Stop is an epic ballad, I bought it in 1988 so had a bonus new chart-topper as it peaked at 1 for me around this time. I've seen Sam in concert with her dad, they are both fab in a live setting. Leave Me Alone had a great video, and the nutty Jacko stories were getting annoying by this time, but I refused to buy the track as I'd bought Bad on vinyl pretty much day of release and was pissed that vinyl buyers got screwed. The sound on vinyl was still better than CD on full-price albums. Singles and budget albums - including Now vinyl - less good though. Deliberately in my opinion as time went on. I still think it's not as good as the rest of Bad, bar Just Good Friends. Speed Demon should have been a double A with it.

Rick's single was pretty bad, he really needed a co-write with a proper hit songwriter, it's not as if there weren't loads around at the time....

4TH MARCH

All change this week as five new songs are in the top 10 but there’s no change at the top, Simple Minds remain there for a second week “Belfast Child” still convincing 64,447 people to spend their cash on it, it’s now sold 197,251 in its first 3 weeks making it their second biggest seller behind “Don’t You Forget About Me” though that is well clear on over 300,000 sales. Its victory was however very slim, just under 500 copies in fact from Michael Jackson’s “Leave Me Alone” which accelerates 4-2 (63,954) and even Michael Ball’s “Love Changes Everything”, though it dips 2-3, sold 62,492, both Michael’s outselling Simple Minds towards the weekend with the top 3 therefore just under 2k apart when the dust settled.

The third single to assist fund raising for the Comic Relief cause rises 12-5 (49,215) this week for Bananarama who guest alongside Lananeeneenoonoo, they are in reality French & Saunders who have roped in Kathy Burke to provide “The Young Ones” to Bananarama’s “Cliff Richard”. Their cover of the Beatles classic “Help!” (No 1, 1965) also follows covers of “With A Little Help From My Friends”, “Twist & Shout” and “I Saw Him Standing There” into the top 10 in the course of the last year, this year’s red nose day is on March 10th so there’s plenty of scope for this to rise, it’s the girls 9th top 10 single and is a marked improvement on the last version of “Help” to chart, that would be Tina Turner’s No 40 hit in 1984.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T_v_xSBcqI

The S-Express story continues with a third top 10 hit on the trot, “Hey Music Lover” arrives 14-6 (38,896) and previews their debut album “Original Soundtrack” which finally hits the shops next month.  The song is an update of the Sly & Family Stone track from 1968 and also includes a sample from the film "The Stepford Wives"

Glasgow based band Texas are up next with debut single “I Don’t Want A Lover” rising 13-8 (25,534). The group feature former Altered Images guitarist Johnny McElhone and take their name from the 1984 film of the same name, they are also part of a growing contribution to the charts by Scotland who have placed Wet, Wet, Wet, Deacon Blue, Simple Minds, and The Proclaimers in the top 10 recently. Debut album “Southside” is out in three weeks for those who want to hear more.

Meanwhile at No 9 is our highest new entry which comes from a certain Jason Donovan hot on the heels of his first chart topper “Especially For You” with (alleged) girlfriend Kylie Minogue. Again it’s written and produced by S/A/W and has certainly started off brightly with 23,324 buyers in week one, it comes from his first album “Ten Good Reasons” which has a May release date at present, his ascendancy in the teen mags so far this year points to it being a strong seller.

Currently sitting at No 2 behind Simply Red on the album charts with “Anything For You” Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine have completed a dazzling resurgence in their UK chart fortunes with a fourth top 20 hit in just 8 months. Their new single “Can’t Stay Away From You” was originally released here last May and only made No 88 but it’s a much bigger hit now bounding 23-10 (22,627) though progress may be stinted due to the album flying off the shelves.

Sam Brown grinds 5-4 (53,312) and Bobby Brown dips 6-7 (27,472) under the pressure of all those new hits.


1- BALLAD OF THE STREETS EP- Simple Minds  (64,447)
2- LEAVE ME ALONE- Michael Jackson  (63,954)
3- LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING- Michael Ball  (62,492)
4- STOP- Sam Brown (53,312)
5- HELP!- Bananarama/ LaNaNeeNeeNooNoo (49,215)
6- HEY MUSIC LOVER- S Express (38,896)
7- MY PREROGATIVE- Bobby Brown (27,472)
8- I DON’T WANT A LOVER- Texas (25,534)
9- TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS- Jason Donovan (23,324)
10- CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU- Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine (22,627)

The arrival of Too Many Broken Hearts and Jason Donovan on a mountainside with his not plugged in electric guitar 😀 Great song though and much better than his debut.

I'm going to be uncharitable and say the cover of Help! just went over my head. I never got the joke with French & Saunders.

I'm not hugely a Jason fan, but 'Too Many Broken Hearts' is a great pop tune!

Wow very close for MJ 😮

oh wow what a close top 3, could have ben anyone

Texas is the best of the newbies, classic debut single, loved it back then and still sounds great

Jason got one of SAW's best singles ever, so no surprises it did so well, for some reason I bought the album :)

the S'Express one just ok, not as good as their debut

the Bananarama single is kinda silly but it was for a good cause, thought the video was funny

the Gloria Estefan one is not a favourite, I'd rather her upbeat songs that her ballads, which were all a snoozefest.

The Bananas and Lananeeneenoonoo are actually probably my favourite new one this week 😃

1 hour ago, Bjork said:

Jason got one of SAW's best singles ever, so no surprises it did so well, for some reason I bought the album :)

I know it's an obvious joke, but...

I'm sure you had one of ten good reasons to buy it 😀

'Hey Music Lover' is interesting and yeah vocally I think that epic vocal 'higher higher i've been waiting' bit kind of anticipates the rise of Italo-house later in the year and 1990.

The band Texas were actually a bit blues/country at the start then to suit their name - 'I Don't Want A Lover' is good.

Edited April 9Apr 9 by TheSnake

A close Top 3! Michael Ball less than 2k from #1, surely that was his best ever chance of getting there... and possibly the last chance for a non-duet track from Bad too...

I had an interest in musicals before pop music, so like many Andrew Lloyd Webber songs, 'Love Changes Everything' has some nostalgia attached. We've reached the stage where I remember multiples of these songs from the time - I knew that version of 'Help!' before the original, and 'Too Many Broken Hearts' was pretty ubiquitous. The S'Express one is my favourite of the newcomers now.

11TH MARCH

Another thrilling chart week which lead to a close race for the top this time the winning margin just 1,292 copies in it, but coming from behind Jason Donovan scores his second chart topper this week with “Too Many Broken Hearts” sneaking 9-1 (63,546). It becomes S/A/W’s 7th produced and fifth written No 1 in just 4 years which has seen them become the premier producers in the land. That’s all bad news for Michael Ball who led all week and looked like giving Andrew Lloyd Webber his first chart topper in 12 years with “Love Changes Everything”, it actually lost sales at 62,254 but still rose 3-2. Meanwhile Bananarama climb 5-3 (60,401) and are ideally placed to get a nice boost from Comic Relief this weekend, it’s already the trio’s equal highest placed hit emulating the peaks of “Robert De Nero’s Waiting” and “Love In The First Degree” but at just 3,000 copies away they have never been nearer the No 1 spot saleswise- can they do it next week? This also marks the first time we have two S/A/W tracks in the top 3 since last September and fourth in total in the last 2 years.

The only new song in the top 10 comes from the returning Living In A Box who scored four top 50 hits from their first album and are now onto album two with the lead single “Blow The House Down”. It features a busy Brian May who guests on guitar here fresh from his special appearance on Holly Johnson’s “Love Train”, this track moves 17-10 (26,962).

Sam Brown halts at No 4 (50,660) but she does debut at No 5 on the album charts to provide further cheer, that strong selling top 4 means there is no room for last week’s forerunners Michael Jackson and Simple Minds, they topple 2-5 (48,229) and 1-6 (47,804), that’s the biggest drop from the top spot since George Michael’s “A Different Corner” in 1986. Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine fly 10-8 (35,190) and nestle between two fallers, S Express 6-7 (40,205) and Texas 8-9 (33,422). Next week we’ll see if all that controversy for the new Madonna single can see it debut at No 1?


1- TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS- Jason Donovan  (63,546)
2- LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING- Michael Ball (62,254)
3- HELP- Bananarama/ Lananeeneenoonoo (60,401)
4- STOP- Sam Brown (50,660)
5- LEAVE ME ALONE- Michael Jackson (48,229)
6- BALLAD OF THE STREETS EP- Simple Minds (47,804)
7- HEY MUSIC LOVER- S Express (40,205)
8- CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU- Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine  (35,190)
9- I DON’T WANT A LOVER- Texas (33,422)
10- BLOW THE HOUSE DOWN- Living In A Box (26,962)

I had no idea Jason was so close to not getting to the top I just assumed he would have been well ahead.

Same

But glad the better song won

18TH MARCH

Firstly We’ll deal with the little matter of the No 1 record, that’s Jason Donovan who holds the top slot for a second week and increased his sales to 93,585 in the process, and he needed to as he was under pressure from the off by THAT record which in the end debuted at No 2.

Yes Madonna is back with a level of controversy that only she can muster and it all started back in December when the new Coca Cola ad’s started showing with George Michael the star, Pepsi immediately announced that they had a popstar in the bag as well, and it was none other than Madonna, a teaser for the commercial aired during the Grammy’s this February with the full commercial being shown around the world on 2nd March including in the UK, the first time an artist had premiered a new song via a commercial, with Pepsi promising to sponsor the forthcoming world tour and MTV getting exclusive rights to air the promo for the next month. That was the plan until the following day when MTV aired the official full length video for “Like A Prayer” and needless to say religious groups were not impressed with the pope banning Madonna from touring Italy (allegedly) and middle America suitably outraged threatening a boycott of Pepsi, in turn Pepsi decided not to re-air the commercial and cancelled sponsorship of the tour but allowed Madonna to keep the $5 million dollars she had been paid, in effect, for one showing of the commercial.

And that was all before the single hit the stores! Now it duly equals Kylie Minogue’s “The Loco-Motion” by entering the charts at No 2 after shifting 82,484 copies in its first week, the best start for any Madonna single to date and as noted the equal highest debut for a solo female act, it’s her 18th top 10 single which pulls her clear of Michael Jackson in terms of top tenners in the 80s though he has confirmed that another track from “Bad” will be released in the summer!

Who’s as big as Madonna at the moment?- well not an act but a set of producers, S/A/W of course, they produce three of the top 4 records this week in a new high for the trio who it should be noted are “independents” in terms of distribution and operation making their achievement all the more noteworthy. Bananarama’s cover of “Help!” holds at No 3 (70,737) and was the biggest selling single on Saturday in the wake of Comic Relief day on Friday, whilst one place below notes the return of the queen of Disco, Ms Donna Summer. Summer had 7 top 10 singles in the 70s including the chart topper “I Feel Love”, in the 80s however she’s had 13 hits none of which have made it past the No 13 spot (“Dinner With Gershwin”), but all that was before she teamed up with the dream team of S/A/W who promptly wrote “This Time I Know It’s For Real” for the singer and which returns her to the top 10 after a ten year break in moving 11-4 (52,751). The demise of Disco coupled with some unfortunate comments about her gay audience are largely cited as the reasons for her career stalling in the decade but this seems to be rectifying it.

In fact Jason Donovan must be feeling very henpecked at the top as the next 6 places are all female and that includes Paula Abdul whose “Straight Up” shoots 15-6 (35,037). Her pop career started when she was head choreographer for the Los Angeles Lakers when she caught the eye of The Jacksons who attended a game and they talked her into choreographing their “Torture” video which led to working with Janet Jackson and appearing in the “What Have You Done For Me Lately” video among others plus other movie work, before she attempted to become a pop star herself. Initial releases “Knocked Out” (No 98) and “It’s Just The Way You Love Me” (uncharted) didn’t impress us nor the US really, it’s the current hit “Straight Up” which has really made her a star spending 3 weeks at No 1 in the states last month- could it do the same over here?

Those other ladies in the fray include Sam Brown who drops 4-5 (36,244) whilst moving 5-4 on the album chart, and Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine who climb 8-7 (32,164) whilst cooling at retail. At the bottom of the top 10 we have two fallers, Michael Ball hurtles 2-8 (31,688), S-Express drop 7-9 (30,141) but Living In A Box hold at No 10 (25,704).


1- TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS- Jason Donovan  (93,585)
2- LIKE A PRAYER- Madonna (82,484)
3- HELP- Bananarama/ Lananeeneenoonoo  (70,737)
4- THIS TIME I KNOW IT’S FOR REAL- Donna Summer (52,751)
5- STOP- Sam Brown (36,244)
6- STRAIGHT UP- Paula Abdul (35,037)
7- CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU- Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine (32,164)
8- LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING- Michael Ball (31,688)
9- HEY MUSIC LOVER- S Express (30,141)
10- BLOW THE HOUSE DOWN- Living In A Box (25,704)

'Like A Prayer' what a classic. Madonna was better off without Pepsi anyway.

Oh a good trio of new entries this week, especially 'Like A Prayer' which is hands down my favourite 80s Madonna song

Like a Prayer <3 and what a debut, never imagined she had done > 80K!

A true classic of classics although I slightly prefer some of her mid 90s singles like

Live to Tell, Into the groove and Papa don't preach

also crazy it was her 18th top 10 hit in such a brief period of time

also loooove Paula Abdul's Straight Up, was obsessed with it as a kid and even bought the album

which was surprisingly very good

that Donna Summer song I liked it, not a fav from SAW, but insane they had 3 out of the top 5!

Like a Prayer!!!!

I remember all the controversy. I remember taping the commercial and watching it many times - it's a brilliant couple of minutes of TV.

I remember Madonna being absolutely HUGE!!!

Straight Up and This Time I Know It's For Real are also great new tracks.

Was the video premiered during the week some time in the afternoon? cos I remember rushing from school and going straight to the tv for the debut of the video

25TH MARCH

Putting up a surprisingly stubborn defence of his crown Jason Donovan just couldn’t keep the top spot with a mere 11% dip in sales to 82,195. He was toppled by Madonna who claims her 6th chart topper of her career and of the decade which puts her two clear of the competition, indeed only The Beatles, Elvis Presley (17), Cliff (12), Abba & The Rolling Stones (9) are now ahead of her in the all time list of acts with the most chart toppers. Parent album “Like A Prayer” is out this week so we’ll see if that can damper its sales but this week the title track sold 92,514 copies to take the crown.

The top 2 are so far clear of the field that although Donna Summer climbs 4-3 (47,583) and Paula Abdul flies 6-4 (41,123) both are too far to pose a threat.

Firstly a DJ collaboration, then a clothing line, and most recently a dance act, Soul II Soul were one of the most talked about acts of 1988 in certain circles of the music business but they disappointed with initial singles “Fairplay” No 63 and “Feeling Free” No 64 failing to become the big hits they expected. Third release “Keep On Movin” finally finds the spot for the band who also introduce us to vocalist Caron Wheeler who has already a host of backing vocals credits to her name including Elvis Costello, Erasure, Madness, Dexy’s, Special AKA, and Howard Jones but now gets star billing. “Keep On Moving” sprints 15-5 (30,658) with that debut album out in a month.

Equally feted by the music press (though entirely in different circles) are US rock band Guns N Roses who have had an unusual path to fame, formed in 1985 in LA, signed in 1986, released their debut single and album in 1987 which weren’t hits until 1988 when the single “Welcome To The Jungle” was heard in the film “Dead Pool” in which the group had a cameo appearance. By that time the group’s first single “It’s So Easy” had made No 84 over here and “Jungle” hit at No 67, but the group’s third single “Sweet Child O Mine” changed everything making No 24 here and No 1 in the US and prompting a re-issue of “Jungle” which went to No 7 in the US and No 24 in the UK. That pretty much brings us up to speed with the band who now see “Paradise City” become their breakthrough Top 10 hit here rising 21-8 (27,744), parent album “Appetite For Destruction” has been a sleeper hit spending 32 weeks in the charts since 1987, peaking at No 15 to date, and selling just over 200,000 copies so far.

Not had enough S/A/W? have no fear you only need to look at the record that climbs 12-10 (21,352) this week from sisters Linda and Aisling Reynolds otherwise known as the Reynolds Girls. One of the most discussed singles at present “I’d Rather Jack” is dividing opinion with its criticisms of radio DJ’s and groups Fleetwood Mac and Rolling Stones. The girls come from a talented family with their other sister Debbie playing Katie Rogers in “Brookside” at the moment so it’s no surprise that they hail from Liverpool and were discovered when they sent a demo tape to Pete Waterman who hosts a radio show there. Rather than a serious criticism of the music scene it seems to be a rather tongue in cheek response to critics of the S/A/W sound.

Bananarama slide 3-6 (29,529) which completes the 40% of S/A/W produced hits in the top 10 at present, Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine hold at No 7 (28,305) but do see “Anything For You” finally make the No 1 spot on the album chart at the 19th time of asking, and Sam Brown drops 5-9 (25,143).


1- LIKE A PRAYER- Madonna (92,514)
2- TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS- Jason Donovan  (82,195)
3- THIS TIME I KNOW IT’S FOR REAL- Donna Summer (47,583)
4- STRAIGHT UP- Paula Abdul (41,123)
5- KEEP ON MOVIN- Soul II Soul Ft Caron Wheeler (30,685)
6- HELP- Bananarama/ Lananeeneenoonoo (29,529)
7- CAN’T STAY AWAY FROM YOU- Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine  (28,305)
8- PARADISE CITY- Guns N Roses (27,744)
9- STOP- Sam Brown (25,143)
10- I’D RATHER JACK- Reynolds Girls (21,352)