Comments

Good points. I do think that the staticness has been going on for well over half a year though, which is very unusual. Usually if the charts are overly static it's for at most 4 months.

She has only one big single right now and her album didn't even break the top 50. Let's wait until she has more hits before she moves from "one-hit wonder" to "breakout" status.

*over a decade ago, not over a year ago.

I have to say that 2021 is the first year since I became a fervent chart-watcher over a year ago in which the American charts seem awfully STATIC. So many of the "biggest" albums of this year were actually bigger LAST YEAR. Artists like Post Malone and Lil Baby and Harry Styles and Lil Uzi Vert and the Weeknd all had blockbuster albums in 2020 or late 2019 which STILL happen to be the ones that appear high on the charts week after week after week, even though none of them are selling or being streamed at the same levels as they were before. Then you have stuff like the Hamilton cast recording or even Queen's Greatest Hits which are even older yet still doing really well. Most of the big albums released this year or have their album "eras" extending into this year are by already-established superstars, like Justin Bieber (with Justice), Ariana Grande (with Positions), Taylor Swift (with Evermore and the Fearless re-recording), and BTS (with Be and the "Butter" single). So who are the newcomers to the pop charts this year? Olivia Rodrigo, obviously. Maybe The Kid Laroi. And that's it. It's not like there weren't opportunities for there to be new superstars. Look at Jack Harlow, who had a #2 hit late last year, but then had none of his later singles break the top 30. Or Machine Gun Kelly, whose transition from rap to pop-punk gave him bigger album sales than ever before and gained him a whole new rock fanbase, and yet had nothing from his album get as big as "Bad Things" or "Rap Devil." Every single year seems to have 5-10 artists who really break out with a big album or multiple hits, but this year there seems to be so few. It's as if pop listeners don't WANT to listen to anything new this year.

1 upvote for Crowded House. 100 upvotes for the Pointer Sisters.

I was wondering why I recognized your name. I looked it up and saw that there's an artist with the same name. https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Manga-Mark-Crilley-drawing/dp/1440309310 Are you the same guy?

Have you read the great article from The Other Site about the evolution of modern rock radio? https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9214-radio-friendly-unit-shifters-25-years-of-billboards-alternative-music-chart/

My local station (KLOS in LA) has ditched a lot of the 60s and early 70s stuff in favor of 90s alternative. War's "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends" used to be played quite a bit actually, though not anymore.

Don't forget country music.

Oh, yes, Corey Glover of Living Colour! Though radio limits LC's play to one song only ("Cult of Personality"). Never heard Chambers Brothers or Sly on classic rock stations - the latter was only played on oldies stations.

Upvoted for honesty.

Funny then that SDYC is the second most viewed song on the official London YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/LondonRecordings/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=grid

For those who listen to radio stations with a "classic rock" format... Are Roland Gift, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Lynott, and Lenny Kravitz the only black singers to ever get played on them? They certainly are in my thousands of hours of experience.

I agree with the reversal of the ratings. "You Got It" is transcendent for the first minute or so, then it gets so repetitive that I just wonder when it will end. "California Blue" is the 10 from Mystery Girl.

I like the Spike Lee doppelganger (he's clearly too tall to be Spike himself).

Looking it up, George seemed to be the only Wilbury to appear on either of Bob's then-contemporary albums (Oh Mercy and Under the Red Sky). Bob didn't appear on any of the "unofficial Wilbury" albums either (Mystery Girl, Full Moon Fever, Armchair Theatre).

I like your list, though I have to admit that 4 of those songs (MJ, A-ha, Eurythmics, GNR) are so goddamn overplayed that I can't even think about them as songs anymore.

Maybe a hit, but not a #1. "She Drives Me Crazy" is one of the very last songs by a rock band that we'll discuss in this column. We'll have a couple hair band stuff over the next couple virtual years, but after that the returns are puny...BNL in '98, Creed, Nickelback, and Matchbox 20 in the early 00s, Coldplay in '08 (with a song that has zero rock influence at all), and fun. in 2012. You just weren't topping the chart if you were a rock band after the 80s.

Before reading this article, I had no idea Fine Young Cannibals were only a trio, and not the traditional guitar/bass/drum power trio at that!

Also one of my favorite #1's of the decade. My #10. Every time I listen to it I keep wondering if sometime I will snap and say this song is mediocre cheesy rock but it never happens. Just blown away by it every time. 1. Human League - Don't You Want Me 2. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls 3. George Michael - Faith 4. Wham - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 5. Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl 6. Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do with It 7. INXS - Need You Tonight 8. J. Geils Band - Centerfold 9. Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes 10. Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy Not a good decade for the Americans with five British acts (including the top four) in my top 10 and two Australian acts.

It was played endlessly in Walgreens around 2015.

Not anymore, unfortunately.

Tiffany's ballads have been completely forgotten and the public thinks of her today as exclusively an uptempo artist. On the other hand, Debbie's two #1 ballads are, by a long way, her most played songs on the radio. I think that's proof that Debbie pulled ballads off a hell of a lot better than Tiffany.

*Checks multiples of 10* Yes! Poll 20 did, albeit with much less votes than what the polls get now. http://billbois.com/TNOCSPoll.php?PollID=20

I'm familiar with both songs. They're very fun despite being a bit too repetitive.

I didn't even know Rhino Records had a podcast. I assume it exclusively focuses on music that was on Warner/Atlantic/Elektra back in the day?

When we get to Michael Bolton within a virtual year, I'll have a similar statement.

But hey, at least there's a proper bridge AND a wordless section and they're both musically distinct from the rest of the song!

Well, Tom has said before that he loathes Seth MacFarlane.

I agree with this writeup so much.

For those who are big Debbie Gibson fans, what are her best deep cuts? Asking because I only really know the singles from the first two albums.

She didn't even take herself seriously. She named the two sides of Electric Youth "This Side" and "That Side." And that's part of why she deserves mad respect.

She's not anywhere near Kevin Cronin level dorky, but good point.

I don't see that, considering the Carpenters would never put distorted electric guitar on any of their songs. Bette Midler circa "The Rose" though...

1989 has some really low points, but it's much better than 1988. 1988 had only 4 #1's (out of 32) that I gave an 8 or higher. 1989 has 3 9's (including "Straight Up" and "Lost in Your Eyes") and 2 10's (both coming up soon) within the first 10 #1's (also out of 32). There will be more 9's after that but no 10's.

I like all three, but Paula's song was unquestionably the best of them. As a side note, I'm kind of surprised Croce's song didn't break Astley's record for biggest difference between Tom's rating and the TNOCS rating.

I don't like most mainstream 80s comedies but Naked Gun is an exception.

"Produce-Her," what a great term.

Disagree HARD...I prefer the fuller, heavier sound of Electric Youth to that of Out of the Blue.

I can't believe "Can You Stand the Rain" didn't reach the top 40. Come on baby, let's go get wet.