Jim Steinman: Top 25 Songs

Jim Steinman Image from BBC.com

Composer, lyricist, playright, and record producer born 11/1/1947 in New York City, NY. Died 4/19/2021. Started in musical theatre, but found his greatest fame when he teamed with Meat Loaf to write songs for the legendary Bat Out of Hell in 1977. He also returned to Broadway, teaming with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the musical Whistle Down the Wind. His repertoire has sold more than 190 million records. Click here to see other best-of lists from performers and here to see other best-of lists from songwriters and/or producers. Spotify Podcast: Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast The Best of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman based on this list. It debuts January 25, 2022, at 7pm CST. Tune in every Tuesday at 7pm for a new episode based on the lists at Dave’s Music Database.

Awards:

Top 25 Songs Written by Jim Steinman Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. This list is focused only on songs which charted in some fashion so it doesn’t include any album cuts. Also – only the highest-ranked version of the each song is included. #1 songs are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.) DMDB Top 1%: 1. Meat Loaf “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” (1993) #1 US, CB, UK, CN, AU 2. Bonnie Tyler “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (1983) #1 US, CB, RR, UK, CN, AU DMDB Top 2%: 3. Meat Loaf “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” (1977) #1 CL 4. Celine Dion “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (1996) #1 CB, AC, CN DMDB Top 5%: 5. Meat Loaf “Bat Out of Hell” (1977) 6. Meat Loaf “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” (1977) 7. Air Supply “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” (1983) DMDB Top 10%: 8. Boyzone “No Matter What” (1997) #1 UK 9. Meat Loaf “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth” (1977) 10. Meat Loaf “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” (1993) 11. Barry Manilow “Read ‘Em and Weep” (1983) #1 AC DMDB Top 20%: 12. Bonnie Tyler “Holding Out for a Hero” (1984) 13. Meat Loaf “Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are” (1993) 14. Sisters of Mercy “More” (1990) #1 MR Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 15. Fire Inc. “Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young” (1984) 16. Meat Loaf & Cher “Dead Ringer for Love’ (1981) 17. Meat Loaf “I’m Gonna Love Her for Both of Us” (1981) 18. Meat Loaf “Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back” (1993) 19. Barbra Striesand “Left in the Dark” (1984) 20. Bonnie Tyler & Todd Rundgren “Loving You’s a Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It” (1985) 21. Meat Loaf “Nowhere Fast” (1984) 22. Tina Arena “Whistle Down the Wind” (1997) 23. Meat Loaf “Is Nothing Sacred” (1998) 24. Taylor Dayne “Original Sin” (1995) 25. Bonnie Tyler “Faster Than the Speed of Night” (1983) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jim Steinman DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Meat Loaf DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Bonnie Tyler First posted 4/29/2021; last updated 1/25/2022.

Bonnie Tyler hit #1 in the U.S. with “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

Total Eclipse of the Heart Bonnie Tyler

Writer(s): Jim Steinman (see lyrics here) Released: February 11, 1983 First Charted: February 19, 1983 Peak: 14 US, 14 CB, 15 GR, 13 RR, 7 AC, 23 AR, 12 UK, 12 CN, 16 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.0 UK, 6.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 928.66 video, 434.94 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: After Bonnie Tyler had a top-5 hit with “It’s a Heartache” in 1978, she disappeared from the charts for five years. After signing to new management, she wondered if Jim Steinman, the guy who produced Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, an album she loved, would be available to produce. Stereogum’s Tom Breihan described him as “aspiring Broadway guy who doesn’t come from the rock ecosystem and who…uses ever tool at his disposal to achieve full [Phil] Spector/ [Bruce] Springsteen grandiosity.” SG Tyler also loved the kind of sound that Phil Spector used to get and said, “The only producer who can get that epic sound nowadays is Jim Steinman…I didn’t really think he’d do it.” FB When he agreed, she flew to New York to meet him. He played her “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” a song he’d written for the movie Small Circle of Friends. As she said, “when he plays, he practically knocks [the piano] through the floor.” FB He assembled an all-star band for her album Faster Than the Speed of Night which included guitarist Rick Derringer, drummer Max Weinberg, and keyboardist Roy Bittan. Not only were the latter two part of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, but they’d played on Bat Out of Hell. Faster Than the Speed of Night debuted at #1 in England, making Tyler the first woman to accomplish that feat. The lead single, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” reached #1 in March 1983. Seven months later the song topped the charts in the U.S. as well. “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is “pop music as heart-pounding, chest-thumping, blood-gargling, heavens-falling passion explosion.” SG “The term ‘power ballad’ doesn’t adequately describe…[the song] if only because the word ‘power’ just doesn’t have enough power.” SG Tyler is “pleading and wailing and howling and screaming like she’s standing on a mountaintop and demanding answers from God.” SG “Nobody’s entirely sure what…[it] is about, and nobody needs to know. ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ overwhelms the idea of songwriting specificity in the same way that a tidal wave overwhelms a rowboat.” SG Steinman once described it as “a Wagnerian-like onslaught of sound and emotion.” SG “Tyler went on to a long career of howling power ballads…but…never made it into the US top 10 again…But people will always need songs to dramatically bellow when they’re drunk, which means ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ will live on forever.” SG Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bonnie Tyler DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jim Steinman FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 578. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 289. SG Stereogum (7/27/2020). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia First posted 11/29/2021; last updated 12/27/2022.