Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth. In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.
We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1988, the year I graduated from junior high, first really became interested in pop music, and moved on to high school. Z95 and B96 were the hit stations in Chicago at the time and would provide the soundtrack of that year. At 62 songs, over 60% of the Hot 100 remain familiar to me now, with 29 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#99: White Lion – Wait
iTunes stats: 21 plays
Released in June of 1987, it didn’t crack the charts until February of 1988 before eventually cracking the top ten and peaking at #8 in May.
#98: Poison – Nothin’ but a Good Time
iTunes stats: 28 plays
The lead single from the band’s second album, it reached #6 on the Hot 100.
#89: Whitney Houston – One Moment in Time
iTunes stats: N/A
Hitting #5, the song was produced for the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea.
#85: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – I Hate Myself for Loving You
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Jett’s third and final top ten single, it peaked at #8 and spent 26 weeks on the chart.
#82: Van Halen – When It’s Love
iTunes stats: 9 plays
The group’s third and final top ten single, it topped out at #5 on the Hot 100 and reached the top of the Mainstream Rock chart.
#79: Bobby Brown – Don’t Be Cruel
iTunes stats: N/A
Topping the R&B chart for two weeks, the single from Brown’s second solo album hit #8 in October.
#76: Tracy Chapman – Fast Car
iTunes stats: 3 plays
Nominated for three Grammys and winning one, Chapman’s biggest pop hit peaked at #6.
#75: Natalie Cole – Pink Cadillac
iTunes stats: N/A
This cover of a Bruce Springsteen song reached #5 on the Hot 100, giving Cole her first top ten hit since 1978.
#71: Elton John – Candle in the Wind
iTunes stats: N/A
Originally written in honor of Marilyn Monroe in 1973, this live version hit #6.
#70: Cheap Trick – Don’t Be Cruel
iTunes stats: 31 plays
The Rockford band spent two weeks at #4 In October of 1988 with this cover of the old Elvis hit.
#66: Pretty Poison – Catch Me (I’m Falling)
iTunes stats: N/A
The lone hit from the group, it reached #8 late in 1987.
#65: INXS – New Sensation
iTunes stats: 18 plays
Peaking at #3, this was the third single from the Australian group’s sixth studio album.
#63: Pebbles – Mercedes Boy
iTunes stats: 17 plays
The second, and biggest, single from her debut album, the track went all the way to #2 on the Hot 100.
#62: Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine – 1-2-3
iTunes stats: N/A
The seventh and final top ten hit for the group, it reached #3 in July of 1988.
#61: Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana
iTunes stats: N/A
Jackson returned to the top of the charts with the fifth single from his Bad album.
#57: Belinda Carlisle – I Get Weak
iTunes stats: N/A
Carlisle hit #2 with this second single from her second solo album, written by Diane Warren.
#56: U2 – Desire
iTunes stats: N/A
The first single from the band’s Rattle and Hum album, it peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 while winning a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
#54: Debbie Gibson – Out of the Blue
iTunes stats: N/A
The title track from Gibson’s debut album, it reached #3, becoming Gibson’s highest charting single at the time.
#53: Taylor Dayne – Tell It to My Heart
iTunes stats: N/A
Taylor’s debut single, the song spent 25 weeks in the Hot 100, peaking at #7, and earned Dayne a Grammy nomination.
#52: Information Society – What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)
iTunes stats: 15 plays
Featuring vocal samples of Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley from episodes of Star Trek, the group’s sole hit reached #3 in October of 1988.
4 years ago, we last counted down the Top 200 songs in my iTunes library. Since my iTunes stats are still intact, across multiple PCs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones, I figured it was time to take another look at my most listened to songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2020.
3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs in my iTunes library. Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact. So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.
#36: Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains (Live)