As a bonafide child of the ’80s it should come as a shock to no one that I love the music of that decade. I spent countless hours glued to the television watching MTV back in its prime (you know, when it actually showed music videos and lived up to its name of Music Television) and listening to my radio. When I wasn’t watching movies on Sundays with my Dad I could almost always be found in my room working on something while listening to Casey Kasem and the “American Top 40″. I couldn’t wait to hear which tune had topped the Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for that week.

Throughout the decade there were more than 230 songs that reached that pinnacle. As a person that enjoys writing top ten lists, I thought it’d be a good challenge to see where I’d end up if I had to choose my ten favorite #1 hits from the 1980s.

Now, keep in mind, this is NOT my top ten songs from the ENTIRE decade. That’ll be one of the most difficult top tens I ever undertake…if I even want to try that one. I get a chill down my spine just thinking about how long that would take me to do.

I started out by compiling a list of every song that ever made it to the #1 spot and was surprised by a couple of things: firstly, there were a couple of songs that I honestly couldn’t remember (”Medley” by Stars on 45, for example); secondly, Journey never had a #1 song (what the hell?!?); and lastly, the #1 songs of the first half of the decade had more staying power in their top spot than those in the second half as there was practically a new chart topper ever week.

Next began the difficult task of narrowing down the songs. I have to narrow a list of over 230 songs into a list of ten?!? Oh boy. I needed criteria…so, I came up with criteria.

Energy
The music of the 1980s, to me, was full of fun. I was a teenager at the time and didn’t have but a fraction of the responsibilities I have these days. With psychology being as powerful as it is I associate many of these hits with carefree days, wide-open summer nights, and good times. Just hearing the openings of many of these songs will immediately jolt me back in my mind to the times watching music videos with my friends and bring a smile to my face. Simply put, they automatically create a positive energy within me. So the single most important aspect of any of the songs that made my final list is that they still, after 20+ years, are able to elicit a sense of immediate happiness from the second I hear them start to play.

Staying Power
Every year there are thousands upon thousands of new songs introduced to the world in a multitude of genres. On occasion, though, there are specific tunes that just seem to speak to us and capture our undivided attention. These are the songs that become so ingrained with a specific time period, a particular event or even a movie, perhaps, that they become permanently etched on one’s mind (ala “Macarena” in the mid ’90s). The songs that made my list have never fallen from the playlist of my inner DJ. Never have I uttered “Oh, wow, I haven’t heard that song in a long time” about these hits. They’ve stuck around…and I could pretty much hear them note for note at any time inside my own head without having to truly hear the song.

The James Brown Factor
The opening of James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” is his famous “Whaaa-ow! I feel good!” Now, for the record, let it be known that I am not a dancer. I’m just not. However, in the privacy of my own home, I’ll bust a move (more emphasis on “bust” than on “move”) whenever I hear that song start up. Any song that make yours truly get off his ass and move around – and rumor has it that some of this movement resembles break dancing at times – is credited with having a high James Brown Factor. Now, this doesn’t narrow my list down to strictly songs that would have been played in a dance club because I can get into a slower song that has a great groove (think Sam & Dave’s 1966 hit “Hold On, I’m Coming” or even Marvin Gaye’s legendary “Let’s Get It On”). Those songs, too, have a great James Brown Factor.

So with my criteria set I now had to apply it to each and every chart topper through an entire decade. Jealous? For an inkling of the task at hand, check out the full list of every song that hit the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 from January 1st, 1980 – December 31st, 1989 on the next page…

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