Billboard's top 10 singles 1985

[jamesanthony]

For three of their most popular formats. Which records have aged well? Which have become annoying? Which were were never any good?

Hot 100

1- Careless Whisper- Wham feat George Michael
2- Like A Virgin- Madonna
3- Wake Me Up Before You GoGo- Wham
4- I Want to Know What Love Is- Foreigner
5- I Feel for You- Chaka Khan
6- Out of Touch- Hall and Oates
7- Everybody Wants to Rule the World- Tears for Fears
8- Money for Nothing- Dire Straits
9- Crazy for You- Madonna
10- Take on Me- Aha

top artist: Madonna

Black

1- Rock Me Tonight- Freddie Jackson
2- You Give Good Love- Whitney Houston
3-Missing You- Diana Ross
4- Nightshift- Commodores
5- Saving All My Love for You- Whitney Houston
6- In My House- Mary Jane Girls
7- Freeway of Love Aretha Franklin
8- Solid As A Rock- Ashford and Simpson
9- Oh Sheila- Ready for the World
10- Gotta Get You Home Tonight- Eugene Wilde

top artist: Kool and the Gang

Adult Contemporary:

1- Cherish- Kool and the Gang
2- Everytime You Go Away- Paul Young
3- The Search is Over- Survivor
4- Careless Whisper- Wham feat George Michael
5- All I Need- Jack Wagner
6- You're the Inspiration- Chicago
7-Who's Holding Donna Now- DeBarge
8- Suddenly- Billy Ocean
9- One More Night- Phil Collins
10- Smooth Operator- Sade

top artist: Wham

[jamesanthony]

For the hot 100, songs 3 5 and 6 were all hits in the fall of 1984 rather than in 1985. Billboard's chart year began in mid November back then. Actually today it begins in the first week in December.


3- Wake Me Up Before You GoGo- Wham- catchy little ditty
4- I Want to Know What Love Is- Foreigner- the best song in this list
5- I Feel for You- Chaka Khan- this hasn't aged well to me
7- Everybody Wants to Rule the World- Tears for Fears- I like this much more now than in 1985 when I found it irritating. Song is very indicative of the late cold war era
9- Crazy for You- Madonna- I dislike her music but this one is Ok
10- Take on Me- Aha- this was always about the video more than the song which never made any sense to me


1- Rock Me Tonight- Freddie Jackson- his singing is very overwrought and pained but I remember it being all over the radio that summer, don't here it at all now, indicative of its era
2- You Give Good Love- Whitney Houston- her best single IMO, I hear it all the time on the radio
3-Missing You- Diana Ross- Commodores record is better
4- Nightshift- Commodores- OK tune they deserved the grammy but what would they have done if Marvin hadn't died?
5- Saving All My Love for You- Whitney Houston- Liked it alot until I woke up and realized she's singing about infidelity, can't tolerate it now. She won an Emmy for singing it on the grammies


1- Cherish- Kool and the Gang- this is rather dull
2- Everytime You Go Away- Paul Young- very well done record
5- All I Need- Jack Wagner- the worst song in the A/C top ten. Every era has its actors who have a left field hit song
6- You're the Inspiration- Chicago- last chance to hear Peter Cetera in Chicago- OK but they had much much better songs than this
7-Who's Holding Donna Now- DeBarge- boring
9- One More Night- Phil Collins- his songs are like gum in your hair, they get stuck there, I hated this at first but it grew on me, not as nice as Against All Odds though


Crossover note: All the A/C to ten songs reached the pop top 10. Wham probably didn't set out to be the top A/C act of the year but A/C was broad enough to play them as well as Foreigner who hit #3 and Tears for Fears who hit #2 on the weekly chart. Whitney Houston, Diana Ross and Commodores all reached weekly A/C top 5 as well and Aretha Franklin hit #11. Charts were much more diverse then than they are now except for the lack of rap and country crossover.

top artist: Wham [/B][/QUOTE]