Since we're hearing 1982 this week...

[JMW]

I thought I'd post this article from RadioInsight about lost hits that focuses on Billboard's list of the Top 100 Songs of 1982:

How Lost Are Pop Music's Lost Hits?

Now, I’ve created a formula for looking at which hits have become the most (and least) “lost” over time, based in part on the distance they fell to their present-day radio obscurity. I used Billboard’s Top 100 songs of 1982 — the year-end chart of both “Physical” and “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The No. 1 song of the year received 100 points; the No. 2 song received 99, and so on. I divided those points by the number of NielsenBDS Radio spins each song received last week. The biggest songs of the time with the least airplay now had the highest “lost factor.” The range is substantial, from the most “lost” hit with a 59-score, “Pac Man Fever,” to the least, “Edge Of Seventeen” with an 0.001.

Here are the 15 “most lost” hits of 1982, based on points for their standing for the year divided by the number of plays they receive now. In parenthesis is the “lost factor,” followed by the number of spins the songs received last week according to NielsenBDS. (NOTE: The songs in bold are the ones we'll be hearing this weekend.)

1. Buckner & Garcia, “Pac Man Fever” (lost factor: 59, spins last week: zero)
2. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, “Hooked On Classics” (45, 0)
3. Donna Summer, “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” (42, 0)
4. Air Supply, “Sweet Dreams” (37, 2)
5. Charlene, “I’ve Never Been to Me” (32, 2)
6. Vangelis, “Chariots of Fire-Title” (30, 3)
7. Olivia Newton-John, “Make a Move on Me” (17, 1)
8. Commodores, “Oh No” (16, 2)
9. Paul McCartney, “Take It Away” (16, 2)
10. Little River Band, “Take It Easy on Me” (12, 5)
11. Pointer Sisters, “Should I Do It” (12, 1)
12. Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Did It in a Minute” (12, 3)
13. Roberta Flack, “Making Love” (11, 5)
14. Ray Parker Jr., “The Other Woman” (11, 7)
15. Sheena Easton, “You Could Have Been With Me” (9, 4)

Meanwhile, here are the top six songs that are punching above their weight proportionate to their year-end ranking at the time. I’ve made it a top six because of the obvious outlier this week. In this case, the top song is the one with the most miniscule “lost factor.” (NOTE: Songs we'll hear this week are in bold.)

1. Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Seventeen” (.001, 1,519 spins)
2. Loverboy, “Working for the Weekend” (.005, 1,004 spins)
3. Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’” (.008, 3,561 spins)
4. Kenny Rogers, “Through the Years” (.017, 116 spins in the week immediately following his death)
5. Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (.019, 1,188 spins)
6. Van Halen, “(Oh) Pretty Woman” (0.21, 615 spins)

[chrislc]

This is excellent. I wonder if there is a way for us to access those Nielsen Spin stats. We could do all kinds of analyses, including which Top 10s and Top 40s of the Casey Era (and before and after that) had the songs with the most and least overall airplay staying power.

[friarboy]

Really interesting piece, thanks. I think it’s interesting that these big hits by huge artists like Hall and Oates, Donna Summer, Pointer Sisters, McCartney, and Commodores have fallen out of favor compared to their other hits. Partly no doubt because “Did it in a Minute” was big but not “Maneater,” “Should I Do It” was big but not “Jump for my Love”, etc.

Some also fall through the cracks of what formats play today as the author points out.

No surprise that a novelty like Pac Man or- I don’t know what you’d call “Hooked on Classics” are lost. I am somewhat surprised that “Love is in Control” didn’t get one spin. I mean, “Never Been to Me” gets a couple.

[JMW]

There's now a follow-up to this article that focuses on the lost hits of 1984; click here for the thread discussion.

[lasvegaskid]

1984 was a good year, especially the first 2/3. But 1983 was such an embarrassment of riches, music had nowhere to go but down. In 1983, there was so much good material and only so many spots in the top 40, some of the best tunes never got to be counted down by Casey.

[JMW]

Part three is out: the focus is on 1989's lost hits.

For Some 1989 Hits, It’s Easy to "Look Away"

[chrislc]

Speaking of 1982 I'm going to throw out there again a mention of The Day Before You Came by ABBA. I somehow never heard it until last fall and it is a masterpiece. It reminds me of 9/11 and Covid 19 and dread in general. It is haunting.

I also think the chord progression is really similar to The Windmills Of Your Mind. Same mood too.

[matt]

Apr 9, 2020 21:45:35 GMT -5 JMW said:

I thought I'd post this article from RadioInsight about lost hits that focuses on Billboard's list of the Top 100 Songs of 1982:

How Lost Are Pop Music's Lost Hits?

Now, I’ve created a formula for looking at which hits have become the most (and least) “lost” over time, based in part on the distance they fell to their present-day radio obscurity. I used Billboard’s Top 100 songs of 1982 — the year-end chart of both “Physical” and “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The No. 1 song of the year received 100 points; the No. 2 song received 99, and so on. I divided those points by the number of NielsenBDS Radio spins each song received last week. The biggest songs of the time with the least airplay now had the highest “lost factor.” The range is substantial, from the most “lost” hit with a 59-score, “Pac Man Fever,” to the least, “Edge Of Seventeen” with an 0.001.

Here are the 15 “most lost” hits of 1982, based on points for their standing for the year divided by the number of plays they receive now. In parenthesis is the “lost factor,” followed by the number of spins the songs received last week according to NielsenBDS. (NOTE: The songs in bold are the ones we'll be hearing this weekend.)

1. Buckner & Garcia, “Pac Man Fever” (lost factor: 59, spins last week: zero)
2. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, “Hooked On Classics” (45, 0)
3. Donna Summer, “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” (42, 0)
4. Air Supply, “Sweet Dreams” (37, 2)
5. Charlene, “I’ve Never Been to Me” (32, 2)
6. Vangelis, “Chariots of Fire-Title” (30, 3)
7. Olivia Newton-John, “Make a Move on Me” (17, 1)
8. Commodores, “Oh No” (16, 2)
9. Paul McCartney, “Take It Away” (16, 2)
10. Little River Band, “Take It Easy on Me” (12, 5)
11. Pointer Sisters, “Should I Do It” (12, 1)
12. Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Did It in a Minute” (12, 3)
13. Roberta Flack, “Making Love” (11, 5)
14. Ray Parker Jr., “The Other Woman” (11, 7)
15. Sheena Easton, “You Could Have Been With Me” (9, 4)

Meanwhile, here are the top six songs that are punching above their weight proportionate to their year-end ranking at the time. I’ve made it a top six because of the obvious outlier this week. In this case, the top song is the one with the most miniscule “lost factor.” (NOTE: Songs we'll hear this week are in bold.)

1. Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Seventeen” (.001, 1,519 spins)
2. Loverboy, “Working for the Weekend” (.005, 1,004 spins)
3. Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’” (.008, 3,561 spins)
4. Kenny Rogers, “Through the Years” (.017, 116 spins in the week immediately following his death)
5. Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (.019, 1,188 spins)
6. Van Halen, “(Oh) Pretty Woman” (0.21, 615 spins)

Always some surprises on these lists as to which songs stand the test of time and which ones don't. For instance, no surprise that "Pac Man Fever", "Hooked On Classics", and that gawd-awful Charlene cut don't get played anymore. Also not surprising that "Seventeen", "Working For the Weekend", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" do get a lot of recurrent airplay. What's almost more surprising about the Loverboy cut is that it only peaked at #29 upon its initial release.

A number of those in the top list that I find somewhat head-scratching for getting so little play anymore are "Love Is In Control", "Did It In a Minute", "Make a Move On Me", and "The Other Woman". All of those songs sort of vanished once they dropped of the charts back in '82 and have never really been heard much since, even though they seem like they should still have some appeal to the classic hits audience. The only real surprise on the bottom list is the Van Halen cut, but it's really only a mild surprise--VH gets a much airplay on classic rock radio as any act.

[mga707]

May 27, 2020 9:00:08 GMT -5 matt said:

Always some surprises on these lists as to which songs stand the test of time and which ones don't. For instance, no surprise that "Pac Man Fever", "Hooked On Classics", and that gawd-awful Charlene cut don't get played anymore. Also not surprising that "Seventeen", "Working For the Weekend", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" do get a lot of recurrent airplay. What's almost more surprising about the Loverboy cut is that it only peaked at #29 upon its initial release.

A number of those in the top list that I find somewhat head-scratching for getting so little play anymore are "Love Is In Control", "Did It In a Minute", "Make a Move On Me", and "The Other Woman". All of those songs sort of vanished once they dropped of the charts back in '82 and have never really been heard much since, even though they seem like they should still have some appeal to the classic hits audience. The only real surprise on the bottom list is the Van Halen cut, but it's really only a mild surprise--VH gets a much airplay on classic rock radio as any act.

You nailed it here-good analysis. The Donna Summer song (which I've always liked, thought that whole LP she made with Quincy Jones in '82 was pretty good) falls through the crack: Like "Hot Stuff", it's Donna 'rocking out'. But 'classic rock' won't touch it because it's Donna Summer. And stations that play Donna's earlier stuff, plus "She Works Hard for the Money", won't play it because of that 'rock sound' it has.

[retrodaddy]

Donna and Hall & Oates had a lot of hits. Stations have to make the cut somewhere. Neither of those songs do much for me, so their exclusion from playlists isn't objectionable to me.

ONJ's 80s work aside from Physical is largely ignored by classic hits stations. I kinda like Make A Move On Me.

The Other Woman is a great song which I wish were played more often. Don't see how stations playing other R & B acts from that period won't play this song.