Very happy to see 'It's A Sin' at the top - it's my favourite Pet Shop Boys song and my favourite of these #1s too. Whitney would be second for me, another big sounding anthemic song, and the overplay hasn't got to me. Thanks for the countdown, Jester!

Thank you @Jester for hosting this. I finally had the chance to have a re-listen on the 20 songs and here is my ranking:

1.      Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin

2.      Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind

3.      Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

4.      Steve "Silk" Hurley - Jack Your Body

5.      Bee Gees - You Win Again

6.      Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

7.      Madonna - La Isla Bonita

8.      Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)

9.      Los Lobos - La Bamba

10.  M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up The Volume

11.  T'Pau - China In Your Hand

12.  Aretha Franklin; George Michael - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

13.  Michael Jackson - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

14.  Ben E. King - Stand By Me

15.  Madonna - Who's That Girl

16.  Mel & Kim - Respectable

17.  Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite

18.  Boy George - Everything I Own

19.  Ferry Aid – Let It Be

20.  The Firm - Star Trekkin'

It was really a great selection of #1's and I like everything up to place 17. It turned out to be a double header for the Pet Shop Boys for me.

Great rundown, and the top 2 are perfect, they would be mine too. The Bee Gees re-inventing themselves Depeche Mode stylee, they could do any genre they fancied, from 60's orchestral miserablism, country monsters, love songs, r'n'b, disco, rock, anything they fancied while giving away loads of hit songs to boot. Pet Shop Boys at their peak, still a classic, and never not epic.

Nice to see PSB and Bee Gees top two! Both absolute classic songs, that's my favourite song from Bee Gees I think!

I'm contractually obliged to love Starship too as it was No.1 the day I was born, and I think it's quite an apt one for me to arrive to - big cheesy pop with a big chorus.

Whitney's is of course a classic too, not as much of a personal favourite though.

Great countdown Jester, thanks for sharing your thoughts and some great commentaries throughout!

Here is my rank:

1. Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind

2. Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

3. The Bee Gees - You Win Again

4. Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin

5. Madonna - La Isla Bonita

6. T'Pau - China in Your Hand

7. Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite

8. Los Lobos - La Bamba

9. Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)

10. Mel and Kim - Respectable

11. Ben E. King - Stand by Me

12. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

13. M/A/R/R/S - Pump up the Volume

14. Aretha Franklin & George Michael - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

15. The Firm - Star Trekkin'

16. Steve 'Silk' Hurley - Jack Your Body

17. Michael Jackson - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

18. Madonna - Who's That Girl

19. Ferry Aid - Let It Be

20. Boy George - Everything I Own

Well I think so anyway, as I'm struggling to separate the top five, to me these are all 10/10 songs, so on a different day it could be in a different order.

I've been meaning to comment on this for ages, apologies that it's taken me so long! I generally agree with your top few, our #1 would be the same and I suspect it would very likely be my favourite chart topper of the decade - albeit I'd need to check before I make that definitive! PSBs would take the top 2 for me, they were untouchable in 1987 and that's not even taking into account that I love both Rent and the Dusty collab more than the song in third as well. You Win Again was a great choice for second though, it's by far my favourite Bee Gees song and I love the driving rhythm of it - they even tone down the vocals a bit which helps make it much more likeable for me, it would be the final 10/10 track for me. Out of the rest, the biggest gainer for me in MARRS which I'd place top 5 - great dance track and a big step up from Steve Hurley, the other ones I really like are Whitney and Madonna, both among their best work - interesting that La Isla Bonita has gone on to be one of her most enduring tracks in the streaming era thanks to the production style, it's huge in South America.

Great job with the thread <3 I really enjoyed following it, it's just that the latter part clashed with my holiday and subsequent Mr D* injury so I didn't get chance to post much on the site.

1 Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin

2 Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind

3 The Bee Gees - You Win Again

4 Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)

5 M/A/R/R/S - Pump up the Volume

6 Madonna - La Isla Bonita

7 Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite

8 Mel and Kim - Respectable

9 Ben E. King - Stand by Me

10 Aretha Franklin & George Michael - I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

11 T'Pau - China in Your Hand

12 Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

13 Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

14 Michael Jackson - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

15 Madonna - Who's That Girl

16 Steve 'Silk' Hurley - Jack Your Body

17 Los Lobos - La Bamba

18 The Firm - Star Trekkin'

19 Boy George - Everything I Own

20 Ferry Aid - Let It Be

Thanks for the comments!