Category Archives: throwback weekends

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Song of the Day #5,467: ‘Sukiyaki’ – Kyu Sakamoto

Today’s Throwback Weekend selection brings us to the week of June 22, 1963, when the Billboard Hot 100 was topped by Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto’s song ‘Sukiyaki.’

This was the first song by an Asian artist to reach #1 on this chart and remained the only one for nearly six decades, until BTS did it with ‘Dynamite’ in 2020. It is one of only nine songs not in English to top the chart, and the only one in Japanese. Extra credit to anyone who can name three or more of the others (and more on that next week).

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Song of the Day #5,461: ‘Cruise’ – Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly

The week of June 15, 2013, is putting Throwback Weekends to the test. Not only has the #1 song already appeared on the blog, but so have numbers two through four. No worries, though… it’s called the Hot 100, after all.

Topping the charts that week was ‘Can’t Hold Us‘ by Macklemore — Ryan Lewis, still hanging on from three weeks ago. In second place was Justin Timberlake’s ‘Mirrors,’ which I wrote about nine years ago. At #3 was Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky,’ which I featured on the blog a decade ago in a post that makes me sounds like an old man shouting at a cloud. Finally, the fourth spot is occupied by Pink and Nate Ruess, whose ‘Just Give Me a Reason‘ featured on a recent edition of Throwback Weekends.

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Song of the Day #5,460: ’21 Questions’ – 50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg

Throwing back to the week of June 14, 2003, we find 50 Cent atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ’21 Questions,’ a track featuring singer/raper Nate Dogg. This song spent four weeks atop the chart on its way to 23 total weeks on the Hot 100.

This was 50 Cent’s second straight single from debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ to reach #1. The first was ‘In Da Club,’ which showed up on a Throwback Weekend six weeks ago.

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Song of the Day #5,454: ‘Freak Me’ – Silk

Today’s Throwback Weekend selection comes from the week of June 5, 1993, but this song wasn’t #1 that week. Janet Jackson was still in the midst of her eight-week run with ‘That’s the Way Love Goes‘ in the top spot, forcing me to skip down to #2.

Silk’s ‘Freak Me’ spent two weeks at #1 before it was bumped to #2 by Jackson. It ended up spending ten weeks in the second spot. That’s a lot of success for a song I have literally never heard until five minutes ago.

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Song of the Day #5,453: ‘Flashdance… What a Feeling’ – Irene Cara

Throwing back to the week of June 4, 1983, we find Irene Cara on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with her soundtrack smash ‘Flashdance… What a Feeling.’

Watching clips from Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance, I’m reminded of the crush I had on lead actress Jennifer Beals at the time. I assume I caught up with the film on video, because I don’t think I saw the R-rated film in theaters as an 11-year-old.

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