Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of June 21, 1986, with ‘On My Own.’ It was the second of three weeks the song spent at #1.
Just behind it was Billy Ocean’s ‘There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry),’ which eventually reached #1 and spent a single week there. It timed that achievement well, becoming the 600th #1 hit on the Hot 100.
Throwing back to the week of February 15, 1986, we find Whitney Houston atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘How Will I Know,’ in the first of its two weeks at #1.
In the second spot was Billy Ocean with (deep breath) ‘When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going.’ Like yesterday’s featured artist, Hot Chocolate, Ocean is a British artist I didn’t realize was British (at least not until I wrote about ‘Caribbean Queen’ in late 2024).
A trio of songs I mentioned a couple of weeks ago were still crowding the top of the Hot 100 the week of June 8, 1985: Tears For Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’ Wham!’s ‘Everything She Wants,’ and Harold Faltermeyer’s ‘Axel F.’
At #4 that week was Billy Ocean’s ‘Suddenly,’ the title track of his fifth — and most successful — album.
We nearly had a Stevie Wonder two-fer this weekend, as the #1 song the week of October 27, 1984, was his ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You.’
But I featured that insipid track a week ago, so it’s just one Stevie Wonder song (a much better one) this weekend. Still, it’s impressive that Wonder was able to hold the #1 spot on the same week a decade apart.
Meet Me In Montauk 