The #1 Hot Adult Contemporary Hits of 1986 had been a category called easy listening for the latter half of the 1960s and most of the 1970s. It became Adult Contemporary in the spring of 1979, then Hot Adult Contemporary in the autumn of 1984.
The roster has a hefty crossover with the Hot 100 pop hits, which I linked to last week. So I’m only linking to the songs that differ, but I’m listing them all.
Greatest Love Of All – Whitney Houston, five weeks at #1 AC, three weeks at #1 pop
Glory Of Love – Peter Cetera, five weeks at #1 AC, two weeks at #1 pop
Stuck With You – Huey Lewis & the News, three weeks at #1 AC and pop
Sara – Starship, three weeks at #1 AC, one week at #1 pop
These Dreams – Heart, three weeks at #1 AC, one week at #1 pop
Live To Tell – Madonna, three weeks at #1 AC, one week at #1 pop
Love Is Forever – Billy Ocean, three weeks at #1 AC, #16 pop
That’s What Friends Are For – Dionne & Friends, two weeks at #1 pop, four weeks at #1 pop
The Next Time I Fall- Peter Cetera with Amy Grant, two weeks at #1 AC, one week at #1 pop
The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby & The Range, two weeks at #1 AC, one week at #1 pop
Friends and Lovers – Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson, two weeks at #1 AC, #2 for two weeks pop, thanks to exposure on TV’s Days of Our Lives
Throwing It All Away – Genesis, two weeks at #1 AC, #4 pop
Words Get In The Way – Miami Sound Machine, two weeks at #1 AC, #5 pop. Featuring Gloria Estefan
Your Wildest Dreams – The Moody Blues, two weeks at #1 AC, #9 pop
Love Will Conquer All – Lionel Richie, two weeks at #1, #9 pop
I’ll Be Over You – Toto, two weeks at #1 AC, #11 pop
Overjoyed – Stevie Wonder, two weeks at #1 AC, #24 pop
#1 AC for one week
How Will I Know – Whitney Houston, two weeks at #1 pop
They’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry) – Billy Ocean, one week at #1 pop
Secret Lovers – Atlantic Starr, #3 pop for two weeks
No One Is To Blame – Howard Jones, #4 pop
The Sweetest Taboo – Sade, #5 pop
My Hometown – Bruce Springsteen, #6 pop
Go Home– Stevie Wonder, #10 pop
I think I know many of the #1 pop hits of 1986 because I watched MTV regularly at home at the time. I certainly don’t own most of these, but I heard them enough to identify the vast majority of the tracks. And I eventually did buy some greatest hits albums for this new technology called the compact disc: Heart, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Prince, Steve Winwood.