'Dear Jessie' is honestly one of my least favourite Madonna singles ever.

Hard to imagine the thinking behind releasing DJ when you had "Spanish Eyes", "Keep It Together". Oh Father" and "Til Death Do Us Part" on the album. I suppose the only thing in its favour is the Christmas/Kids connection and its lightweight theme

At the time I would have loved to see Til Death Do Us Part as a single. The production has admittedly dated quite badly, but the structure and melody are both strong <3

Lambada and its vocalist is a bit Sade reminscent. Good song.

Pacific State is arguably the first 1991-2 style rave track to make the charts!

The Jeff Wayne track is fabulously dramatic.

Edited May 22May 22 by TheSnake

That’s one of my fave Jason Donovan songs at 2, shame it couldn’t beat the bunny (as it were).

I would have picked Oh Father as single 4 in the UK, same as the US,

but then Oh Father was Madonna's first US semi-flop since rising to fame - peaked at #20 :) -so who knows

As much as I love Til Death Do Us Apart, it doesn't work as Xmas single...

23RD DECEMBER

Creating chart history this week “Do They Know It’s Christmas” duly debuts at No 1, it isn’t the first song to do so (it’s actually the 22nd) nor is it the first in the 80s (there’ve been 14 of those) nor the first of the year (4 of those) and it’s just the third time that successive chart toppers have debuted at the top, it is however the first time that successive No 1 singles have debuted at No 1 in successive weeks. That also means that Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers are the first act to debut at the top and last just a week there, in fairness “Let’s Party” increased sales by 52% coming in with 109,089 copies so it hasn't lost any impetus at all, but that is 65,507 behind Band Aid II. You’ll note that that sale for the chart topper is significantly below the opening tally for the Band Aid original (574,464) but it is the highest weekly tally of 1989 as you might expect. Reclaiming the top spot is possibly beyond Jive Bunny but it will be interesting to note where the two tracks go from here. As an aside it also the 30th single to debut in the top 10 in a calendar year, a record! 10 more than 1988 and 21 more than just 3 years ago!

The Band Aid single is also the 12th S/A/W chart topper and their 7th of 1989, a year which has undoubtedly belonged also to them, their main asset has been Jason Donovan who slumps 2-3 (71,043) in the face of the incoming Band Aid though he has a slight sales increase. It is the 13th time in 21 months S/A/W have pulled off such dominance at producing two of the top 3 tracks of the week.

No other new entries to the top 10 this week as all the contenders for the Christmas chart topper are now jostling for position so who can be pleased this week? Kaoma hold at No 5 (44,778) but do get a sales gain, Andy Stewart continues to win the novelty vote moving 10-6 (44,098), Madonna rises 9-7 (42,772) and Tina Turner holds at No 8 (36,244) but moves up in the sales stakes. Not so good for Soul II Soul who are off the pace 3-4 (52,309), Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville tip 7-9 (28,628) and New Kids On The Block fall fast 4-10 (28,101). Next week the Christmas No 1 is revealed- it must be an anti-climax now surely?


1- DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS- Band Aid II  (175,596)
2- LET’S PARTY- Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers  (109,089)
3- WHEN YOU COME BACK TO ME- Jason Donovan (71,043)
4- GET A LIFE- Soul II Soul (52,309)
5- LAMBADA- Kaoma (44,778)
6- DONALD WHERE’S YOUR TROOSERS- Andy Stewart (44,098)
7- DEAR JESSIE- Madonna  (42,772)
8- I DON’T WANNA LOSE YOU- Tina Turner  (36,244)
9- DON’T KNOW MUCH- Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville (28,628)
10- YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)- New Kids On The Block (28,101)

Hands up time- I owned the entire top 4!

I know it gets a lot of stick and they often try to sweep it under the carpet, but Band Aid II might actually be my fave version of Do They Know It's Christmas.

Was expecting bigger sales for Band aid II but its such a weak version with many poor vocalists like Bros Or Jason

I only got Dear Jessie out of the lot even though im not a fan of the song, but Madonna fans must collect 😆

By far not the worst version of DTKIC!

7 hours ago, Gezza said:

Hands up time- I owned the entire top 4!

Top 3 for me at the time!

I love Dear Jessie, one of my fave Madonna tracks, it's just a delight - old-style melody and classical touches, and it fit totally in with Christmas and kids and presents. None of the other tracks off Like A Prayer would have been as good a single for Xmas, though I still think Keep It Together should have been a January single. Obviously Jessie's not "serious" like some of the other non-singles, but Oh Father was over-rated and also only scraped a middling slot in the UK when it eventually came out. Let's Party was the best of the Bunny singles, the Joe Loss riff is iconic for 60's kids and any single that got Wizzard a number one slot belatedly it one I'm going to get behind. It's annoying it doesnt count as Roy Wood's 4th number one, he wrote and recorded one third of the hit! The original version is still available to play in Spain, heard it last christmas more than once in a British bar.

Band Aid, err, not as good as the original. It's fun to see who's on it on all remakes, but none of them bear annual listening ever again, and I would be happy not to hear the original for a few years. I did it buy it though, for charity. Tina Turner's was pleasant, and has songwriter pedigree on its plus side, but it's not in the same league as The Best. That leaves the kiddie song, I knew Donald Where's Your Troosers from way back in the misty vaults of time but Andy Stewart was never really a fave as such trotted out at New Years Eve on telly, and this new assault did nothing to endear it with me. I'll stick with Windmill In Old Amsterdam thanks for early 60's kiddie novelty gems :)

30TH DECEMBER




The festive chart arrives and produces not much at all, predictably Band Aid II remain at the top shifting another 209,763 copies, a 19% increase in sales indicating that it will not probably be a million seller and will struggle now that the big day has arrived. Its tally of 386,359 after 14 days isn’t a bad tally within the confines of the year (it is already the 13th biggest seller of 1989) but it looks less impressive compared to most of the Christmas chart toppers from previous years.

Showing more tenacity than most predicted Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers find themselves with the Christmas No 2 single & album clearly evidencing the great year they’ve had, barred from the top by Phil Collins in the albums, the single “Let’s Party” has sold 286,179 copies in just 3 weeks including 104,448 last week a drop of only 4% week on week. It was more than enough to hold Jason Donovan at arm’s length however, he increased sales too by just 12% to 79,101.

Further down and there are some movements, Andy Stewart bumps 6-4 (66,640) while Madonna follows him 7-5 (58,259) both with healthy sales boosts.

Everything in the top 10 with the exception of Jive Bunny gains sales regardless of the direction of movement, Soul II Soul drop 4-6 (56,763), Kaoma fall 5-7 (55,063), Tina Turner holds at No 8 for a third week (43,435) as do Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville at No 9 (31,161).

The sole new track in the top 10 comes from Bros. The duo were pretty much written off as down the dumper after first “Chocolate Box” peaked at No 9 followed by the album “The Time” only making No 4 and selling a mere 120,000 so far, it rallies slightly this week 52-50 but the third single from it “Sister” has surprised us all by being the first Bros single to climb since “I Owe You Nothing” and boy it had to after debuting at No 32! It’s since moved 32-12-10 selling 30,515 last week alone, it’s written about Matt & Luke’s sister Carolyn who was killed last summer in a car accident and becomes the boys 8th straight top 10 single.

1- DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS- Band Aid II  (209,763)
2- LET’S PARTY- Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers (104,448)
3- WHEN YOU COME BACK TO ME- Jason Donovan (79,101)
4- DONALD WHERE’S YOUR TROOSERS-Andy Stewart (66,640)
5- DEAR JESSIE- Madonna (58,259)
6- GET A LIFE- Soul II Soul (56,763)
7- LAMBADA- Kaoma (55,063)
8- I DON’T WANNA LOSE YOU- Tina Turner (43,435)
9- DON’T KNOW MUCH- Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville (31,161)
10- SISTER- Bros (30,515)

On 21/05/2025 at 14:40, Jessie Where said:

'Dear Jessie' is honestly one of my least favourite Madonna singles ever.

Rollergirl did a good version though!

I own 6 of the top 10 and lets be thankful for Band Aid II, without it there would have been another three week chart topper for Jive Bunny!

how was But Seriously doing in albums? is it known?

Nope but it was certainly just over a million sold in 5 weeks.

3 hours ago, TheSnake said:

Rollergirl did a good version though!

Yes I actually like that one!

6TH JANUARY

So the 80s come to an end and perhaps fittingly the producers that will probably come to be remembered as one of the symbols of them, S/A/W, can claim production rights over both of the top 2 tracks. Band Aid II’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” sees the decade out with its third week at the top but it’s sales are well down by 81% in fact to just 38,709 which is enough to clear the 400,000 mark and make the song the 9th biggest hit of the year, at a stroke the track goes from recording the highest weekly sales of 1989 to the lowest- the difference a week makes.  It will be a nice boost to the Band Aid cause but one has to suspect it is not the kind of figures that Geldof or S/A/W would be hoping for. Jason Donovan rebounds up 3-2 (32,521) despite a 59% sales cut in his own right, he has the compensation of his album “Ten Good Reasons” overtaking Simply Red at the death to become the biggest album of the year, and the single passes the 250,000 mark making 1989 a year to remember for him. In total S/A/W have been responsible(either directly or by virtue of PWL) for at least two of the top 5 in 17 weeks of 1989 and had at least 1 track in the top 10 for 43 out of 52 chart weeks throughout the year- a statistic which tells of their true domination over the field.

Everything is down this week as you’d expect but the sales slashes are alarming and we reach new lows needed to make the top 10 in dramatic fashion, the top 5 consist of a boomeranging Soul II Soul 6-3 (24,837 – 57%), Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers slip 2-4 (24,769 – 76%) and Madonna remains static at No 5 (22,729 – 62%). No reprieve further down for Andy Stewart who feels the chill 4-6 (18,666 – 72%) while Kaoma hold No 7 (17,422 – 66%).

Some new arrivals for the new year though! De La Soul are another act that consistently received a lot of press and critical acclaim throughout the year selling over a quarter a million copies of their debut album “3 Feet High & Rising” and generating four singles which have all outpeaked the previous one. “Me Myself & I” (No 22), “Say No Go” (No 18), and “Eye Know” (No 14) started the trend but now “Buddy/ The Magic Number” has gone far better climbing 13- 8 (13,855) this week, it features a sample for the US Kids show “Schoolhouse Rock” among other tracks which gives the hip hop group looking a good bet to be big in the 90s.

New Kids On The Block have two top 10 singles this week, the first group since Wham! to manage the feat four years ago, their US chart topper “Hangin’ Tough” made No 52 on first release but since their last single “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” made No 1 it’s been given another twirl and debuts straight into the charts at No 9 (13,345) and was meant to be in the vein of "We Will Rock You". Their returning chart topper “You Got It” bounces 14-10 (13,260) but even that lost over half its sales from last week. Donny Walberg takes over on main vocal duties and there is every chance that it could benefit from the low sales climate to rise substantively next week, it’s a rather ignominious way to end the 80s at any rate. See you in the 90s!

1- DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS- Band Aid II (38,709)
2- WHEN YOU COME BACK TO ME- Jason Donovan (32,521)
3- GET A LIFE- Soul II Soul (24,837)
4- LET’S PARTY- Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers (24,769)
5- DEAR JESSIE- Madonna (22,729)
6- DONALD WHERE’S YOUR TROUSERS- Andy Stewart (18,666)
7- LAMBADA- Kaoma (17,442)
8- THE MAGIC NUMBER/BUDDY- De La Soul (13,855)
9- HANGIN TOUGH- New Kids On The Block (13,345)
10- YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)- New Kids On The Block (13,260)