Song of the Day #6,517: ‘Greatest Love of All’ – Whitney Houston

The week of May 10, 1986, found Pet Shop Boys and Robert Palmer atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘West End Girls‘ and ‘Addicted to Love,’ respectively.

At #3, a week away from its own three-week stint at #1, was Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All.’ This was Houston’s third straight chart-topping hit from her self-titled debut, making her the first woman to have three #1s on the same album.

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Song of the Day #6,503: ‘Manic Monday’ – The Bangles

The week of April 26, 1986, offered up a bonanza of 80s musical goodness atop the Billboard Hot 100.

In the top spot for the second straight week was Prince’s ‘Kiss,’ followed by Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’ and Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls.’ Now there’s a trio of songs that simultaneously take you back several decades but still work like gangbusters today.

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Song of the Day #6,489: ‘Kiss’ – Prince and the Revolution

Austrian artist Falco owned the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of April 12, 1986, with ‘Rock Me Amadeus,’ one of only nine non-English songs to top the chart.

At #2 was Prince with his iconic hit ‘Kiss,’ which would reach #1 the following week and stay there for two weeks. ‘Kiss’ is the third of five chart-topping hits for Prince, all released between 1984 and 1991.

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Song of the Day #6,475: ‘Secret Lovers’ – Atlantic Starr

The week of March 29, 1986, found two very 80s hits atop the Billboard Hot 100 in Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus‘ and Heart’s ‘These Dreams,’ both of which have already been featured on the blog.

Just behind those tracks that week was R&B band Atlantic Starr’s hit ‘Secret Lovers,’ which peaked at #3. It’s a sign of my lifelong blindspot for R&B music that I can confidently say I’ve never heard this song before.

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Song of the Day #6,461: ‘Sara’ – Starship

The week of March 15, 1986, found Starship atop the Hot 100 for the second time. The first ‘Starship’ single to accomplish the feat was ‘We Built This City,’ which reached #1 in December of 1985.

That song is widely considered one of the worst of all time, so ‘Sara’ is an improvement simply by default. It’s certainly a better song than ‘We Built This City,’ and maybe even a somewhat good song, period? You tell me.

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