Pick a Day

Music History Events: Charts

April 8, 1989 "The Look" by Roxette hits #1 on the Hot 100, the first of four chart-toppers for the Swedish duo.

April 1, 1989 Bangles hit #1 in America with "Eternal Flame," but break up less than six months later.More

April 1, 1989 N.W.A.'s "Gangsta Gangsta" becomes the group's first song to enter the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it debuts at #91.

March 11, 1989 Eighteen-year-old Debbie Gibson goes to #1 in America with her second album, Electric Youth, which stays on top for five weeks.

February 11, 1989 Eazy-E's solo song "We Want Eazy" becomes his first hit to enter the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it debuts at #43.

January 21, 1989 Kid 'N Play's soon-to-be-gold debut album, 2 Hype, which was released three months earlier, debuts at #96 on the Billboard 200 chart.

October 15, 1988 UB40's cover of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" finally hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 over four years after its initial release. Lead singer Ali Campbell says that they always knew it as a reggae song and had no idea Diamond wrote it.

August 6, 1988 Thanks to its inclusion on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, the Contours' 1962 hit "Do You Love Me" makes another chart run, peaking at #11.

August 6, 1988 More than a year after it was released, Guns N' Roses' debut album, Appetite For Destruction, goes to #1 in America.

June 25, 1988 Seventeen-year-old Debbie Gibson hits #1 in America with "Foolish Beat," making her the youngest artist to top the Hot 100 with a song written, performed and produced by herself. The mark stands until 2007 when Soulja Boy goes to #1 with "Crank That."

May 21, 1988 "Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses" by Kathy Mattea hits #1 on the Country chart. It's the second chart-topper from her fourth album, Untasted Honey, following "Goin' Gone."

May 7, 1988 Thanks to constant airplay on MTV, Terence Trent D'Arby hits #1 in America with "Wishing Well." It's his second single - his first, "If You Let Me Stay," topped out at #68.

January 30, 1988 Two years after a cover of Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime" gave Kathy Mattea her first hit, she lands her first #1 on the Country chart with another Griffith tune: "Goin' Gone."

January 30, 1988 INXS land their first and only US #1 with "Need You Tonight."

November 21, 1987 Nina Simone, who hasn't charted in the UK since 1969, hits #5 with the re-release of her 1958 song "My Baby Just Cares For Me" thanks to its use in TV commercials for Chanel No. 5 perfume.

November 21, 1987 George Harrison has the #2 UK hit with "Got My Mind Set On You," while Paul McCartney's All The Best is #2 on the Albums chart. Keeping these Beatles at bay is T'Pau, whose album Bridge of Spies and single "China In Your Hand" hold the top spots.

November 14, 1987 "China In Your Hand" by T'Pau goes to #1 in the UK, where it stays for five weeks. The band is on tour with Bryan Adams; when they return they learn that they now have throngs of fans.

October 3, 1987 Smokey Robinson holds the #10 spot on the Hot 100 with "One Heartbeat," while a song about him, "When Smokey Sings" by ABC, is at #8.

August 8, 1987 U2 land their second American #1 as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," from The Joshua Tree, goes to the top.

December 13, 1986 "The Way It Is," the title track to the debut album by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, goes to #1 in the US. The song is about the civil rights movement in the US; in 1998 it's reworked by the rapper 2Pac into "Changes," a song with similar subject matter.

November 17, 1986 Thanks to the hit "You're The Voice," John Farnham's album Whispering Jack goes to #1 in Australia, where it spends an astounding 25 (non-consecutive) weeks.

September 13, 1986 The Communards hit #1 in the UK with their cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way," an American #1 for Thelma Houston in 1977. Their version becomes the top-selling UK single of 1986.

March 20, 1986 Country singer Kathy Mattea releases her third album, Walk The Way The Wind Blows, featuring her breakthrough single - a cover of Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime." It peaks at #3 on the country chart.

December 28, 1985 Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" goes to #2 in the US, held back by Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me." Written and produced by Rick James, it charts higher than any other James composition.

September 7, 1985 "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" hits #1 in the US. David Foster and John Parr wrote the song for the film St. Elmo's Fire, but they wrote it about Rick Hansen, who went around the world in his wheelchair raising money for spinal cord research on his "Man In Motion" tour.

August 3, 1985 Tears For Fears' "Shout" hits #1 in the US for the first of three weeks. It's the English synthpop duo's second chart-topper, following "Everybody Wants To Rule The World."

July 27, 1985 Paul Young hits #1 with "Everytime You Go Away," a cover of a Hall & Oates song released in 1980. It's the only Hall & Oates cover ever to make the Top 40.

April 27, 1985 The Judds' "Girls' Night Out" goes to #1 Country, where it stays for one week. It's the second chart-topper from the duo's debut album, Why Not Me.

April 20, 1985 The Commodores land their first (and only) post-Lionel Richie hit with "Nightshift," which reaches #3 in the US. The song is a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye.

March 16, 1985 "Nightshift" by The Commodores, a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, knocks Diana Ross' "Missing You," a tribute to Gaye written by ex-Commodore Lionel Richie, from the #1 spot on the R&B chart.