Billboard's Year End Pop Singles Charts Revised Versions

[vince]

This is the last one for now. Its the alternate version for 1982. Since the week of 10/31/81 was counted in the 1981 alternate version it is not counted for 1982. The survey period runs from 11/7/81 to 10/30/82.

1982 Survey Period: 11/7/81 - 10/30/82
Points POS-TITLE-Artist (Peak Position-Peak Month)
6221 1 PHYSICAL Olivia Newton-John (MCA) (#1, Nov 1981)
4328 2 I LOVE ROCK 'N' ROLL Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (Boardwalk) (#1, March)
4319 3 EBONY AND IVORY Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (Columbia) (#1, May)
3997 4 EYE OF THE TIGER Survivor (Scotti Brothers) (#1, July)
3966 5 CENTERFOLD The J. Geils Band (EMI-America) (#1, Feb)
2630 6 DON'T YOU WANT ME The Human League (A&M/Virgin) (#1, July)
2281 7 JACK AND DIANE John Cougar (Mellencamp) (Riva) (#1, Oct)
2241 8 ABRACADABRA The Steve Miller Band (Capitol) (#1, Sept)
2157 9 HURTS SO GOOD John Cougar (Mellencamp) (Riva) (#2, Aug)
2093 10 HARD TO SAY I'M SORRY Chicago (Full Moon) (#1, Sept)
1869 11 TAINTED LOVE / WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO Soft Cell (Sire) (#8, July)
1763 12 KEY LARGO Bertie Higgins (Kat Family) (#8, April)
1736 13 CHARIOTS OF FIRE - TITLES Vangelis (Polydor) (#1, May)
1719 14 ROSANNA Toto (Columbia) (#2, July)
1713 15 I CAN'T GO FOR THAT (No Can Do) Daryl Hall and John Oates (RCA) (#1, Jan)
1700 16 867-5309/JENNY Tommy Tutone (Columbia) (#4, May)
1678 17 HARDEN MY HEART Quarterflash (Geffen) (#3, Feb)
1651 18 YOU SHOULD HEAR HOW SHE TALKS ABOUT YOU Melissa Manchester (Arista) (#5, Sept)
1579 19 DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS Rick Springfield (RCA) (#2, May)
1553 20 ALWAYS ON MY MIND Willie Nelson (Columbia) (#5, June)
1543 21 SHAKE IT UP The Cars (Elektra) (#4, Feb)
1539 22 LET IT WHIP The Dazz Band (Motown) (#5, July)
1513 23 THE SWEETEST THING (I've Ever Known) Juice Newton (Capitol) (#7, Feb)
1509 24 WAITING FOR A GIRL LIKE YOU Foreigner (Atlantic) (#2, Nov 1981)
1463 25 WE GOT THE BEAT The Go-Go's (I.R.S.) (#2, April)
1461 26 THE OTHER WOMAN Ray Parker Jr. (Arista) (#4, June)
1450 27 SWEET DREAMS Air Supply (Arista) (#5, March)
1437 28 ONLY THE LONELY The Motels (Capitol) (#9, July)
1430 29 TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND George Benson (Warner Brothers) (#5, Feb)
1409 30 WHO CAN IT BE NOW? Men At Work (Coulmbia) (#1, Oct)
1381 31 HOLD ME Fleetwood Mac (Warner Brothers) (#4, July)
1381 32 EYE IN THE SKY The Alan Parsons Project (Arista) (#3, Oct)
1357 33 OPEN ARMS Journey (Columbia) (#2, Feb)
1328 34 LEADER OF THE BAND Dan Fogelberg (Full Moon/Epic) (#9, March)
1313 35 EVEN THE NIGHTS ARE BETTER Air Supply (Arista) (#5, Sept)
1311 36 I'VE NEVER BEEN TO ME Charlene (Motown) (#3, May)
1308 37 LET'S GROOVE Earth, Wind, and Fire (ARC) (#3, Dec 1981)
1300 38 65 LOVE AFFAIR Paul Davis (Arista) (#6, May)
1275 39 HEAT OF THE MOMENT Asia (Geffen) (#4, June)
1270 40 TAKE IT EASY ON ME The Little River Band (Capitol) (#10, March)
1264 41 LEATHER AND LACE Stevie Nicks and Don Henley (Modern) (#6, Jan)
1255 42 PAC-MAN FEVER Buckner and Garcia (Columbia) (#9, March)
1251 43 THAT GIRL Stevie Wonder (Tamla) (#4, March)
1216 44 MAKING LOVE Roberta Flack (Atlantic) (#13, June)
1214 45 LOVE'S BEEN A LITTLE BIT HARD ON ME Juice Newton (Capitol) (#7, July)
1200 46 FREEZE-FRAME The J. Geils Band (EMI-America) (#4, April)
1177 47 KEEP THE FIRE BURNIN' REO Speedwagon (Epic) (#7, Aug)
1171 48 TROUBLE Lindsay Buckingham (Elektra) (#9, Jan)
1171 49 DO YOU BELEIVE IN LOVE Huey Lewis and the News (Chrysalis) (#7, April)
1152 50 PRIVATE EYES Daryl Hall and John Oates (RCA) (#1, Nov 1981)
1148 51 COOL NIGHT Paul Daivs (Arista) (#11, Feb)
1147 52 CAUGHT UP IN YOU .38 Special (A&M) (#10, July)
1140 53 LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE Alabama (RCA) (#15, March)
1130 54 YOUNG TURKS Rod Stewart (Warner Brothers) (#5, Dec 1981)
1123 55 WASTED ON THE WAY Crosby, Stills and Nash (Atlantic) (#9, Aug)
1122 56 HOOKED ON CLASSICS The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Louis Clark (RCA) (#10, Jan)
1118 57 THINK I'M IN LOVE Eddie Money (Columbia) (#16, Sept)
1105 58 LOVE IS IN CONTROL (Finger On the Trigger) Donna Summer (Geffen) (#10, Sept)
1102 59 PERSONALLY Karla Bonoff (Columbia) (#19, Aug)
1087 60 ONE HUNDRED WAYS Quincy Jones Featuring James Ingram (A&M) (#14, April)
1083 61 BLUE EYES Elton John (Geffen) (#12, Oct)
1082 62 YOU COULD HAVE BEEN WITH ME Sheena Easton (EMI-America) (#15, Feb)
1079 63 YOU CAN DO MAGIC America (Capitol) (#8, Oct)
1078 64 DID IN A MINUTE Daryl Hall and John Oates (RCA) (#9, May)
1075 65 I RAN (So Far Away) A Flock Of Seagulls (Jive) (#9, Oct)
1070 66 WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE Diana Ross (RCA) (#7, Dec 1981)
1069 67 SOMEBODY'S BABY Jackson Browne (Asylum) (#7, Oct)
1052 68 TAKE IT AWAY Paul McCartney (Columbia) (#10, Aug)
1048 69 IT'S GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE Denice Williams (ARC) (#10, June)
1040 70 LOVE WILL TURN YOU AROUND Kenny Rogers (Liberty) (#13, Aug)
1027 71 COMIN' IN AND OUT OF YOUR LIFE Barbra Streisand (Columbia) (#11, Jan)
1024 72 GLORIA Laura Branigan (Atlantic) (#2, Nov)
1023 73 EMPTY GARDEN (Hey Hey Johnny) Elton John (Geffen) (#13, May)
1023 74 YESTERDAY'S SONGS Neil Diamond (Columbia) (#11, Jan)
1020 75 OUR LIPS ARE SEALED The Go-Go's (I.R.S.) (#20, Dec 1981)
1018 76 CRIMSON AND CLOVER Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (Boardwalk) (#7, June)
993 77 I KEEP FORGETTIN' (Every Time You're Near) Michael McDonald (Warner Brothers (#4, Oct)
988 78 DON'T STOP BELIEVIN' Jouney (Columbia) (#9, Dec 1981)
987 79 OH NO The Commodores (Motown) (#4, Dec 1981)
985 80 GET DOWN ON IT Kool and the Gang (De-Lite) (#10, May)
984 81 ANY DAY NOW Ronnie Milsap (RCA) (#14, July)
982 82 MAKE A MOVE ON ME Olivia Newton-John (MCA) (#5, April)
971 83 MIRROR MIRROR Diana Ross (RCA) (#8, March)
962 84 VACATION The Go-Go's (I.R.S.) (#8, Aug)
956 85 (Oh) PRETTY WOMAN Van Halen (Warner Brothers) (#12, April)
955 86 SHOULD I DO IT The Pointer Sisters (Planet) (#13, April)
954 87 HOT IN THE CITY Billy Idol (Chysalis) (#23, Sept)
946 88 KIDS IN AMERICA Kim Wilde (EMI-America) (#25, Aug)
945 89 MAN ON YOUR MIND The Little River Band (Capitol) (#14, May)
944 90 WHAT'S FOREVER FOR Michael Martin Murphey (Liberty) (#19, Oct)
938 91 WAITING ON A FRIEND The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones) (#13, Feb)
931 92 DO I DO Stevie Wonder (Motown) (#13, July)
930 93 WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND Loverboy (Columbia) (#29, Feb)
929 94 GOIN' DOWN Greg Guidry (Badlands) (#17, May)
922 95 EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC The Police (A&M) (#3, Dec 1981)
920 96 THROUGH THE YEARS Kenny Rogers (Liberty) (#13, March)
916 97 TAKE MY HEART (You Can Have It If You Want It) Kool and the Gang (#17, Dec 1981)
912 98 EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (Just Like the White Winged Dove) Stevie Nicks (Modern) (#11, April)
908 99 HERE I AM (Just When I Thought I Was Over You) Air Supply (Arista) (#5, Nov 1981)
901 100 THEME FROM MAGNUM P.I. Mike Post (Elektra) (#25, May)

[vince]

Bumping this up as it is that time of year. Both the '76 & '85 YE countdowns Premiere is featuring this year were ranked by BB.

[vince]

Bumping this up. Premiere is featuring 1971 as the A show and 1974 as the B show. Both were ranked by BB.

[vince]

Bumping this up. BB ranked the 1979 and 1987 YE surveys. I got an exact match for 1979 with BB's mid Oct '78 to mid Oct 1979 surveys period.

[vince]

Bumping this up. The 1970 YE show featured this year was ranked by BB. I almost got an exact match with BBs 1970 YE list.

[vince]

Bumping up. AT40 used BB's YE survey for 1978.

[vince]

As you probably already know, BB added bonus points to #1s and later top 10 hits on most of their YE pop singles from 1967 to 1986. Here is a list of what the #1 song of each year would likely have been if BB just used reverse rank with no bonus points each year from 1958 through 1991. Lots of non #1s being the top song of the year.

1958: SAIL ALONG SILVERY MOON Billy Vaughn

1959: THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS Johnny Horton

1960: HE'LL HAVE TO GO Jim Reeves

1961: TOSSIN' AND TURNIN' Bobby Lewis

1962: STRANGER ON THE SHORE Mr. Acker Bilk

1963: SURFIN' U.S.A. The Beach Boys

1964: HELLO, DOLLY! Louis Armstrong

1965: WOOLY BULLY Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs

1966: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' The Mamas and the Papas

1967: LIGHT MY FIRE The Doors

1968: SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE Cream

1969: SUGAR SUGAR The Archies

1970: GET READY Rare Earth

1971: INDIAN RESEVATION (The Lament Of the Cherokee Resevation Indian) The Raiders

1972: I GOTCHA Joe Tex

1973: WHY ME Kris Kristofferson

1974: THE WAY WE WERE Barbra Streisand

1975: RHINESTONE COWBOY Glen Campbell

1976: LOVE IS ALIVE Gary Wright

1977: I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING Andy Gibb

1978: HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE The Bee Gees

1979: Y.M.C.A. The Village People

1980: DO THAT TO ME ONE MORE TIME The Captain and Tennille

1981: JESSIE'S GIRL Rick Springfield

1982: HURTS SO GOOD John Cougar (Mellencamp)

1983: FLASHDANCE...WHAT A FEELING Irene Cara

1984: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT Tina Turner

1985: I FEEL FOR YOU Chaka Khan

1986: I MISS YOU Klymaxx

1987: ONLY IN MY DREAMS Debbie Gibson

1988: I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU Taylor Dayne

1989: THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS Bette Midler

1990: CLOSE TO YOU Maxi Priest

1991: MOTOWNPHILLY Boyz II Men

[chrislc]

Dec 29, 2023 1:58:18 GMT -5 vince said:

As you probably already know, BB added bonus points to #1s and later top 10 hits on most of their YE pop singles from 1967 to 1986. Here is a list of what the #1 song of each year would likely have been if BB just used reverse rank with no bonus points each year from 1958 through 1991. Lots of non #1s being the top song of the year.

1958: SAIL ALONG SILVERY MOON Billy Vaughn

1959: THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS Johnny Horton

1960: HE'LL HAVE TO GO Jim Reeves

1961: TOSSIN' AND TURNIN' Bobby Lewis

1962: STRANGER ON THE SHORE Mr. Acker Bilk

1963: SURFIN' U.S.A. The Beach Boys

1964: HELLO, DOLLY! Louis Armstrong

1965: WOOLY BULLY Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs

1966: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' The Mamas and the Papas

1967: LIGHT MY FIRE The Doors

1968: SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE Cream

1969: SUGAR SUGAR The Archies

1970: GET READY Rare Earth

1971: INDIAN RESEVATION (The Lament Of the Cherokee Resevation Indian) The Raiders

1972: I GOTCHA Joe Tex

1973: WHY ME Kris Kristofferson

1974: THE WAY WE WERE Barbra Streisand

1975: RHINESTONE COWBOY Glen Campbell

1976: LOVE IS ALIVE Gary Wright

1977: I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING Andy Gibb

1978: HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE The Bee Gees

1979: Y.M.C.A. The Village People

1980: DO THAT TO ME ONE MORE TIME The Captain and Tennille

1981: JESSIE'S GIRL Rick Springfield

1982: HURTS SO GOOD John Cougar (Mellencamp)

1983: FLASHDANCE...WHAT A FEELING Irene Cara

1984: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT Tina Turner

1985: I FEEL FOR YOU Chaka Khan

1986: I MISS YOU Klymaxx

1987: ONLY IN MY DREAMS Debbie Gibson

1988: I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU Taylor Dayne

1989: THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS Bette Midler

1990: CLOSE TO YOU Maxi Priest

1991: MOTOWNPHILLY Boyz II Men

Do we have any thoughts regarding what would have been the appropriate amount of bonus points to be awarded, if any? It does seem to me that it was appropriate to award SOME amount, since #1 and the Top Ten to a lesser extent created a ceiling.

Or maybe it was appropriate only to award bonus points to #1 songs?

SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE certainly pops on that list. It's hard to wrap my brain around HEY JUDE not being #1, because it lacked bonus points. Wow. It's a fun example, but is it fair (if we take this stuff seriously enough to be concerned about fairness, which we do!!!

Another consideration might be the time of year a song charted. What was the most competitive time of the chart year? It seems to me that the last 2 1/2 months must have been the most, since record labels were trying to get their share of holiday spending cash. And maybe late June through Labor Day would have been the least, since people were doing other things, as with TV ratings, which assumedly correlated with lower TV ad spending.

Maybe the percentages of gold and platinum records, looking at the time of year they charted, would be a way to try to quantify all that.

Another thought - songs like SUGAR SUGAR really were monster hits, since they get no points for #1 and no points for Top Ten, and still are #1 for the year. That means SUGAR SUGAR had a long run (which we Boomers recall) AND a high peak.

[vince]

It is kind of hard to say what are the appropriate number of bonus points should be. But I agree there should be some. In the early 70s, Billboard felt the appropriate number of #1 bonus points was equal to the number of positions on the chart. So, 100 for the Hot 100, 200 for the album chart, but less for shorter charts like AC.

"Hey Jude" was still on the chart at the beginning of 1969. Had "Hey Jude"'s whole chart run been counted it would have beat out "Sunshine of Your Love".

[pizzzzza]

Dec 29, 2023 8:34:02 GMT -5 chrislc said:

Dec 29, 2023 1:58:18 GMT -5 vince said:

As you probably already know, BB added bonus points to #1s and later top 10 hits on most of their YE pop singles from 1967 to 1986. Here is a list of what the #1 song of each year would likely have been if BB just used reverse rank with no bonus points each year from 1958 through 1991. Lots of non #1s being the top song of the year.

1958: SAIL ALONG SILVERY MOON Billy Vaughn

1959: THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS Johnny Horton

1960: HE'LL HAVE TO GO Jim Reeves

1961: TOSSIN' AND TURNIN' Bobby Lewis

1962: STRANGER ON THE SHORE Mr. Acker Bilk

1963: SURFIN' U.S.A. The Beach Boys

1964: HELLO, DOLLY! Louis Armstrong

1965: WOOLY BULLY Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs

1966: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' The Mamas and the Papas

1967: LIGHT MY FIRE The Doors

1968: SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE Cream

1969: SUGAR SUGAR The Archies

1970: GET READY Rare Earth

1971: INDIAN RESEVATION (The Lament Of the Cherokee Resevation Indian) The Raiders

1972: I GOTCHA Joe Tex

1973: WHY ME Kris Kristofferson

1974: THE WAY WE WERE Barbra Streisand

1975: RHINESTONE COWBOY Glen Campbell

1976: LOVE IS ALIVE Gary Wright

1977: I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR EVERYTHING Andy Gibb

1978: HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE The Bee Gees

1979: Y.M.C.A. The Village People

1980: DO THAT TO ME ONE MORE TIME The Captain and Tennille

1981: JESSIE'S GIRL Rick Springfield

1982: HURTS SO GOOD John Cougar (Mellencamp)

1983: FLASHDANCE...WHAT A FEELING Irene Cara

1984: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT Tina Turner

1985: I FEEL FOR YOU Chaka Khan

1986: I MISS YOU Klymaxx

1987: ONLY IN MY DREAMS Debbie Gibson

1988: I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU Taylor Dayne

1989: THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS Bette Midler

1990: CLOSE TO YOU Maxi Priest

1991: MOTOWNPHILLY Boyz II Men

Do we have any thoughts regarding what would have been the appropriate amount of bonus points to be awarded, if any? It does seem to me that it was appropriate to award SOME amount, since #1 and the Top Ten to a lesser extent created a ceiling.

Or maybe it was appropriate only to award bonus points to #1 songs?

SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE certainly pops on that list. It's hard to wrap my brain around HEY JUDE not being #1, because it lacked bonus points. Wow. It's a fun example, but is it fair (if we take this stuff seriously enough to be concerned about fairness, which we do!!!

Another consideration might be the time of year a song charted. What was the most competitive time of the chart year? It seems to me that the last 2 1/2 months must have been the most, since record labels were trying to get their share of holiday spending cash. And maybe late June through Labor Day would have been the least, since people were doing other things, as with TV ratings, which assumedly correlated with lower TV ad spending.

Maybe the percentages of gold and platinum records, looking at the time of year they charted, would be a way to try to quantify all that.

Another thought - songs like SUGAR SUGAR really were monster hits, since they get no points for #1 and no points for Top Ten, and still are #1 for the year. That means SUGAR SUGAR had a long run (which we Boomers recall) AND a high peak.

WOW - LOTS of surprises!