Dave’s Faves: #1 Songs in the 1980s

First posted 4/4/2020; updated 4/28/2020.

Dave’s Faves: #1’s: 1980-1989

September 18, 1982. I can peg my fascination with music charts to that date. After listening to a local radio station’s countdown of the hits of the summer, I decided to make my own list of favorites (see original list here). I ended up revising it every few days, eventually developing my own charts which I maintained into the ‘90s. I’ve also projected before and after those lists to create speculative lists of #1 songs for eras not covered by those original charts. You can check out those links here, but this page is focused on the #1 songs that might have been for me in the 1980s. 1980: Jan. 19: Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb” (2 wks) Feb. 2: Pink Floyd “Mother” (1 wk) Feb. 9: Rush “Free Will” (2 wks) Feb. 23: Air Supply “Lost in Love” (3 wks) Mar. 15: Eagles “I Can’t Tell You Why” (2 wks) Mar. 29: Blondie “Call Me” (3 wks) Apr. 19: Charlie Dore “Pilot of the Airwaves” (2 wks) May 3: Lipps Inc. “Funkytown” (2 wks) May 17: Mac Davis “It’s Hard to Be Humble” (2 wks) May 31: Billy Joel “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (3 wks) June 21: Olivia Newton-John “Magic” (4 wks) July 19: Split Enz “I Hope I Never” (2 wks) Aug. 2: Peter Gabriel “Family Snapshot” (2 wks) Aug. 16: Queen “Another One Bites the Dust” (3 wks) Sept. 6: Peter Gabriel “Biko” (4 wks) Oct. 4: Kenny Rogers “Lady” (2 wks) Oct. 25: The Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (2 wks) Nov. 8: Kool & the Gang “Celebration” (1 wk) Nov. 15: Air Supply “American Hearts” (2 wks) Nov. 29: REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You” (2 wks) Dec. 13: The Alan Parsons Project “Games People Play” (2 wks) Dec. 27: Eagles “Seven Bridges Road (live)” (3 wks) 1981: Jan. 17: Styx “The Best of Times” (6 wks) Feb. 28: Climax Blues Band “I Love You” (3 wks) Mar. 21: Styx “Too Much Time on My Hands” (2 wks) Apr. 4: Rush “Tom Sawyer” (3 wks) Apr. 25: Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes” (2 wks) May 9: Stars on 45 “Medley I” (1 wk) May 16: Neil Diamond “America” (4 wks) June 13: Bruce Springsteen “The River” (2 wks) June 27: Squeeze “Tempted” (4 wks) July 25: Lionel Richie & Diana Ross “Endless Love” (2 wks) Aug. 8: Journey “Who’s Crying Now” (2 wks) Aug. 22: Foreigner “Juke Box Hero” (2 wks) Sept. 5: Soft Cell “Tainted Love” (3 wks) Sept. 26: Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’” (2 wks) Oct. 10: Sting “Message in a Bottle (live)” (2 wks) Oct. 24: Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (4 wks) Nov. 21: Foreigner “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (4 wks) Dec. 19: Triumph “Magic Power” (1 wk) Dec. 26: The J. Geils Band “Centerfold” (2 wks) 1982: Jan. 2: Queen with David Bowie “Under Pressure” (2 wks) Jan. 23: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “I Love Rock and Roll” (2 wks) Feb. 6: Journey “Open Arms” (6 wks) Mar. 20: Alabama “Mountain Music” (4 wks) Apr. 17: Elton John “Empty Garden” (2 wks) May 1: Squeeze “Black Coffee in Bed” (2 ws) May 15: Sting “Roxanne (live)” (2 wks) May 29: Queen “Body Language” (3 wks) June 19: Steve Miller Band “Abracadabra” (2 wks) July 10: John Mellencamp “Jack and Diane” (4 wks) Aug. 7: The Alan Parsons Project “Eye in the Sky” (3 wks) Aug. 28: Van Halen “Happy Trails” (2 wks) Sept. 11: Olivia Newton-John “Heart Attack” (5 wks) Oct. 16: Don Henley “Dirty Laundry” (2 wks) Oct. 30: Toto “Africa” (6 wks) Dec. 11: Charlene with Stevie Wonder “Used to Be” (3 wks) 1983: Jan. 1: The Police “I Burn for You” (2 wks) Jan. 15: The Alan Parsons Project “Old and Wise” (4 wks) Feb. 12: Styx “Mr. Roboto” (8 wks) Apr. 9: Marillion “Script for a Jester’s Tear” (2 wks) Apr. 23: Pat Benatar “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” (3 wks) May 14: U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (3 wks) June 4: The Police “Every Breath You Take” (8 wks) July 30: The Police “King of Pain” (7 wks) Sept. 17: Pat Benatar “Love Is a Battlefield” (4 wks) Oct. 15: Berlin “Masquerade” (1 wk) Oct. 22: Olivia Newton-John “Twist of Fate” (5 wks) Nov. 26: Yes “Owner of a Lonely Heart” (2 wks) Dec. 10: Journey “Ask the Lonely” (3 wks) Dec. 31: Paul McCartney “Pipes of Peace” (2 wks) 1984: Jan. 14: The Police “Wrapped Around Your Finger” (2 wks) Jan. 28: Nena “99 Red Balloons” (3 wks) Feb. 18: Genesis “Illegal Alien” (1 wk) Feb. 25: Yes “Leave It” (2 wks) Mar. 10: Night Ranger “Sister Christian” (1 wk) Mar. 17: Marillion “Fugazi” (1 wk) Mar. 24: Marillion “She Chameleon” (2 wks) Apr. 7: Styx “Music Time” (5 wks) May 12: Prince “When Doves Cry” (3 wks) June 2: Bruce Springsteen “Dancing in the Dark” (4 wks) June 30: Ray Parker, Jr. “Ghostbusters” (4 wks) July 28: Bruce Springsteen “Born in the U.S.A.” (4 wks) Aug. 25: Prince “Let’s Go Crazy” (2 wks) Sept. 8: Dennis DeYoung “Desert Moon” (6 wks) Oct. 20: Pat Benatar “We Belong” (1 wk) Oct. 27: Toto “Stranger in Town” (4 wks) Nov. 24: Don Henley “The Boys of Summer” (2 wks) Dec. 8: Tears for Fears “Shout” (2 wks) Dec. 22: Foreigner “I Want to Know What Love Is” (4 wks) 1985: Jan. 19: Don Henley “Sunset Grill” (2 wks) Feb. 2: Foreigner “That Was Yesterday” (1 wk) Feb. 9: The Alan Parsons Project “Let’s Talk About Me” (3 wks) Mar. 2: Sting “Moon Over Bourbon Street” (2 wks) Mar. 16: Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me” (2 wks) Mar. 30: The Dream Academy “Life in a Northern Town” (2 wks) Apr. 13: Marillion “Kayleigh” (3 wks) May 4: Bruce Springsteen “Trapped” (2 wks) May 18: Hooters “All You Zombies” (2 wks) June 1: Bruce Springsteen “Glory Days” (2 wks) June 15: Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” (2 wks) June 29: Marillion “Childhood’s End?” (1 wk) July 6: Tears for Fears “Head Over Heels” (5 wks) Aug. 10: John Parr “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” (2 wks) Aug. 24: U2 “Bad (live)” (3 wks) Sept. 14: Squeeze “I Won’t Ever Go Drinking Again (?)” (2 wks) Sept. 28: Prince “Purple Rain” (4 wks) Oct. 26: Olivia Newton-John “Soul Kiss” (2 wks) Nov. 9: Squeeze “Heartbreaking World” (4 wks) Dec. 7: Bruce Springsteen “My Hometown” (2 wks) Dec. 21: Sting “Russians” (3 wks) 1986: Jan. 11: Tears for Fears “When in Love with a Blind Man” (2 wks) Jan. 25: The Alan Parsons Project “Stereotomy” (4 wks) Feb. 22: Tony Banks with Fish “Shortcut to Somewhere” (4 wks) Mar. 22: Dennis DeYoung “Call Me” (5 wks) Apr. 26: The Moody Blues “Your Wildest Dreams” (4 wks) May 24: Roger Waters “Folded Flags” (2 wks) June 7: Double “The Captain of Her Heart” (2 wks) June 21: Furniture “Brilliant Mind” (4 wks) July 19: Berlin “Take My Breath Away” (2 wks) Aug. 2: Tom Cochrane with Red Rider “The Boy Inside the Man” (2 wks) Aug. 16: Billy Joel with Ray Charles “Baby Grand” (2 wks) Aug. 30: David + David “Welcome to the Boomtown” (6 wks) Oct. 11: The Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me ‘86” (6 wks) Nov. 22: Bruce Springsteen “War (live)” (3 wks) Dec. 13: Huey Lewis & the News “Naturally” (2 wks) Dec. 27: The Bangles “Following” (4 wks) 1987: Jan. 24: The Alan Parsons Project “Standing on Higher Ground” (4 wks) Feb. 21: Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush “Don’t Give Up” (4 wks) Mar. 14: U2 “With or Without You” (3 wks) Apr. 4: XTC “Dear God” (6 wks) May 16: Marillion “Incommunicado” (2 wks) May 30: Marillion: “Going Under” (2 wks) June 13: Indigo Girls “Hey Jesus” (1 wk) June 20: Suzanne Vega “Luka” (4 wks) July 18: Terence Trent D’Arby “Wonderful World” (1 wk) July 25: Marillion “Sugar Mice” (2 wks) Aug. 8: Marillion “Tux On” (2 wks) Aug. 22: Marillion “Warm Wet Circles” (3 wks) Sept. 12: Pink Floyd “Learning to Fly” (2 wks) Sept. 26: R.E.M. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” (2 wks) Oct. 10: Pink Floyd “One Slip” (2 wks) Oct. 24: Sting “Englishman in New York” (2 wks) Nov. 7: Sting “They Dance Alone” (4 wks) Dec. 5: Bruce Springsteen “Spare Parts” (2 wks) Dec. 19: The Rainmakers “The Wages of Sin” (3 wks) 1988: Jan. 9: Eurythmics “Brand New Day” (3 wks) Jan. 30: Lyle Lovett “She’s No Lady” (3 wks) Feb. 20: Lyle Lovett “Pontiac” (3 wks) Mar. 12: Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work” (4 wks) Apr. 9: Sting “Someone to Watch Over Me” (3 wks) Apr. 30: Everything But the Girl “Apron Strings” (2 wks) May 14: Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” (4 wks) June 11: Melissa Etheridge “Bring Me Some Water” (2 wks) June 25: Melissa Etheridge “Occasionally” (2 wks) July 9: Crowded House “Better Be Home Soon” (6 wks) Aug. 20: Rod Stewart “Forever Young” (3 wks) Sept. 10: Everything But the Girl “Oxford Street” (2 wks) Sept. 24: Everything But the Girl “The Night I Heard Caruso Sing” (1 wk) Oct. 1: Olivia Newton-John “It’s Not Heaven” (2 wks) Oct. 15: Shona Laing “Glad I’m Not a Kennedy” (3 wks) Nov. 5: U2 “God Part II” (4 wks) Dec. 3: Sting with Bruce Springsteen “Every Breath You Take (live)” (2 wk) Dec. 17: Bruce Springsteen with Sting “The River (live)” (1 wk) Dec. 24: The Bangles “Something to Believe In” (2 wks) 1989: Jan. 7: Guns N’ Roses “Patience” (3 wks) Jan. 28: Mike + the Mechanics “The Living Years” (2 wks) Feb. 11: Night Ranger “Reason to Be’ (2 wks) Feb. 25: Metallica “One” (5 wks) Apr. 1: Shona Laing “South” (2 wks) Apr. 15: Lyle Lovett “Nobody Knows Me” (2 wks) Apr. 29: Elvis Costello “Veronica’ (3 wks) May 20: Simple Minds “Biko” (3 wks) June 10: Simple Minds “Mandela Day” (2 wks) June 24: U2 “All I Want Is You” (2 wks) July 8: The Call “Let the Day Begin” (2 wks) July 22: Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” (6 wks) Sept. 2: Tears for Fears “Sowing the Seeds of Love” (3 wks) Sept. 23: Melissa Etheridge “You Can Sleep While I Drive” (2 wks) Oct. 7: Squeeze “Slaughtered, Gutted, and Heartbroken” (2 wks) Oct. 21: Tracy Chapman “All That You Have Is Your Soul” (2 wks) Nov. 4: Madonna “Oh Father” (6 wks) Dec. 16: Tears for Fears “Woman in Chains” (3 wks)

Toto win six Grammys, including Album of the Year

First posted 6/3/2011; updated 9/20/2020.

Toto IV Toto

Released: April 8, 1982 Peak: 4 US, 4 UK, 15 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.1 UK, 12.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Rosanna (Paich) [5:31] (4/17/82, 2 US, 17 AC, 8 AR, 12 UK, 16 AU, sales: 1.0 million) Make Believe (Paich) [3:43] (8/7/82, 30 US) I Won’t Hold You Back (Lukather) [4:53] (3/12/83, 10 US, 1 AC, 37 UK, 80 AU) Good for You (Kimball, Lukather) [3:17] It’s a Feeling (S. Porcaro) [3:05] Afraid of Love (Lukather, Paich, J. Porcaro) [3:52] (5/22/82 28 AR) Lovers in the Night (Paich) [4:25] (6/19/82, 57 AR) We Made It (Paich, J. Porcaro) [3:56] Waiting for Your Love (Kimball, Paich) [4:12] (7/2/83, 73 US, 27 AC) Africa (Paich, J. Porcaro) [4:55] (10/30/82, 1 US, 5 AC, 3 UK, 5 AU, sales: 4. 0 million) Total Running Time: 41:59 The Players: Bobby Kimball (vocals, backing vocals) Steve Lukather (guitar, vocals, backing vocals) David Paich (keyboards, vocals, backing vocals, orchestral arrangements, horn arrangements) Steve Porcaro (keyboards, vocals) David Hungate (bass) Jeff Porcaro (drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.771 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings) Quotable: “A definitive album of slick L.A. pop for the early ‘80s” – William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Awards:

About the Album: Toto was the big winner at the 25th annual Grammys, taking home six awards – most notably Album of the Year. “It was do or die for Toto on the group’s fourth album.” WR After finding success with their debut and the top-five hit “Hold the Line,” the next two albums hadn’t delivered any major hits. The label threatened to drop the group. The group responded by “largely dispensing with the anonymous studio rock that had characterized their first three releases.” WR Toto also “worked harder on its melodies, made sure its simple lyrics treated romantic subjects, augmented Bobby Kimball’s vocals by having other group members sing, brought in ringers like Timothy B. Schmit, and slowed down the tempo to what came to be known as ‘power ballad’ pace.” WR “Most of all, they wrote some hit songs: Rosanna, the old story of a lovelorn lyric matched to a bouncy beat, was the gold, Top Ten comeback single accompanying the album release.” WR It took home Grammys for Record of the Year, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices. That song was followed up the charts by the top 30 Make Believe “and then, surprisingly, Africa hit number one ten months after the album’s release.” WR The song experienced a resurgence more than 30 years later when a 14-year-old girl launched a viral Twitter campaign in 2017 to get the band Weezer to record the song. The original pushed past 4 million in sales and the subsequent Weezer cover gave them their first Billboard Hot 100 hit in eight years. After two huge hit songs and the Grammy wins, Toto was set to score again. I Won’t Hold You Back, the album’s fourth single, hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the adult contemporary chart. It was Toto’s last top-10 pop hit, although they would score four more top-40 hits before the close of the decade, most notably with the #11 hit “I’ll Be Over You.” It meant that “Toto IV was both the group’s comeback and its peak.” WK It was their “best and most consistent record” WR and “remains a definitive album of slick L.A. pop for the early ‘80s…Having made it, the members happily went back to sessions, where they helped write and record Michael Jackson’s Thriller.” WR

Resources and Related Links: Toto’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry WR All Music Guide review by William Ruhlmann WK Wikipedia

Toto hit #1 with “Africa”

Africa Toto

Writer(s): David Paich, Jeff Porcaro (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 29, 1982 Peak: 11 US, 3 CB, 2 GR, 2 RR, 5 AC, 3 UK, 11 CN, 5 AU, 16 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.8 UK, 8.89 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 855.0 video, 1475.62 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Africa” was the third single from Album of the Year Grammy winner Toto IV. The lead single, “Rosanna,” was a #2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. The follow-up, “Make Believe,” was a minor hit, peaking at #30. “Africa,” however, went all the way to the top of the charts and, thanks to a revival in the 2010s, ended up selling over 4 million copies in the United States. In December 2017, a 14-year-old girl launched a viral Twitter campaign to get the band Weezer to record the song. They did – and it gave the band their first Hot 100 hit since 2009. SF The band’s keyboardist, David Paich, created what became the song’s opening riff when playing around with a new keyboard. Regarding the lyrics, bandmate Jeff Porcaro joked that “a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he’s never been there, he can only tell what he’s seen on TV or remembers in the past.” WK Paich said he watched a TV documentary about the suffering in Africa and imagined how he’d feel if he was there. He based the landscape descriptions on a National Geographic article. WK He’s also said the song isn’t about a romance, but a man’s love of a continent. WK Band members Steve Porcaro and Steve Lukather have described the song as a dumb experiment with goofy lyrics as placeholders. Porcaro said it was the last song the band recorded and it barely made the album. WK Lukather said it was the worst song on the album. SF The video was directed by Steve Barron, who would go on to do classics like a-ha’s “Take on Me” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing.” Paich is in a library doing research, trying to match a scrap of a picture to the book from which it was torn. His efforts are interspersed with shots of a spinning globe and the band performing. It’s “a very stylized, conceptual video with memorable imagery and an abstract storyline…What’s going on is clearly open to interpretation.” SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Toto FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 567. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/17/2019; last updated 7/14/2023.