The week of January 28, 1984, saw Yes on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart,’ a song I’ve already featured on the blog.
At #2 was a song I’m surprised I haven’t featured yet, Culture Club’s ‘Karma Chameleon.’ This song would reach #1 the following week and spend three weeks atop the chart. It was Culture Club’s only #1 hit in the U.S., though two others hit #2 (bonus points if you can name them in the comments).
Throwing back to the week of January 26, 1974, we find Ringo Starr on the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 with ‘You’re Sixteen’, a cover of a 1960 hit by Johnny Burnette.
You can file this track under “songs you couldn’t get away with today,” and indeed Starr has said in concert that he doesn’t sing this one anymore. But in early 1974, nobody was creeped out by a 33-year-old man singing about his romance with an underage girl.
Throwing back to the week of January 18, 1964, we find one of history’s greatest rock-n-roll songs tucked away at #2 behind Bobby Vinton’s ‘There! I’ve Said it Again..’
The Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’ never made it to #1 but it is one of the best-known rock songs of all time, one of the most covered, and one of the most misunderstood. It’s an unintelligible three-chord masterpiece.
Throwing back to the week of January 16, 1954, we find Eddie Fisher’s ‘Oh My Papa’ with a stranglehold on Billboard’s Weekly Singles chart. The song, which I featured a few weeks back, clung to #1 from the beginning of the year through mid-February.
For a few of those weeks, including this one, it prevented a much better song from reaching #1. Dean Martin’s classic charmer ‘That’s Amore’ peaked at #2.
Throwing back to the week of January 10, 2004, we find that Outkast held a stranglehold on the top of the Hot 100. Their singles ‘Hey Ya!‘ and ‘The Way You Move‘ occupied the #1 and #2 spots, respectively. Kelis’ ‘Milkshake‘ was at #3.
Careful readers might remember this was the same top three when I last threw back to the 2000s three weeks ago.
