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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 14:51:48 GMT -5
I know chart tabulations are supposed to be a science but at the same time there have been occasions when I've thought "imagine if this wasn't #1, THAT song would be and I just can't see it ever being there."
As an example, I cannot imagine "Good Enough" or "In the Still of the Night" being #1 in 92/93 but based on R&Rs chart they would have been if not for "I Will Always Love You." I can't really imagine "Dancing in the Dark" at #1 but again, same thing with Billboard if not for "When Doves Cry." So I guess my question, do you think there's ever been a song that peaked at #2 that got that high because there was a #1 song ahead of it that was going to keep it out no matter what?
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Post by pointpark04 on Jul 28, 2014 15:07:22 GMT -5
"Friends & Lovers" by Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson. HOW did it climb all the way to number two? Thankfully, "Stuck With You" by Huey Lewis & The News kept it out of the top spot.
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Post by matt on Jul 28, 2014 15:55:33 GMT -5
"Friends & Lovers" by Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson. HOW did it climb all the way to number two? Thankfully, "Stuck With You" by Huey Lewis & The News kept it out of the top spot. Never understood how "Friends and Lovers" was popular...really just not a good song. |
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Post by Mike on Jul 28, 2014 16:06:31 GMT -5
Never understood how "Friends and Lovers" was popular...really just not a good song. The power of soaps in the 80s.  Arguably I wonder if it would've been a sure #1 had it been able to be released in '85 when it was first actually heard - the '86 release was only due to delays in finding a label that would actually release it. As it stands, it did still top the sales chart (but not the airplay chart). I can't imagine either "Good Enough" or "In the Still of the Nite" hitting #1, but the crazy thing is Bobby's song seems like it would've had the better shot since it took an insane jump to #1 to keep him out. |
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Post by OldSchoolAT40Fan on Jul 28, 2014 16:48:31 GMT -5
"Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb was #1 because of disco being a hot trend in 1978. It was quite a popular song, it allowed a non-disco singer, Gerry Rafferty, to only reach #2 with "Baker Street" in June/July 1978. "Baker Street" spent six weeks at #2, while "Shadow Dancing" spent seven weeks at #1.
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Post by jlthorpe on Jul 28, 2014 16:54:17 GMT -5
Not sure if it's along the same lines, but there was a thread I started a couple of years ago that pointed out songs which peaked at #2 and what kept them from hitting #1. at40fg.proboards.com/thread/2253/famous-2-hits-kept-hittingI guess if you're talking about unlikely songs almost hitting #1, there's "Gangnam Style". On the Hot 100, "One More Night" by Maroon 5 kept it from hitting #1. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 17:13:53 GMT -5
No, this is more if a question I was asking about the system used to calculate songs. Is it possible songs were allowed to get to #2 and sometimes for multiple weeks because there was a #1 song (either one or several) that were going to keep it out. I'm really having a problem figuring out how to frame the question. Maybe this is better, were there songs at #1 that gave good cover for allowing a song to reach #2 that might not have otherwise. For instance, if I Will Always Love You were not guaranteed to keep it out, would Good Enough or In the Still of the Night been #1 or #2 at all. Or would AirPlay been rigged to keep them lower. They just don't seem #1 worthy to me no matter how many weeks the latter spent at #2. It was runner up material only at best IMO. Did any of this play into chart calculations, airplay rankings from stations, etc?
It's a multifaceted question and probably borders in chart conspiracy theory but I've always wondered so I decided to pose it as a topic here.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 17:19:00 GMT -5
One more thing, I am not talking about the era of someone paying a guy at Billboard to make them #1 or whatever. We know about that.
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Post by jlthorpe on Jul 28, 2014 19:06:09 GMT -5
No, this is more if a question I was asking about the system used to calculate songs. Is it possible songs were allowed to get to #2 and sometimes for multiple weeks because there was a #1 song (either one or several) that were going to keep it out. I'm really having a problem figuring out how to frame the question. Maybe this is better, were there songs at #1 that gave good cover for allowing a song to reach #2 that might not have otherwise. For instance, if I Will Always Love You were not guaranteed to keep it out, would Good Enough or In the Still of the Night been #1 or #2 at all. Or would AirPlay been rigged to keep them lower. They just don't seem #1 worthy to me no matter how many weeks the latter spent at #2. It was runner up material only at best IMO. Did any of this play into chart calculations, airplay rankings from stations, etc? It's a multifaceted question and probably borders in chart conspiracy theory but I've always wondered so I decided to pose it as a topic here. I think I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure about the conspiracy. Are you saying a) that there was a conspiracy to push songs like "Good Enough" up to #2, when there was a massive #1 hit to give it cover, or b) that there was a conspiracy to push those songs down and keep them from hitting #1, when there wasn't a #1 song such as "I Will Always Love You" that was guaranteed to keep it from hitting the top? As for examples of #1's, I think I may have found one. "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" was a huge hit in 1991 and a guaranteed #1. While it was #1, "P.A.S.S.I.O.N." by Rythm Syndicate was #2 for 2 weeks. Looking back, it seems unlikely a song like that could hit that high, although I can't remember how big it was at the time (it reached #5 and #19 on the Soundscan airplay and sales charts, respectively, but those weren't used to figure the Hot 100). |
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Post by mga707 on Jul 28, 2014 19:44:10 GMT -5
I can't really imagine "Dancing in the Dark" at #1 but again, same thing with Billboard if not for "When Doves Cry." I'm of the opposite opinion on this one. I can't believe Bruce didn't push Prince out of #1 for at least one of the weeks that the two songs were #1 and #2. "DITD" is THE early summer '84 song, at least for me. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 21:02:30 GMT -5
No, this is more if a question I was asking about the system used to calculate songs. Is it possible songs were allowed to get to #2 and sometimes for multiple weeks because there was a #1 song (either one or several) that were going to keep it out. I'm really having a problem figuring out how to frame the question. Maybe this is better, were there songs at #1 that gave good cover for allowing a song to reach #2 that might not have otherwise. For instance, if I Will Always Love You were not guaranteed to keep it out, would Good Enough or In the Still of the Night been #1 or #2 at all. Or would AirPlay been rigged to keep them lower. They just don't seem #1 worthy to me no matter how many weeks the latter spent at #2. It was runner up material only at best IMO. Did any of this play into chart calculations, airplay rankings from stations, etc? It's a multifaceted question and probably borders in chart conspiracy theory but I've always wondered so I decided to pose it as a topic here. I think I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure about the conspiracy. Are you saying a) that there was a conspiracy to push songs like "Good Enough" up to #2, when there was a massive #1 hit to give it cover, or b) that there was a conspiracy to push those songs down and keep them from hitting #1, when there wasn't a #1 song such as "I Will Always Love You" that was guaranteed to keep it from hitting the top? As for examples of #1's, I think I may have found one. "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" was a huge hit in 1991 and a guaranteed #1. While it was #1, "P.A.S.S.I.O.N." by Rythm Syndicate was #2 for 2 weeks. Looking back, it seems unlikely a song like that could hit that high, although I can't remember how big it was at the time (it reached #5 and #19 on the Soundscan airplay and sales charts, respectively, but those weren't used to figure the Hot 100). I guess option 1. And I don't know if conspiracy is the right word either. But yeah basically a song like Good Enough, In the Still of the Night, PASSION (I'm on an iPad and not going to type those periods over and over), or even If, Another Sad Love Song, and Strong Enough are more 90s examples of it IMO. Another 80s example in my eyes is "We Got the Beat." Good song but had it not been for Joan Jett that would have been #1 for several weeks and it's a song I just don't see in that spot and has me questioning if it got to #2 and stayed there so long because Joan Jett was #1 and not going anywhere. And you see that kind of thing with a lot of songs that had long reigns at #1. Many times the song at #2 stays for weeks and weeks never breaking through, but you never can picture it being #1 if in another time it was released earlier or later than the song holding it out of the top spot. |
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Post by 80sat40fan on Jul 28, 2014 21:09:11 GMT -5
In looking through the 1980 - 1984 charts, I am glad "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen kept "Yes I'm Ready" by Teri DeSario & KC out of the top spot in 1980. YIR is a weak song that gets almost no airplay today.
Also glad that "Like A Virgin" by Madonna kept "The Wild Boys" by Duran Duran at #2 at the end of 1984. Many Duran Duran songs get more airplay today than TWB. TWB is Top 10 worthy but it doesn't have that #1 sound.
I don't know what to think of "Love On The Rocks" by Neil Diamond hitting #2 in early 1981. "Just Like Starting Over" was #1 due to sales and, IMHO, isn't a #1 worthy song. Neither was "Love On The Rocks" at #2... or "Guilty" by Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb at #3. My vote would have been for "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen to be #1 for that time.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 21:34:58 GMT -5
Oh I'm not saying no unworthy song didn't hit #1.....LOL @ the Nationals!!!!! Oh sorry, real time thought process and they just blew a 3 run lead in the 9th and lost....anyway, for whatever reason one that immediately comes to mind for me is from 2002, "Underneath It All" by No Doubt. Why that ever reached #1 is still a mystery to me. "Tell Her About It" in 83 seems like a runner up only to me too and it hit #1. Don't get me wrong, I like both songs. They just don't come off as #1s to me.
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Post by bottlerocket on Jul 29, 2014 1:55:09 GMT -5
I think a big part of this is that we have the chart lore so well memorized at this point that it seems ridiculous to imagine some lesser songs that one knows did not hit #1 ever topping the chart. I imagine if songs like "If Wishes Came True" or "I'll Be Your Everything" stopped at #2 they would also fall in the category of "I can't imagine it having been a #1".
Obviously there are many songs that don't get much replay years later but it doesn't mean it wasn't very popular at that moment in time. I can personally vouch for a number of the songs that have been listed, particularly from the 80s, that I remember hearing incessantly at the time including "Friends & Lovers" and "Love On The Rocks".
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Post by 80sat40fan on Jul 29, 2014 5:30:19 GMT -5
Had a chance to look through some 1985-89 UMD Music charts (showing the peak positions of all Hot 100 makes for an easy review). I am glad that "Living On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi spent 4 weeks at #1 because that song precluded "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" from ascending to the top position. That would have been a very weak #1 song. And then there was the week of June 3, 1989... "Soldier Of Love" by Donny Osmond was #2. There have been much better #2 songs  . He was held at bay by... "Rock On" by Michael Damian  . If Michael Damian wasn't on The Young & The Restless, that song doesn't go to #1, and if it wasn't for radio pushing for Donny Osmond's comeback, that song doesn't peak at #2. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler should have been #1 that week. Somewhat different topic... there were some really great #2 songs in the late 1980's which only spent one week at #2. It seemed like starting in 1986 that the #2 songs would more often than not spend one week at #2. Songs like "Manic Monday" by The Bangles and "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins in 1986 to "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc and "Love Song" by The Cure in 1989... some of those songs got robbed of more time at #2 or even a chance at #1. |
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Arguably I wonder if it would've been a sure #1 had it been able to be released in '85 when it was first actually heard - the '86 release was only due to delays in finding a label that would actually release it. As it stands, it did still top the sales chart (but not the airplay chart).
. He was held at bay by... "Rock On" by Michael Damian 
. If Michael Damian wasn't on The Young & The Restless, that song doesn't go to #1, and if it wasn't for radio pushing for Donny Osmond's comeback, that song doesn't peak at #2. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler should have been #1 that week.