Now that the Decades series has its own dedicated landing page, I’m excited to add new installments and get closer to my goal of writing about 40 years of memorable albums (with additional decades to come).
Over the next several weeks I’ll turn my attention to the albums of 1987, a year that turns out to be even stronger than the last one I tackled, 1977.
The #1 song the week of November 8, 1986, belonged to Boston. ‘Amanda’ was the band’s first single in six years, and it kicked off the promotion of their third album, Third Stage, with a bang.
While Third Stage didn’t ultimately reach the heights of the band’s first two smash albums, it did go 4X Platinum, and ‘Amanda’ became Boston’s only #1 hit. That’s right, ‘More Than a Feeling,’ ‘Peace of Mind,’ ‘Don’t Look Back,’ and other popular Boston songs never managed to top the Hot 100.
Throwing back to the week of November 7, 1976, we find the biggest hit of Rod Stewart’s career, ‘Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright).’ The song hit #1 on this week and didn’t relinquish its spot until early 1977.
‘Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)’ achieved this massive success despite (or, more likely, because of) controversy over its lyrics. The faint of heart took offense at lines like these: “C’mon, angel, my heart’s on fire / Don’t deny your man’s desire / You’d be a fool to stop this tide / Spread your wings and let me come inside.”
I’m closing out this edition of What the Kids are Listening To, appropriately, with an Ella Langley song. The Alabama-born singer-songwriter is certainly the story of this year’s Hot 100.
‘Loving Life Again’ is the fourth single from Langley’s sophomore album, Dandelion. The other three made it to the top five, while this one has so far peaked at #16.
The #13 and #14 slots on the latest Billboard Hot 100 belong to two artists with other hits on the chart — Ella Langley (‘Be Her‘) and Bruno Mars (‘Risk It All‘). I wrote about both of those songs back in May, the last time I did a What the Kids are Listening To series, which speaks to how stagnant the Hot 100 has become.
Morgan Wallen makes his second appearance on the chart at #15 with ‘Last Thing You Need,’ giving him his 21st top ten hit since 2020. That makes him second to only Drake and Taylor Swift in this decade.
