Download free music MP3s on genuine quality, the world’s largest online music catalogue, powered by your scrobbles. Free listening, videos, photos, The world’s largest online music catalogue, powered by your scrobbles. Free listening, videos, photos, stats, charts, biographies and concerts. stats, charts, biographies and concerts.
Sunday, January 1, 2023
[New post] 1982: My Top 100 (At The Time)
Wm. posted: " If you've been checking things out here for a while, you likely recall that I kept track of my personal Top 50 from early Spring 1980 through the end of 1982. One requirement I had in place from the beginning was that any song on AT40 had to have a place" The Music of My Life
If you've been checking things out here for a while, you likely recall that I kept track of my personal Top 50 from early Spring 1980 through the end of 1982. One requirement I had in place from the beginning was that any song on AT40 had to have a place on my chart--this meant that big hits in real life that didn't float my boat as much often languished in the teens and twenties while I was waiting for them to begin their tumbles back down.
A few weeks after I left for college in September 1982, I stopped making my formal weekly AT40 charts, though I have evidence that I was keeping notes on it until March 1983. I dropped doing my own list over the winter break, though--forty years ago today was a Saturday, the day that broke that streak, I suppose.
I left some unfinished business. At the end of 1981, I'd painstakingly tabulated points for dozens of songs based on their positions on my charts over the calendar year and drawn up a list of my Top 100 songs. That didn't happen for the 1982 charts as the new year dawned. One of my resolutions for 2022 was to go back and compile that list; going in, I didn't know which of three or four songs would wind up on top.
I could reconstruct the formula I'd used for the 1981 summary from the work I'd kept, so that was employed again: 50 points for being #1, 49 for #2, 48 for #3, etc., 10 points for each week on the chart, plus some bonuses thrown in if a song stayed at #1 for more than two weeks. I used Excel for my calculations this time around--pretty painless other than the data entry, of course.
Anyway, without further adieu, the results--I won't even keep you in suspense by starting at #100:
Rank
Title
Points
Peak
Weeks
1
867-5309/Jenny
1009
1(4)
23
2
Don't You Want Me
948
2
22
3
Rosanna
917
1(4)
19
4
Only the Lonely
877
1(3)
19
5
Do You Believe in Love
843
1(5)
17
6
Sweet Dreams
839
1(3)
18
7
Hard To Say I'm Sorry
831
1(2)
18
8
Hurts So Good
825
5
22
8
Who Can It Be Now?
825
4
18
10
Caught Up in You
818
1(1)
18
11
Don't Talk to Strangers
817
1(2)
18
12
Take It Easy on Me*
814
2
17
13
Kids in America
810
4
18
14
Shake It Up*
808
1(3)
17
15
Abracadabra
805
3
19
16
Theme from 'Chariots of Fire'
800
1(1)
17
17
I Love Rock 'n Roll
797
3
17
18
Eye in the Sky
788
1(3)
17
19
The One You Love**
783
1(3)
15
20
You Should Hear How She Talks About You
777
3
17
20
You Can Do Magic
777
2
17
22
Open Arms
775
2
16
23
Gloria**
773
2
16
24
Tainted Love
772
1(1)
17
25
'65 Love Affair
759
3
17
26
Never Been in Love
716
1(4)
15
27
Centerfold*
712
2
15
28
Key Largo
711
10
18
29
Somebody's Baby
705
3
16
30
Always on My Mind
688
4
17
31
Man on Your Mind
666
3
15
32
Heat of the Moment
663
6
15
33
Gypsy**
658
1(2)
14
34
Ebony and Ivory
645
9
16
35
Love Is Alright Tonite
620
5
16
35
You Don't Want Me Anymore
620
6
14
37
Hot in the City
617
7
15
38
Did It in a Minute
614
4
14
39
Under Pressure*
610
1(2)
13
39
Spirits in the Material World
610
6
15
41
Hold Me
606
9
15
42
Nobody Said It Was Easy
599
4
14
43
Vacation
597
1(1)
13
44
Eye of the Tiger
586
15
18
45
Our Lips Are Sealed*
584
1(2)
12
46
Think I'm in Love
583
5
13
47
The Other Woman
580
7
14
48
My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)*
576
1(1)
12
49
We Got the Beat
572
11
15
50
Jack and Diane
566
11
17
51
Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me)
544
7
13
52
That Girl
542
9
13
53
You Could Have Been with Me*
526
8
15
54
I Ran (So Far Away)
525
8
13
55
Keep the Fire Burnin'
521
7
13
56
I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)*
514
13
13
57
Someday, Someway
512
12
14
58
Steppin' Out**
511
2
10
59
Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me
510
8
14
60
Physical*
506
4
11
61
Blue Eyes
499
10
13
62
Cool Night*
498
10
12
62
Make a Move on Me
498
9
12
64
Up Where We Belong**
497
9
12
65
Pac-Man Fever
496
11
14
65
Even the Nights Are Better
496
13
14
67
Waiting for a Girl Like You*
495
3
10
67
Personally
495
12
14
69
Wasted on the Way
493
11
13
70
Heartlight**
486
10
12
71
Through the Years
484
6
13
72
Harden My Heart*
480
9
12
73
I've Never Been To Me
474
15
14
74
Take Me Down
473
9
12
75
Empty Garden
472
10
12
76
Sweet Time
467
9
12
77
Angel in Blue
464
11
13
78
Freeze-Frame
461
13
13
79
Leader of the Band*
460
19
15
80
New World Man
459
8
11
81
Goin' Down
458
7
12
82
Play the Game Tonight
456
10
12
83
Truly**
453
3
9
84
Turn Your Love Around*
445
14
11
85
Let It Whip
442
20
16
86
Without You (Not Another Lonely Night)
441
13
12
86
I Keep Forgettin'
441
15
13
88
Get Down on It
430
9
11
89
Love Will Turn You Around
420
9
11
90
Body Language
412
12
11
91
Waiting on a Friend*
407
15
11
92
Heart Attack
405
16
13
93
Hooked on Classics*
396
14
10
93
Let Me Tickle Your Fancy
396
15
12
95
Break It Up
395
13
11
96
Love in the First Degree
384
17
12
97
Bobbie Sue
383
13
11
98
Hold On
381
16
11
98
Shadows of the Night**
381
1(3)
8
100
It's Raining Again**
379
7
8
*was on the chart for at least one week in 1981 **would have been on the chart for at least one week in 1983
It turned out not to be that close for the top spot. Overall I can't complain too much about how the top ten turned out, though I think Huey was probably top 3 in my heart, and I wouldn't have Johnny Cougar nearly so high now.
I'm a tiny bit surprised to see "Don't You Want Me" all the way up at #2. That said, I've come to recognize over the last couple of years its importance (yes, along with "Tainted Love") in being the leading edge of the Second British Invasion. I just finished reading Tom Breihan's The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music, in which he devotes a chapter to "Don't You Want Me" for essentially that reason (with immense credit to MTV for its role in it all).
The song that lost out the most due to bad timing was Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," which was #1 the last week of December 1981 and the first week of January 1982, and didn't make the Top 100 either year. On the other hand, both "Physical" and "Waiting for a Girl Like You" were on both Top 100s, due to their chart longevity. It'd perhaps be worthwhile to take a cue from the AT40 staff and include more (or all) of a song's run in this exercise--of course, that couldn't be done with songs that hung on into some of 1983...
Anyway, laugh as you will at the results; I'm glad to have ranked them at last. Here's to the best for all of us in 2023.
--
I am still on Twitter, though a) I'm enjoying it less all the time, and b) I completely understand why some folks have chosen to bail. That said, I've begun exploring other social media outlets. Here are the coordinates of my extremely minimal presence at two other places:
No comments:
Post a Comment