Throwing back to the week of September 3, 1994, we find Boyz II Men atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I’ll Make Love to You.’
Written and produced by Babyface, this track was the biggest hit of 1994, spending a record-tying 14 weeks at #1. It would go on to be the third-highest charting song of the decade, behind only Los Del Rio’s ‘Macarena’ and (quite the flex) Boyz II Men’s collaboration with Mariah Carey, ‘One Sweet Day.’
Tina Turner had the #1 song the week of September 1, 1984, with ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?‘ It was her first and only solo #1, and spent three weeks atop the Hot 100.
That week, the second spot was held by English singer-songwriter John Waite with his soft rock balled ‘Missing You.’ Waite would eventually replace Turner at #1, topping the chart for a single week. ‘Missing You’ was the only song in that great music year to spend only one week at #1.
Turner would cover this song 12 years later for her album Wildest Dreams.
Throwing back to the week of August 31, 1974, we find Paul Anka atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘(You’re) Having My Baby,’ a song that spent three weeks at #1. It was Anka’s second and last chart-topper.
The treacly duet with singer Odia Coates has been widely derided in the years since its release, including being voted the worst song of all time in a 2006 CNN poll.
The week of August 22, 1964, saw The Supremes atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Where Did Our Love Go,’ a song I featured 15 years ago during Motown Weekends.
At #2 that week was Dean Martin’s ‘Everybody Loves Somebody,’ down a spot after a one-week stint at #1. This was a nearly 20-year-old song that had already been recorded by Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra in the 40s, but Martin had the most success with it and it became his signature tune.
Throwing back to the week of August 21, 1954, we find The Crew Cuts still on top of the charts with ‘Sh-Boom,‘ a doo-wop classic.
In the second spot that week was Rosemary Clooney’s ‘Hey There,’ a show tune from the musical The Pajama Game. Clooney stayed in the #2 spot behind ‘Sh-Boom’ for a month before grabbing #1 for six straight weeks. This was the third of four #1 hits for Clooney, all in the first four years of the 1950s.
Meet Me In Montauk 