Tag / RIAA

by admin

Fifty Years Of Music – 1982

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 1982, the year I moved from second to third grade and turned 8.  Given my late-October birthday.  Songs from movies would be the only ones I knew from their original release.  Only 29 of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with 20 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#96: Loverboy – Working for the Weekend
iTunes stats: N/A

The first single from the group’s second album, it topped out at #29 but was eventually ranked #100 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s.

#91: Kim Wilde – Kids in America
iTunes stats: 15 plays

Released a year earlier in the UK, this first single from Wilde peaked at #25 on the Hot 100 despite heavy radio play and acclaim on MTV.

#88: Van Halen – Oh, Pretty Woman
iTunes stats: 12 plays

Intended as a non-album single before the band went on a planned hiatus, it became their second Top 20 hit, reaching #12.

#87: The Go-Go’s – Vacation
iTunes stats: 17 plays

Peaking at #8, the song was the group’s second, and final, top ten hit.

#79: The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
iTunes stats: 21 plays

Originally written for a 1976 demo, the tune topped out at #3 on the Hot 100.

#78: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – Crimson and Clover
iTunes stats: 10 plays

This cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells hit from 1968 reached #7 on the chart, the band’s second-highest charting single.

#75: Laura Branigan – Gloria
iTunes stats: 13 plays

Originally written and recorded as an Italian love song in 1979, Branigan’s reworking of the tune spent three weeks at #2 late in 1982.

#73: Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
iTunes stats: 143 plays

Peaking at #8 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #9 on the Hot 100, the song gained a second life in the 21st century thanks to, among others, the final episode of The Sopranos and, locally, its use by the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox.

#68: Jackson Browne – Somebody’s Baby
iTunes stats: 17 plays

Recorded for the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack, the song reached #7, becoming Browne’s highest charting hit and his final top ten.

#63: The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed
iTunes stats: 17 plays

The band’s debut single, it peaked at #20, but spent 30 weeks on the Hot 100.

Continue reading →

by admin

Fifty Years Of Music – 1978

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 1978, the year I turned four.  I still have no knowledge of these songs from their original release, but, because of the heavy influence of movie soundtracks, these include some of my earliest musical memories.  Only 19 of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only eight of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#74: Barry Manilow – Copacabana
iTunes stats: 19 plays

The third single from Manilow’s fifth studio album, the song was inspired by a visit to the Copacabana Hotel in Rio.

#72: Patti Smith Group – Because the Night
iTunes stats: 27 plays

Written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, the song, which first became known to me thanks to the 90s cover by 10,000 Maniacs, peaked at #13 on the charts.

#71: Crystal Gayle – Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
iTunes stats: N/A

Released in June of 1977, Gayle won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance the following year.

#69: John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John – Summer Nights
iTunes stats: 24 plays

A duet from the film Grease, it was released in August 1978 as the fourth single from the movie’s soundtrack and reached #5 on the Hot 100.

#56: Styx – Come Sail Away
iTunes stats: 39 plays

The tune, which peaked at #8 in January of 1978, was used as the walk-in music for former White Sox pitcher Chris Sale.

#54: The Trammps – Disco Inferno
iTunes stats: N/A

Originally released at the tail end of 1976, it reached the top of the Dance Club Songs charts in early 1977 but had limited mainstream success until it was re-released in 1978, after being included on Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

#39: Kansas – Dust in the Wind
iTunes stats: N/A

The band’s only single to enter the top ten in the US, the song peaked at #6 in late April of 1978.

#36: Foreigner – Hot Blooded
iTunes stats: N/A

Certified Platinum by the RIAA, the song reached #3 on the Hot 100 chart in September of 1978.

#35: Olivia Newton-John – Hopelessly Devoted to You
iTunes stats: N/A

Nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar, the single from the Grease soundtrack reached #3 on the Hot 100, #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and #20 on the country chart.

#32: ABBA – Take a Chance on Me
iTunes stats: 15 plays

The track reached #3 on the charts and was certified Gold by RIAA.

#26: Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street
iTunes stats: N/A

Known for its saxophone riff, the song first came to my attention thanks to its song parody from the Howard Stern Show.

#25: Queen – We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions
iTunes stats: 22 plays/135 plays

The A and B sides to the 1977 single, the two songs, usually played together both on the radio and in concert, peaked at #4.

#17: Billy Joel – Just the Way You Are
iTunes stats: N/A

Released in early November of 1977, the track, which earned Joel two Grammy awards, topped out at #3, becoming his first US Top 10 hit.

#13: John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – You’re the One That I Want
iTunes stats: 16 plays

The second single from the Grease soundtrack, the song reached the top of the charts and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time.

#11: Frankie Valli – Grease
iTunes stats: 18 plays

The theme from the Grease soundtrack, the song is one of four written specifically for the film and did not come from the stage production.

#10: Commodores – Three Times a Lady
iTunes stats: N/A

Often played before one of my high school religion classes, the song, written by Lionel Richie, became the group’s first #1 hit.

#4: Bee Gess – Stayin’ Alive
iTunes stats: N/A

The second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, the track spent four weeks atop the Hot 100 chart in February of 1978.

#3: Debby Boone – You Light Up My Life
iTunes stats: N/A

Recorded over a pre-existing instrumental track, the song became the biggest single of the decade, setting a new record with ten weeks at #1.

#2: Bee Gees – Night Fever
iTunes stats: N/A

Another track from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, it spent eight weeks atop the charts and thirteen weeks overall in the top 10.

 

 

by admin

iTunes Top 200: #3

itunes_image4 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.

Today, we come to our penultimate entry, with the song with the third highest total of listens, 215, since my stats began in late 2007.

#3: Steam – Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
iTunes stats: 215 plays, most recently on 10/16/2019
Previous ranking: #4

Originally written as a blues shuffle in the early 1960s, the song was recorded and released in 1969 by the then-fictitious band called Steam.  It reached #1 for two weeks in December, finishing as Billboard’s final multi-week number 1 hit of the 1960s.  The song got a second life in 1977, thanks to the South Side Hitmen and their organist, Nancy Faust.  With the White Sox hitting the cover off the ball and finding themselves in a surprising first place, Faust started playing the song after home runs.  Eventually, she also started playing it when the opposing pitcher was chased from the game.

The song became a hit once again, and Faust was awarded a RIAA gold record from Mercury Records to acknowledge her contributions.  It was a mainstay at Comiskey Park and its successors until Faust’s retirement in 2010.  Since then, the song is still performed, though not as often.  The high play total is a result of the songs inclusion on all of my White Sox victory playlists.