AMERICAN TOP 40 BOOK OF RECORDS
(80s Records Only)
Broadcast Labor Day Weekend 1989 (1 September 1989)
| Beat It-Michael Jackson | Top act of the decade both in singles and albums. (1983) |
| La Bamba-Los Lobos | Several records: Biggest foreign language hit of the 80s, biggest re-make of the 80s, oldest song to hit #1 in the 80s. (1987) |
| Foolish Beat-Debbie Gibson | Youngest artist to produce, write and sing on a #1 record. (17) (1988) |
| Don't Worry, Be Happy-Bobby McFerrin | Top a capella hit of the 80s and of the rock era. (1988) |
| Wild Thing-Tone Loc | Biggest "spoken word" song of the 80s. (Also the biggest rap record of the 80s) (1989) |
| You Got It-Roy Orbison | Act with the longest gap between top 10 hits (1964-1989) (1989) |
| Kokomo-The Beach Boys | Act with the longest gap between #1 hits. (1966-1988) (1988) |
| Kiss On My List-Daryl Hall and John Oates | Act with the most top 40 hits in the 80s. (22) (1981) |
| Paradise City-Guns N' Roses | Longest record to make the top 40 in the 80s .(6:43) (1989) |
| Red Red Wine-UB40 | Biggest hit of the 1980s to make the to 40 twice. #2-"Into the Night"-Benny Mardones, #3-"I'm So Excited"-The Pointer Sisters. (1984 and 1988) |
| Walk Like an Egyptian-The Bangles | Biggest all woman band of the 80s. First all woman band to have a #1 single. (1986) |
| Jump (For My Love)-The Pointer Sisters | Most successful family act of the 80s. (70s:The Bee Gees, 60s:The Beach Boys) (1984) |
| Bad-Michael Jackson | Shortest title to hit #1 in the 80s (1987) |
| Medley-Stars On 45 | Longest medley to hit the top 40 in the 80s. (1981) |
| Medley of "The Curly Shuffle", "Pac-Man Fever", "Double Dutch Bus", "General Hospi-tale", "Puttin' On the Ritz", "Valley Girl", and "Eat It" | Medley of seven novelty records to make the top 40 in the 1980s. (curiously absent: "Take Off") |
| (I've Had) The Time Of My Life-Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes | Oldest male artist to have a #1 hit in the 80s. (47) (1987) |
| What's Love Got To Do With It-Tina Turner | Oldest female artist to have a #1 hit in the 80s. (45) (1984) |
| Theme From "New York, New York"-Frank Sinatra | Oldest male artist to have a top 40 hit in the 80s. (64) (1980) |
| What Have I Done To Deserve This-The Pet Shop Boys (and Dusty Springfield) | Oldest female artist to have a top 40 hit in the 80s. (Springfield-48) (1988) |
| I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That-Elton John | Artist who has made the top 40 in the most consective years. (1970-1989) Note: Elton John has continued to make the top 40 ever year since then. (1988) |
| Urban Cowboy Medley and Footloose Medley | Soundtracks that generated the most top 40 hits in the 80s. (6 each) (1980 and 1984) |
| My Perogative-Bobby Brown | Youngest male act to hit #1 in the 80s. (19) (1989) |
| I Think Were Alone Now-Tiffany | Youngest act (and female act) to hit #1 in the 80s. (16) (1987) |
| I'll Be Loving You (Forever)-The New Kids On the Block | Youngest group to hit #1 in the 80s. (Average age 20) (1989) |
| Express Yourself-Madonna | Artist with the most consecutive top 10 hits in the 80s. (16) (1989) |
| Hurts So Good-John Cougar | Record spending the most weeks on the top 10 in the 80s. (16 weeks) (1982) |
| When I'm With You-Sheriff | Song taking the longest time from its release as a single to hitting #1. (released in 1983, hit #1 in 1989) also holds the recorded for the longest held note on a top 40 record (25 seconds). |
| Wind Beneath My Wings-Bette Midler | Song that hit the most charts in the 80s, different cover versions allowed this to happen. It hit the Hot 100,R&B, Country, Adult Contemporary and Dance/Disco. (1989) |
| Pour Some Sugar On Me-Def Leppard | Song from the biggest selling album by a group in the 80s. ("Hysteria") (1988) |
| Every Breath You Take-The Police | Biggest hit of the 80s by a group. (#1 for 8 weeks) (1983) |
| Billie Jean-Michael Jackson | Top male artist of the 80s also biggest hit of the 80s by a male artist. (#1 for 7 week) (1983) |
| Two Hearts-Phil Collins | Top foreign act of the 80s. (1989) |
| Like a Prayer-Madonna | Top female artist of the 80s. (#2-Whitney Houston,#3-Diana Ross) (1989) |
| The Heart Of Rock and Roll-Huey Lewis and the News | Top group of the 80s. (#2-Duran Duran,#3-Chicago) (1985) |
| Maneater-Daryl Hall and John Oates | Top duo of the 80s as well as all time. (#2-Everly Brothers,#3-The Carpenters) (1982) |
| Tunnel Of Love-Bruce Springsteen | Artist with the most top 10s in the 80s without hitting #1. (11) (1988) |
| How Will I Know-Whitney Houston | Song from the biggest selling debut album of the 80s. ("Whitney Houston") (1985) |
| Hungry Eyes-Eric Carmen | Song from the biggest selling soundtrack album of the 80s. ("Dirty Dancing") (1988) |
| Thriller-Michael Jackson | Song from the biggest selling album of the 80s. ("Thriller") (1983) |
| We Are the World-USA For Africa | Biggest selling single of the 80s. (1985) |
Technically the second go around for this special which was first done in 1980. This special countdown, the last special of the 80s, was devoted to records that were established or broken in the 80s, as well as records exclusive to the 80s. As many would suspect, Michael Jackson dominates this special since he established many of the records in the 80s. Madonna is also extensivly heard in the countdown.
One thing I like to point out when discussing the charts to others is "We Are the World", which correctly is listed as the biggest selling single of the 80s. During its chart run in 1985, it spent only 4 weeks at #1 and 18 weeks on chart. Impressive, but harldy one would expect of such a big selling single. In fact on the 1985 year-end countdown, the song finished at a lowly #20 for the year. This is an excellent illustration on how the charts were compiled back then and how the year-end charts were done. The song sold so many copies so fast that it didn't have time to hang around long. When Billboard compiled its year-end charts back then, it based them on chart performance only. So if a song sold alot of copies but spent a short time on the chart it wouldn't finish very high for the year.
Again, as in the 1980 countdown, there strictly speaking wasn't a #40 song or a #1 song, but the songs were played with an eye towards biggest records at the end of the countdown.
It is also the only time AT40 ran a Labor Day special.