A breakdown of my top singles from 1981
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
Rock*
|
R&B
|
Dance
|
|
40 |
"Burnin' for You" |
Blue Öyster Cult |
40 |
1 |
|||
39 |
"Suddenly" |
Olivia Newton-John & Cliff Richard |
20 |
4 |
|||
38 |
"All Those Years Ago" |
George Harrison |
2 |
1 |
6 |
||
37 |
"No Reply at All" |
Genesis |
29 |
2 |
|||
36 |
"Don't Want to Wait Anymore" |
The Tubes |
35 |
22 |
|||
35 |
"You Better You Bet" |
The Who |
18 |
1 |
|||
34 |
"A Little in Love" |
Cliff Richard |
17 |
6 |
|||
33 |
"In the Air Tonight" |
Phil Collins |
19 |
2 |
|||
32 |
"Arc of a Diver" |
Steve Winwood |
48 |
11 |
|||
31 |
"Bette Davis Eyes" |
Kim Carnes |
1 |
15 |
5 |
26 |
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
Rock
|
R&B
|
Dance
|
|
30 | "I've Done Everything for You" |
Rick Springfield |
8 |
||||
29 |
"Nicole" |
Point Blank |
39 |
20 |
|||
28 |
"Sweetheart" |
Franke & The Knockouts |
10 |
40 |
27 |
||
27 |
"Love You Like I've Never Loved Before" |
John O'Banion |
24 |
||||
26 |
"Miss Sun" |
Boz Scaggs |
14 |
13 |
|||
25 |
"Working in the Coal Mine" |
Devo |
43 |
53 |
30 |
||
24 |
"Draw of the Cards" |
Kim Carnes |
28 |
||||
23 |
"Tom Sawyer" |
Rush |
44 |
8 |
|||
22 |
"You Make My Dreams" |
Daryl Hall & John Oates |
5 |
35 |
|||
21 |
"Hey Nineteen" |
Steely Dan |
10 |
11 |
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
Rock
|
R&B
|
Dance
|
|
20 |
"Can You Feel It" |
The Jacksons |
77 |
30 |
1 |
||
19 |
"One Step Closer" |
The Doobie Brothers |
24 |
21 |
|||
18 |
"Urgent" |
Foreigner |
4 |
1 |
32 |
||
17 |
"Watching the Wheels" |
John Lennon |
10 |
6 |
25 |
||
16 |
"Gemini Dream" |
The Moody Blues |
12 |
13 |
36 |
||
15 |
"How 'Bout Us" |
Champaign |
12 |
1 |
4 |
||
14 |
"Ah! Leah!" |
Donnie Iris |
29 |
19 |
|||
13 |
"We're in This Love Together" |
Al Jarreau |
15 |
6 |
6 |
||
12 |
"Start Me Up" |
The Rolling Stones |
2 |
1 |
14 |
||
11 |
"Kiss On My List" |
Daryl Hall & John Oates |
1 |
16 |
54 |
Title
|
Artist
|
Pop
|
AC
|
Rock
|
R&B
|
Dance
|
|
10 |
"My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)" |
Chilliwack |
22 |
16 |
|||
9 |
"Fashion" |
David Bowie |
70 |
21 |
|||
8 |
"Time Out of Mind" |
Steely Dan |
22 |
13 |
13 |
||
7 |
"Is It You" |
Lee Ritenour |
15 |
15 |
27 |
||
6 |
"Tempted" |
Squeeze |
49 |
8 |
|||
5 |
"Our Lips are Sealed" |
The Go-Go's |
20 |
15 |
10 |
||
4 |
"While You See a Chance" |
Steve Winwood |
7 |
17 |
2 |
||
3 |
"Living Inside Myself" |
Gino Vannelli |
6 |
5 |
|||
2 |
"Just the Two of Us" |
Grover Washington, Jr. |
2 |
2 |
3 |
||
1 |
"Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" |
The Police |
3 |
1 |
All chart positions are peak positions from Billboard charts for 1981. These are my personal top 81 singles of those that peaked on the Billboard charts in 1981. The list is solely my opinion. Using Joel Whitburn's book, Pop Annual 1955-2005, I started with the 408 singles that peaked on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in 1981. An initial pass through that list narrowed it down to 94 tunes, then listening, ranking, and editing began. The top 81 are presented this week, in order.
*Billboard started producing a Rock chart beginning with their March 21, 1981 edition.
Other lists of singles from My Favorite Decade:
