don’t Call Him A Cowboy – Conway Twitty
Natural High – Merle Haggard
Country Boy – Ricky Skaggs; Ricky can really pick it
Little Things -the Oak Ridge Boys
Note that some artists had consecutive #1s (Reba, Alabama, Twitty, Haggard, Judds), and if you see the list of the previous or subsequent six months, you’ll find the same pattern.

The 1985 Top 100 #1s

White Nights

The Billboard 1985 Top 100 #1s is largely familiar to me. Oh, check out Arthur’s take on the songs of that year.

Say You, Say Me—Lionel Richie (Motown), #1 for four weeks, gold record. The song was featured in the 1985 film White Nights, directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines, which I saw at the time. Incidentally, that was the year Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader. 

We Are The World – USA for Africa (Columbia), #1 for four weeks, quadruple platinum record. Written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and famously produced by Quincy Jones. I think I watched the video so often that I could tell you who soloed when. I know how Dan Aykroyd, the first guy alphabetically on the session, got there. But I never bought the single; I bought the ALBUM.

Careless Whisper – Wham! featuring George Michael (Columbia), #1 for  three weeks, platinum record

Can’t Fight This Feeling – REO Speedwagon (Epic),#1 for three weeks, gold record

Money For Nothing – Dire Straits (Warner), #1 for three weeks

Shout – Tears For Fears (Mercury), #1 for three weeks, gold record

Two weeks at the top

Broken Wings – Mr. Mister (RCA)

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner (Atlantic), gold record. Okay, I own it on an album: I LOVE this song. It’s a sappy video, but the choir is great.

The Power Of Love – Huey Lewis and the News (Chrysalis), gold record. Obviously, per the video, from the movie Back To The Future, which I saw at the time. 

Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears for Fears (Mercury). I love the beat, which is described as a shuffle; it has a strolling element. And it’s an antiwar song.

We Built This City – Starship (Grunt), gold record. When John Hebert, Tom Skulan, and I wrote a parody comic book called Sold Out, it referenced this song with the lyrics, “We bilked this city on black and whites.” It is a well-hated song, and I’m not a fan.

St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) – John Parr (Atlantic). I’ve never seen that movie.

Everything She Wants – Wham! (Columbia), gold record

Heaven – Bryan Adams (A&M)

A View To A Kill – Duran Duran (Capitol). I’ve never seen this James Bond film. 

One More Night – Phil Collins (Atlantic), gold record

The rest are one week at #1

Separate Lives – Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin (Atlantic). Also from the movie White Nights.

Crazy For You – Madonna (Geffen), gold record. It’s on the soundtrack for a movie called Vision Quest, which I’m not familiar with. 

Every Time You Go Away – Paul Young (Columbia), gold record. My favorite song on the list, better than the Hall and Oates original

Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds (A&M). This is on the soundtrack to The Breakfast Club, a film I’ve never seen.

Part Time Lover – Stevie Wonder (Tamla)

Take On Me – a-ha (Warner)

Saving All My Love – Whitney Houston (Arista), gold record. From her debut album.

Miami Vice theme – Jon Hammer (MCA), instrumental. A great theme for a TV show I watched for a couple of seasons.

Sussudio -Phil Collins (Atlantic), gold record. Meh.

Oh Sheila – Ready For The World (MCA). I don’t remember this song!

Ramblin' with Roger
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