These songs were all very big hits on the "black" chart, but never made the top 40 of the hot 100. Does anyone like any of these tunes?

Funkin for Jamaica- Tom Browne- 1980- was a charttopper for a month but never made the hot 100 at all

Fantastic Voyage- Lakeside- 1981- charttopper for 2 weeks- Coolio's rap sample version capitalized on the fact that the song was familiar and yet not a big crossover hit, his very inferior version was a big hit in the mainstream in the mid90s

I Heard it Through the Grapevine- Roger- 1981- chartopper for 2 weeks- typical of his computerized sounding singles of that era- #79 on the hot 100

Atomic Dog- George Clinton- chartopper for a month in 1983- Considering how much I heard this one that year I was kind of floored to learn that it never made the Hot 100 at all.

Juicy Fruit- Mtume- chartopper for 8 weeks in 1983- another one that I heard constantly that year that surprised me when I saw how low it got on the Hot 100- #45, it actually sold over 1 million units

Save Your Love (for #1)- Rene and Angela- charttopper for 2 weeks in 1985

I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love- Stephanie Mills- chartopper for two weeks in 1986- another song that never made the hot 100 which surprised me because I heard it so much on the radio that year. She had 4 other black charttoppers: Something in the Way You Make Me Feel, Home, I Feel Good All Over and You're Putting A Rush On Me- only the last one made the hot 100 peaking at #85

Back In Stride and Can't Get Over You- Maze and Frankie Beverly -both charttoppers for 2 weeks each in 1985 and 1989 respectively
each had low hot 100 ranks

Cold Blooded- Rick James- charttopper for 7 weeks in 1983 stopped at #47 on the hot 100.

Candy Girl- New Edition- charttopper for a week in 1983- stopped at #50 pop- they created quite a sensation from the start NYC that year

There are a lot of others that were big smashes that I remember hearing on the radio in NYC a lot in the 80s and not just on the "black" stations either. I guess it shows that NYC radio was very different from the rest of the country at that time.

Originally posted by jamesanthony
These songs were all very big hits on the "black" chart, but never made the top 40 of the hot 100. Does anyone like any of these tunes?

Funkin for Jamaica- Tom Browne- 1980- was a charttopper for a month but never made the hot 100 at all

Fantastic Voyage- Lakeside- 1981- charttopper for 2 weeks- Coolio's rap sample version capitalized on the fact that the song was familiar and yet not a big crossover hit, his very inferior version was a big hit in the mainstream in the mid90s

I Heard it Through the Grapevine- Roger- 1981- chartopper for 2 weeks- typical of his computerized sounding singles of that era- #79 on the hot 100

Atomic Dog- George Clinton- chartopper for a month in 1983- Considering how much I heard this one that year I was kind of floored to learn that it never made the Hot 100 at all.

Juicy Fruit- Mtume- chartopper for 8 weeks in 1983- another one that I heard constantly that year that surprised me when I saw how low it got on the Hot 100- #45, it actually sold over 1 million units

Save Your Love (for #1)- Rene and Angela- charttopper for 2 weeks in 1985

I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love- Stephanie Mills- chartopper for two weeks in 1986- another song that never made the hot 100 which surprised me because I heard it so much on the radio that year. She had 4 other black charttoppers: Something in the Way You Make Me Feel, Home, I Feel Good All Over and You're Putting A Rush On Me- only the last one made the hot 100 peaking at #85

Back In Stride and Can't Get Over You- Maze and Frankie Beverly -both charttoppers for 2 weeks each in 1985 and 1989 respectively
each had low hot 100 ranks

Cold Blooded- Rick James- charttopper for 7 weeks in 1983 stopped at #47 on the hot 100.

Candy Girl- New Edition- charttopper for a week in 1983- stopped at #50 pop- they created quite a sensation from the start NYC that year

There are a lot of others that were big smashes that I remember hearing on the radio in NYC a lot in the 80s and not just on the "black" stations either. I guess it shows that NYC radio was very different from the rest of the country at that time.

You brought back alot of great memories for me. Man has it been that long. Just for a moment I wish I could turn back time. :wave:

Funkin for Jamaica- I remember people liked this one, so I was really surprised that it never made the pop chart

Fantastic Voyage- Lakeside- This record really holds up well 23 years later. The rap part fits in so naturally.

I Heard it Through the Grapevine- Roger- This one wasn't big in my neighborhood, I've never heard it in its entirety but it seems like a strange concept

Atomic Dog- George Clinton- I suspect a lot of people know this one who weren't listening to r&b radio in 1983

Juicy Fruit- Mtume- funny, considering the song is about sex I don't find it raunchy or off color

Save Your Love (for #1)- Rene and Angela- they had some good songs in their heyday

I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love- Stephanie Mills- I remember when her records outsold Whitney Houston in the black community even though Whitney was BIG in the pop arena. Stephanie's songs were the ones that people wanted to sing on the Apollo shows not Whitney's

Back In Stride and Can't Get Over You- Maze and Frankie Beverly -These guys are great. It may be just as well that they haven't made a record since 1993, they've never made a bad album. I just bought Kashif's latest Cd more because it has his first album from 1983 combined with the new one. The old one from 1983 is even better than I remember and was worth the $ I spent because it was out of print, but the new one which he took 10 years to make is terrible. Maze on the other hand knew how to exit gracefully.

Cold Blooded- Rick James- I was never big on him

Candy Girl- New Edition- This one holds its own in comparison to the old Jackson5 hits IMO.

There are a bunch of others that I remember vividly that were not pop chart hits and are very hard to find on CD. I'm looking for an 80s compilation that has Bill Withers' Oh Yeah from his last album Watching Me Watching You from 1985. Or even that whole album. Very hard to find music, but very good IMO.