Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 (1986)

Top 10 songs every week from Billboard Hot 100 (Year 1986)

Number 1 Hits:
Say You, Say Me (Lionel Richie)
That's What Friends Are For (Dionne and Friends)
How Will I Know (Whitney Houston)
Kyrie (Mr. Mister)
Sara (Starship)
These Dreams (Heart)
Rock Me Amadeus (Falco)
Kiss (Prince And The Revolution)
Addicted To Love (Robert Palmer)
West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys)
Greatest Love Of All (Whitney Houston)
Live To Tell (Madonna)
On My Own (Patti LaBelle And Michael McDonald)
There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry) (Billy Ocean)
Holding Back The Years (Simply Red)
Invisible Touch (Genesis)
Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
Glory Of Love (Peter Cetera)
Papa Don't Preach (Madonna)
Higher Love (Steve Winwood)
Venus (Bananarama)
Take My Breath Away (Berlin)
Stuck With You (Huey Lewis And The News)
When I Think Of You (Janet Jackson)
True Colors (Cyndi Lauper)
Amanda (Boston)
Human (The Human League)
You Give Love A Bad Name (Bon Jovi)
The Next Time I Fall (Peter Cetera And Amy Grant)
The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby & The Range)
Walk Like An Egyptian (The Bangles)

#charthistory

[evermoreTV]

THE YEAR OF MADONNA, JANET JACKSON AND WHITNEY

[Araujo_jard]

When the big and talents artists was fighting for #1. When all of top 10 was Unforgeteble .

[mr.marvel]

Wow everybody was hitting #1 constantly

[jbucktheman]

The top 10 in 1986 is more erratic than the last couple years before

[mikeunguryan]

can you please make a fleetwood mac chart history?

[diorrboyyyy]

The year of Whitney before the other years of Whitney😩💜

[johntorresaraujo]

4 o 5 temas que venían de 1985 excelente

[keoniibana]

Danger Zone should’ve hit #1 and Playing with the Boys deserved so much better ;(

[ofdd]

It's so weird just watching all songs free fall after going #1 and no stable hits

[mrtrolldemort]

I feel for 80s standards, 1986 is a bit of a controversial one. Some people think it’s amazing, others think it’s the beginning of dark ages. I’m a bit in between.

1986 is definitely a transition period. The earlier sound from the golden age is still here. Adult Contemporary is huge, especially when it comes to #1. Lionel Richie has been plaguing it for a while now, but now Phil Collins and Whitney are both making waves this year. This is also the year where Hair Metal really hits the mainstream with Bon Jovi hitting it big. Basically, New Wave, Synth Pop and Pop Rock are still around, but there are second tier now, nowhere near at the top. Dance Pop, Hair Metal, and the Power Ballads are the new dominant sounds. This is also the year where hip hop begins to break into the mainstream. Rapping has been around for many years at this point, but it was still a very underground thing. However, this is the year where it begins to crossover with other genres. Also on the R&B front, I haven’t said too much about it but after low period, it is beginning to come back with a fusion of it with hip hop and pop influences, which will eventually become New Jack Swing.

1986 has some pretty good songs, but sadly when it comes to the biggest stuff, it’s a pretty weak year for 80s standards. A lot of songs sound like each other, which is the first time I could say that for this entire decade which does disappoint me a lot. It does balance out with some great songs, especially for the later genres. You might need to dig a bit, but you can definitely find some god tier songs and like the rest of the 80s, it’s still overall an amazing year.

Best and worst #1s of the year: Tbh I kinda regret only doing 82-85 for top 5, because it’s hard to choose the absolute best one. Same for the worst since they are so similar. I guess I will have to go with How Will I Know by Whitney Houston. As for worst, I’m going with Say You, Say Me by Lionel Richie, pretty much only because he's been doing the same thing for almost a decade by this point.

[Pancake]

Oh boy, 1986 has a ton of number 2 hits so let’s get started with this edition of “Were they Robbed?”

Party All the Time - Weird to think Eddie almost scored a number one hit. Not too crazy over it but it’s decent and even more so than the song that blocked it Say You Say Me. I’ll say yes, it was robbed.

Burning Heart - Was blocked by an overly sappy song in That’s What Friends Are For. This Survivor song was on Rocky 4, one of my fav movies, so I’ll say it was robbed.

When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going - The less I say about this, the better. Blocked by Whitney and rightfully so.

R O C K in the USA - Some might find Rock Me Amadeus to be corny and they would be right. But it has an infectious energy and I can see how it blocked this John Mellencamp hit. Was not robbed.

Danger Zone - Top Gun was everywhere but failed to land at the top of the chart. Sledgehammer just had more fuel in the long run. Wasn’t robbed.

Dancing on the Ceiling - Take My Breath Away is the bigger song of the two so it wasn’t blocked there. Stuck With You isn’t much better than Ceiling. I’ll say wasn’t robbed there either.

Friends and Lovers - Like the previous number 2, Huey Lewis blocked this as well. Nice duet but I’m fine with the way things ended up. Not robbed.

Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone) - While a nice, upbeat song, it was all bad timing to go against When I Think of You. Good song beat by an even better one. Not robbed.

Typical Male - Tina has had better. Janet was just starting out so I see it as a passing of the torch. True Colors by Cyndi Lauper also has more depth so it wasn’t robbed there either.

I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On - It has a nice beat but I’m not sure if it deserved number 2 let alone having any right to beat out a song like Amanda by Boston which blocked it. Not robbed.

Everybody Have Fun Tonight - One of the most iconic songs of the 80s bested by an even more legendary song of the 80s in Walk Like An Egyptian. Not robbed.

[mattterranova]

Why does Madonna always hit #1 for a week then plummet down behind the top 10? She even rockets up pushing everyone aside, hits #1 then falls to her death. She doesn't even like hang out at #2 or #5. Odd.