American Top 40 Year-End Countdown Discrepancies 1980-1994

[joman]

There were some discrepanices of AT40's year-end countdowns from 1980 to 1994 due to a song's estimated chart life beyond the peak position of songs that were at its peak near the end of the survey period. And here it is.

1980
"Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen and "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand were pretty low in their year-end rankings. They would have been both in the top 10 with "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen ranking higher than "Woman in Love".
"He's So Shy" by the Pointer Sisters ranked lower than it should have and "Real Love" by the Doobie Brothers ranked higher than it should have.

1981
"Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band ranked higher than it should have.

1982
"Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes ranked lower than it should have.

1983
"Cum on Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot ranked lower than it should have. "Delirious" by Prince ranked higher than it should have.

1984
"Out of Touch" by Hall & Oates ranked lower than it should have. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham! ranked higher than it should have. "I Feel for You" by Chaka Khan ranked lower than it should have. And "Strut" by Sheena Easton ranked lower than it should have.

1985
"Separate Lives" by Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin ranked significantly lower than it should have.
"Lay Your Hands on Me' by the Thompson Twins ranked lower than it should have.

1986
"Amanda" by Boston ranked a little lower than it should have.

1987
"Mony Mony" by Billy Idol and "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany ranked higher than they should have. "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes ranked lower than it should have.

1988
"Kokomo" by the Beach Boys ranked significanly lower than it should have. It should have ranked higher than "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi.

1989
"Blame it on the Rain" by Milli Vanilli ranked higher than it should have. "Love Shack" by the B-52's ranked lower than it should have.

1990
"Love Takes Time" by Mariah Carey ranked lower than it should have. I remember Rob Durkee mentioning that.

1991
Everything was fine that year.

1992
I can't think of any during that year.

1993
"All That She Wants" by Ace of Base should have ranked higher than it should have.
"Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey should have ranked lower than "That's the Way Love Goes" by Janet Jackson.
"Two Steps Behind" by Def Leppard should have ranked lower than "No Rain" by Blind Melon.
"Wild World" by Mr. Big should have ranked significantly lower than it did.
"Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. should have ranked lower than it did.
"Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms ranked slightly lower than it should have.
"Anniversary" by Tony! Toni! Tone! ranked higher than it should have.

1994
"I'm the Only One" by Melissa Etheridge ranked lower than it should have.

Feel free to make comments concerning this.

[jgve1952]

Yearend songs that charted both at the end of the rating period and the beginning of the next rating period were always slighted.

[freakyflybry]

I'm thinking "You Give Love A Bad Name" should've been higher than #30 on the 1986 year-end.

[dth1971]

I think "We Are The World" should have been higher than #20 on the 1985 year-end.

[OnWithTheCountdown]

Re: "We Are The World" - while I wholeheartedly agree with a higher ranking than #20, this largely has to do with Billboard beginning to include full chart runs in the year-end tally. It had such a short chart run, rose quick, fell quick, and thus the low(er) ranking. Look at all the mainly 1984 songs that ranked higher than "We Are The World" on the 1985 chart. Take out its 1984 weeks, and, presto, we have a higher ranking. I really think vince was spot on with his year-end rankings for 1985-1989, the years AT40 used Billboard for their year-end charts. I felt AT40 had the better year-end rankings than Billboard.

[dth1971]

Dec 24, 2023 8:03:22 GMT -5 OnWithTheCountdown said:

Re: "We Are The World" - while I wholeheartedly agree with a higher ranking than #20, this largely has to do with Billboard beginning to include full chart runs in the year-end tally. It had such a short chart run, rose quick, fell quick, and thus the low(er) ranking. Look at all the mainly 1984 songs that ranked higher than "We Are The World" on the 1985 chart. Take out its 1984 weeks, and, presto, we have a higher ranking. I really think vince was spot on with his year-end rankings for 1985-1989, the years AT40 used Billboard for their year-end charts. I felt AT40 had the better year-end rankings than Billboard.

Also, "Like a Virgin" by Madonna should have been the #1 song of 1985 and not "Careless Whisper".

[vince]

When AT40 did their own year end chart, they probably compiled the list in November. Possibly early December for 1983 and 1984. When AT40 did their own YE countdown in the 70s, they just compiled it up to a cut off date. Starting in 1980, they did estimations for songs they were including that had not finished their chart runs. The year end chart would had to have waited to about March if they waited for the songs peaking in November and December to complete their chart runs.

AT40 used BB's lists from 1985 - 1989. For those years, the year end pop singles chart also relied on estimations for songs late in the year.

I did a post titled "What If AT40 Ranked Their Own YE Chart". I will try and find it and bump it up.

[Mike]

Dec 23, 2023 11:43:06 GMT -5 joman said:

1993
"All That She Wants" by Ace of Base should have ranked higher than it should have.
"Wild World" by Mr. Big should have ranked significantly lower than it did.
"Anniversary" by Tony! Toni! Tone! ranked higher than it should have.

"Anniversary" is a real head-scratcher - they must not have figured it would vanish that quickly for a #20-peaking song with the chart they were using.

"Wild World" is only slightly more understandable, as that too fell quickly in such a way that one can't really "predict" that without guessing and getting lucky (it fell 21-35 in its final week, Christmas week).

"All That She Wants", I completely get them ranking it where it did - as I pointed out when I posted 1993, its ranking is correct when no future "estimated" points are added on. Its real problem, from a methodological standpoint, is that it had the run it did - splitting its run EXACTLY in half between two years, zooming to #1 quickly in the first year and staying there through the end of the calendar year. I don't fault them on this one.

Dec 23, 2023 11:43:06 GMT -5 joman said:

1994
"I'm the Only One" by Melissa Etheridge ranked lower than it should have.

This, too, did something with its chart run that one can't really "estimate" for, since it appeared to "peak" at #4 and fell back by the time the survey period closed - only to return to that peak and stay there for multiple weeks on end. I "get" thinking that it would've been considered eligible for 1994 - but also, it can probably be said that they likely wanted to hammer out that Top 50 as quickly as possible, seeing as they were coming up on the end of the show's life altogether.