Top 19 Songs of the 1980's

19. Soft Cell Tainted Love; REASON: It is listed in Wikipedia as one of the top 10 selling songs of the decade.

18. Cyndi Lauper Girls Just Wanna Have Fun/or Time after Time; REASON: #1 for 2 weeks, and became an anthem for women/girls until this day.

17. Blondie Call Me; REASON: #1 for 6 weeks; Blondie melded disco and New Wave to make the Club Scene cool again.

16. Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child of Mine; REASON: #1 for 2 weeks; GNR’s album was the 4th best-selling album of the 1980’s

15. Dire Straits Money for Nothing; REASON: an incredible video. Album Brother’s in Arms was the #9 top-selling album of the decade.

14. George Michael/Wham Careless Whisper; REASON: #1 for 3 weeks. This song was the 7th top selling single of the decade. Throw in his ownership of the top of the charts in 1986, and I can easily be talked into move George up.

13. Whitney Houston How Will I Know?; REASON: #1 for 2 weeks. Part of a string of #1 songs for Whitney. Her sell-named album was the 5th best selling album of the decade (14.2 million units sold!)

12. USA for Africa We are the World; REASON: #1 for 4 weeks. A good case can be made that this song is the top song of the decade. It is far and away the top-selling song of the decade with OVER 20 million units sold.

11. Def Leppard Pour Some Sugar on Me; REASON: a top 3 best video of the decade by VH-1; Hysteria was the 10th best-selling album of the decade.

10. Prince When Doves Cry; REASON: #1 for 5 weeks; Prince put Minneapolis on the musical map; Purple Rain was the 7th best-selling album of the decade.

9. Living on a Prayer Bon Jovi; REASON: #1 for weeks; #1 video of the decade by VH-1.

8. Born in the USA Bruce Springsteen; REASON: Wow, the 1980’s were the Boss’ decade, President Reagan used his song for his campaign – sheesh! Bruce’s album sales in the 1980’s were the only one’s to rival Michael Jackson, with Born In the USA the 3rd best-selling album of the decade with 15.9 million units sold, and his live album the 8th best-selling album of the decade with 13.1 million sold.

7. AC / DC You Shook Me All Night Long; REASON: This album and song were played constantly in Tom’s basement for years. Back in Black was the SECOND best-selling album of the decade with 19.1 million units sold (!!! – wow), and the video was fantastic, for AC/ DC that is. And kids are still wearing their t-shirts. They did something right, and remember this was AFTER they changed their lead singer, having Bon Scott departing on his Highway to Hell. An amazing story of success.

6. Walk this Way Run DMC / Aerosmith; REASON: this song gets in purely for cultural influence. The song was a double winner – it revived the sagging popularity of Aerosmith, and their strong rock, with rap. This was rap’s first entry into real popularity in video, and white people’s CD players. This song helped to put rap music at the top of album sales from 1990 and on. A truly important song from the 1980’s.

5. Like a Virgin Madonna; REASON: Did someone mention cultural importance? Madonna turned a legion of girls into similar make-up/wardrobe/hair style. #1 for 5 weeks. This was also one of a number of songs that topped the charts for the now-spiritual Ms. Madonna.

4. With or Without You U2; REASON: #1 for 3 weeks. U2 is the one band that has survived after the 1980’s to keep cranking out, relevant, good music. And Bono’s relevance on a world stage, where he can talk to the Pope, the President, and kids about third world hunger and third world debt, makes this band a social icon of the Western culture.

3. Addicted to Love Robert Palmer (and the hot babe band behind Mr. Palmer); REASON: #1 for 5 weeks. And Mr. Palmer’s ownership of MTV during the 1980’s. Yes, this is where I am going to tell you I had been cranking his music for years before he released this album. And I still do, the real test of good music!

2. Billie Jean Michael Jackson; REASON: Michael Jackson redefined music in the 1980’s, and his string of #1 songs in the 80’s all could be in the top-10 list. Yes, this song was #1 for an incredible 7 weeks. The album was by far the top-selling album of the decade with over 29 million units sold. His videos made Weird Al Yankovic popular? Enough said!

1. Every Breath You Take Police; REASON: #1 for 8 weeks (bested only by Olivia Newton John’s Physical which was on top for 9 weeks in the musical wasteland of 1981). The haunting lyrics, the cool three person band, the burning cigarette in the ash tray of the video, all make this the best song of the 1980’s. Yes, it was the only true single on the best-selling singles of the decade (#6 behind a song like Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger! Yikes! The Wolff has spoken.)