For my second year, I have chosen 1986 for the sheer variety of number 1 singles, there really was something for everyone that year. There were a total of twenty chart toppers from nineteen different artists. As with 1983, I won't be reviewing the number 1 which was carried over from the previous year so 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakin' Stevens will not be included here.

What was going on in 1986?

A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, ultimately causing the deaths of thousands of people.

The Challenger space shuttle broke apart seconds after launching, killing all seven crew members.

Halley's comet appeared near the Earth for the first time since 1910.

Australia gained full independence from the UK.

The M25 motorway was completed.

Diego Maradona's 'hand of God' goal followed by his 'goal of the century' helped Argentina win a World Cup quarter final against England and they went on to win the tournament.

The Independent and Today newspapers were both launched in the UK with the latter being the first to have colour photos throughout each issue.

In TV, Neighbours made its UK debut, Casualty's first series aired and more than 30 million people watched the Christmas episode of Eastenders, a record for a British TV drama.

My rankings will start soon.

Some fantastic number ones in ‘86, really looking forward to your take on it all Rollo!

Thank you for taking on another one of these '80s #1 countdowns! Looking forward to watching this unfold.

1 hour ago, Jade said:

Thank you for taking on another one of these '80s #1 countdowns! Looking forward to watching this unfold.

Even if you did miss the end of 1987 😉🧐

17 minutes ago, Jester said:

Even if you did miss the end of 1987 😉🧐

Oops sorry there are a few threads I'd been meaning to catch up on and this is still one of them, will do now before this one starts

Ooh the year I was born. Going to take a wild stab in the dark and say my “birth #1” is coming in the bottom 3 here haha

some top classics and some drivel to come! The first two new number ones of the year should feature later on the list I will wager!

20. The Chicken Song - Spitting Image

The satirical TV puppet show, Spitting Image, was first broadcast on ITV in 1984. At its peak, more than 15 million people watched it every week. The royal family, politicians and people from sport, TV and music all had their own exaggerated caricatures. The Chicken Song featured several times in the 1986 series and spent three weeks at number 1 in May. One of the singers was Kate Robbins (Emily Atack's mother) who had previously reached number 2 in 1981 with 'More Than In Love'.

Spitting Image had one more top 40 hit at Christmas in the same year. The show came to a close in 1996 and has had a few revivals since then, the latest being last year on youtube but you needed to be quick to view full episodes as they were soon taken down by Paddington Bear's representatives who objected to the way he was being depicted. He co-presented each show with Prince Harry.

The Chicken Song was a parody of cheesy summer holiday songs, in particular, 'Agadoo' and 'Do The Conga' by Black Lace who are referred to as "those two wet gits, with their girly curly hair" but it ends up being just as annoying so I have to put it in bottom place. While I enjoyed the programme in the 80s and 90s, I never found the song of the week to be particularly funny. I do like the video they did for 'Land Of Confusion' by Genesis the same year.

I don't know the show - this song sounds really like a bad version of "Agadoo" - good for a laugh but nothing more.

I loved this when I was 10 and I still know all the lyrics 🧐

Appropriate last place song.

At least though as you say, it paved the way for Genesis - Land of Confusion though - that is great both in video and musically.

I have an idea of what your number 1 will be, and if so, it would be the same for me so let's see x The late 80s number 1s were a bit patchy, but I do agree 1986 still had quite a good variety.

I can't hate The Chicken Song as it is, perhaps by design, infuriatingly catchy and is such a uniquely British novelty with iconic lyrics, even though it has become the very thing it mocks. There's a certainly few here I'd place below it.

I find it difficult to place The Chicken Song, parodying Black Lace etc but becoming a one idea joke. Maybe it falls in the so bad it’s good bracket?! Not sure if I’d put it last, I don’t want to spoil the rundown by checking, so I’ll see what else comes along first

Chicken Song is fowl! I loathe it, it makes the holiday songs it tries to parody sound great in comparison and comes over mealy-mouthed and insulting rather than parody, which was a habit of Spitting Image's resident songwriter Philip Pope. He was great as a guest comic actor in many a classic sitcom, but his songs were often petty - not least his Bee Gees pile-on in the Disco Sucks era, Meaningless Songs. Barry, Maurice and Robin were not amused as they watched their hit career go tits up (again) for having the temerity to record 4 disco classics or tuneful ballads... Thos that can, do, those that can't etc.

19. Living Doll - Cliff Richard and The Young Ones featuring Hank Marvin

Written for the film 'Serious Charge', Living Doll was Cliff Richard's first number 1 and the best selling single of 1959. Three years later, 'The Young Ones' gave him a fifth number 1 single. That song was the theme tune to the 1980s comedy show of the same name, this time sung by the cast which was made up of Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan. Rik Mayall's character, Rick, was an avid fan of Cliff Richard. The Young Ones came together with Cliff to record a new comedy version of Living Doll for the Comic Relief charity which had been founded the previous year. It spent three weeks at number 1 in April.

So I'm putting the two novelty chart toppers at the bottom of my rankings. This one is mildly amusing but doesn't really offer anything else. Cliff sings his song to the best of his abilities, the Young Ones interject with various humorous comments and terrible singing and Hank Marvin contributes a guitar solo.

I thought that was coming next 😂

The Young Ones was one of the all time great comedies, but this song just wasn’t funny or entertaining. Living Doll was always a bit boring anyway. I think it was the very first Comic Relief single though, so at least there was the benefit to the charity.

Not great, 'Wired For Sound' is Cliff's best 80s song.

Can't really argue with those two songs being last. I'd have them the other way around though - the 'Living Doll' version just isn't listenable for me at all. 'The Chicken Song' is so ridiculously catchy, it perhaps overachieved what it was set out to do in that it's now just as remembered as the songs it was sending up, so has somewhat become a parody of itself, but I do find it more amusing than 'Living Doll' at least.

Loved The Young Ones anarchic brand of humour and music guests, so the record had that appeal to it with Cliff going along with the joke for charity, but I was never a big fan of the song in the first place, much as I loved Cliff in the 60's, 70's and 80's. He got better as he went on peaking 76 to 87 and then a gradual decline to the Millenium thing, That had much less lols than this.