32 - Salt-N-Pepa - Push It

 

 

15th best seller of 1988

 

Chart Run

24-7-3-2-2-2-5-9-16-22-42-57-71

Astonishingly, this was originally a b-side to Tramp. It did need a re-mix to turn it into the pop-monster that it became. The main synth riff was used far too sparingly in the the original.

 

It's an absolute classic of hip-hop when the genre was just going mainstream in the UK.

 

Glenn Medeiros wouldn't let them take poll position though.

Glenn Medeiros holding Salt-N-Pepa off #1 has to be one of the greatest chart injustices of the 80s. It would take another 32 years to get a #1 led by a female rap act.

Another reason to add Glenn Medeiros to the worst #1 list then!

31 - Milli Vanilli - Girl I'm Gonna Miss Yout

 

 

15th best seller of 1989

 

Chart Run

66-24-10-3--2-2-2-5-8-15-31-44-55-58-58

 

I had no idea that this group were so big in America. Their debut album spent 41 weeks in the top 10 with 7 weeks at number 1. Quite a feat for a European act.

 

In retrospect, I feel it was quite harsh the way they were treated after the lip synch incident. But people still talk about it, so maybe the embarrassment was worth it, for the infamy that it caused.

 

It took a combination of Jive Bunny's That's What I Like and Lisa Stansfield's All Around the World to keep them in second place.

Edited April 9, 20223 yr by Colm

30 - Paul Young - Love of the Common People

 

 

15th best seller of 1983

 

Chart Run

17-5-2-2-2-4-4-3-5-14-28-48-60

 

Paul had quite the year in 1983. This was his third top 5 hit following his number 1 single - Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) - which finished just 1 place higher in the End of Year Chart - and the number 4 hit Come Back and Stay.

 

Billy Joel's Uptown Girl stopped Paul in his tracks for a week and then The Flying Picket's cover of Only You outsold it for the following fortnight.

 

The less said about his cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart Again.

 

29 - George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You

 

 

15th best seller of 1987

 

Chart Run

44-22-7-2-2-2-2-7-13-18-18-28-41-69

 

I think I had heard this was a cover but I'd forgotten that it was. It seemed tailor-made for Harrison with its "set on you" recalling early Beatles backing vocals.

There were two videos - one of which gained substantial air play with its ensemble of inanimate objects dancing along to the infectious song.

 

T'Pau's China in Your Hand kept it at bay for 4 weeks - great top 2. :wub:

Edited April 9, 20223 yr by Colm

28 - Haircut 100 - Love Plus One

 

 

14th best seller of 1982

 

Chart Run

36-36-12-11-4-4-3-4-10-23-40-58

 

I really don't recall this song at all even though I know the name of the band. I assumed I'd know some of Nick Heyward's solo hits but I dont know them either.

The chorus reminds me of a Britpop era song but I can't put my finger on it.

 

The Lion Sleeps Tonight and a song further up this list made sure it didn't reach the top 2.

 

 

27 - Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus - We All Stand Together

 

 

14th best seller of 1984

 

Chart Run

50-39-9-4-3-3-3-5-11-27-33-42-61

Taken from the animated picture Rupert and the Frog Song - pumping up the whimsey to the max. This gets a lot of distain from music fans. I quite like it.

Sitting at number 3 for three weeks behind two of the biggest selling singles of all time meant this big seller didn't get to number 1.

Edited April 15, 20223 yr by Colm

26 - Michael Ball - Love Changes Everything

 

 

14th best seller of 1989

 

Michael Ball's debut single, the magnificent hit from the musical Aspects of Love. I remember loving this as a kid. I still like it now.

 

Kept at number 2 by Simple Mind's Belfast Child and then Jason Donovan's Too Many Broken Hearts - the later of which marginally outsold Lover Changes Everything after trailing behind it for most of the week.

Edited April 15, 20223 yr by Colm

25 - Jermaine Stewart - We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off

 

 

14th best seller of 1986

Produced by the hugely successful Michael Walden, who made some of the biggest hits of the mid-80s including most of Whitney Houston's Whitney album and Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.

This was Jermain's first hit single which was stopped in it's tracks by 1986's biggest seller The Communard's Don't Leave Me This Way.

 

This was the biggest selling single of 1986 that didn't get to number 1.

Love Plus One is one of those that I can never recall but then quite enjoy when I hear it. Although I really don’t think it sounds like something that would have been so successful - I could imagine it being a poppier single by The Cure.

24 - Grandmaster Melle Mel ‎- White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)

 

 

13th best seller of 1984

Chart Run

60-63-75-74..........59-52-53-52-49-57-55-56-58-55-52-56-52-48-51-52-46-36-21-12-10-9-8-7-7-10-9-10-13-18-20-23-31-39-41-52-55-75

 

Now, I wasn't entirely surprised to see Blue Monday in this list but I wasn't ready for this. I am slightly ashamed to say that the first time that I heard of this song was when I heard Duran Duran's cover version :unsure:

 

What a chart run, though! 16 weeks between positions 48 and 59. By the end of the 80s it had spent 60 weeks in the Top 100.

 

Edited April 16, 20223 yr by Colm

23 - Sydney Youngblood - If Only I Could

 

 

13th best seller of 1989

Chart Run

49-41-36-17-6-4-3-3-5-10-15-20-29-43

 

Constructed mainly from the percussion and bass from the Raze classic track Break 4 Love and a snippet of percussion from Kym Mazelle's Useless, when this was top 3 it was selling at a rate higher than many number 1s in 1989 and finished higher than all but one of the number 2s in the end of year chart.

 

That number 2 (to be featured later) and Black Box's Ride On Time did the damage.

Edited April 16, 20223 yr by Colm

I have always wondered what Break 4 Love reminded me of!!! I wasn't aware of the Raze track until well after I'd heard If Only I Could but the Sydney track wasn't a big enough favourite for me to remember it.

22 - Madness - Baggy Trousers

 

 

13th best seller of 1980

Chart Run

36-21-5-4-3-3-5-7-13-23-38-45-58-66-70-67-67-53-54-66

Madness were huge. Only missing the top 10 twice in their first 16 singles, and not even by very much. Not even contemporary mega-hit machines like The Jam, Blondie and The Police could maintain that standard.

 

This got stuck behind a song further up this list and The Police's Don't Stand So Close to Me.

Edited April 25, 20223 yr by Colm

21 - Toni Basil - Hey Mickey

 

 

13th best seller of 1982

Chart Run

64-39-24-11-2-2-3-5-13-26-35-46

 

A song that has been the inspiration to many a young pop starlet who wanted to make an impetuous, infectious pop single - hello to Taylor Swift, The Ting Tings, Avril Lavigne.

 

It's hard to be convinced that any of them have bettered it.

 

The Lion Sleeps Tonight stopped this from topping the charts.

20 - Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F

 

 

13th best seller of 1985

Chart Run

73-62-62-72-63.......42-30-10-4-2-2-2-3-5-12-16-23-25-36-52-60-73

 

Although the main riff has become a thing of distain for some people, the rest of the track is quite great.

 

Sister Sledge's Frankie kept this at number 2 for three weeks.

19 - Sheena Easton - 9 to 5 (Morning Train)

 

 

12th best seller of 1980

Chart Run

50-29-20-5-3-4-3-4-6-11-17-31-40-53-75

Sheena's breakthrough hit.

The success of this, her second single, brought enough attention to her first single, Modern Girl, which started selling well, having only made number 56 on its first chart run. The boost in sales for that song meant that she ended up having 2 singles in the top 10 at the same time - which is a rare feat.

 

9 to 5 (Morning Train) was kept at number 3 by a combination of Abba's The Winner Takes it All, Diana Ross' Upside Down, David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes and The Jam's Start.

 

It outsold them all by the end of the year

Edited June 5, 20223 yr by Colm

Really enjoyed reading through this!

I much prefer all those songs which kept '9 to 5' out of the Top 2, nevertheless I'm not too surprised it outsold them all by year end, with the exception of ABBA :o