The week of December 11, 1993, saw Janet Jackson holding on to the #1 spot of Billboard’s Hot 100 with ‘Again‘ and Meat Loaf in the second slot with ‘I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).’
At #3 that week was Swedish dance pop group Ace of Base with a single that eventually peaked at #2 — ‘All That She Wants.’ The band would later score a #1 hit with ‘The Sign,’ from the same album.
Throwing back to the week of December 10, 1983, we find a couple of repeats atop the Billboard Hot 100 in ‘Say Say Say‘ (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson) and ‘All Night Long (All Night)‘ (Lionel Richie).
In the #3 spot is Billy Joel’s ‘Uptown Girl,’ the second single from his An Innocent Man album, and one of three from that record to reach the top ten. ‘Uptown Girl’ spent five weeks at #3, its peak position on the chart.
The week of December 9, 1973, saw the Carpenters atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Top of the World.’ This country pop song spent two week at #1 as part of a ten-week stint on the chart.
This was the second of three career #1s for the duo, though they had five #2 hits between this song and their first chart-topper, ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You.’
Throwing back to the week of December 7, 1963, we find The Singing Nun (Soeur Sourire) at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Dominique.’
I wrote about ‘Dominique’ recently when covering the nine songs not in the English language to top this chart.
That brings us to the #2 song that week, which is ‘I’m Leaving It Up To You’ by the duo Dale & Grace.
Throwing back to the week of Nov. 30, 2013, we find Lorde atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Royals.’ The rest of the top ten is a mix of the same artists and songs that have been dominating the chart for several installments of Throwback Weekends, but we do have a new entry at #2.
Eminem’s ‘The Monster,’ featuring Rihanna, spent four weeks in the #2 spot before finally reaching #1 in December. This was Eminem’s fifth #1 on the Hot 100 (and, as of today, his last) and his first since 2010’s ‘Love the Way You Lie’ (another collaboration with Rihanna). As for Rihanna, this is one of 14 #1 hits on her resume, putting her behind only The Beatles and Mariah Carey on the all-time list.
