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 1983, the year I wrapped up third grade, moved to fourth grade, saw my beloved White Sox make the postseason for the first time in my life, and turned 9. Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which placed five tracks on the year-end Hot 100, was the first pop album I ever owned. At 39 songs, nearly 40% of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only 16 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#93: Frank Stallone – Far from Over
iTunes stats: N/A
A top ten single in September 1983, this lone hit from Sylvester’s brother is more familiar to me as a song I played on the organ.
#92: Spandau Ballet – True
iTunes stats: 18 plays
Peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song was sampled for the #1 hit Set Adrift on Memory Bliss by PM Dawn in 1991.
#90: Def Leppard – Photograph
iTunes stats: 24 plays
Written about Marilyn Monroe, this first single from the band’s third album reached #12 on the charts.
#89: Michael Jackson – Human Nature
iTunes stats: N/A
The fifth single from Jackson’s smash Thriller album, it became the album’s fifth top ten hit, reaching #7.
#81: Journey – Faithfully
iTunes stats: 10 plays
Considered one of the greatest power ballads of all time, it peaked at #12 on the Hot 100.
#68: Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
iTunes stats: N/A
Hitting #5, this fourth single from Jackson’s Thriller, originally written in 1978, was the first without a video.
#56: Laura Branigan – Gloria
iTunes stats: 13 plays
Setting a new record for female solo acts with 36 weeks on the Hot 100, it made the year-end charts for both 1982 and 1983.
#53: Madness – Our House
iTunes stats: 10 plays
The first single from the group’s fourth album, it reached #7 on the charts, becoming the band’s biggest hit.
#52: The Clash – Rock the Casbah
iTunes stats: N/A
Becoming the group’s first and only top ten hit in the US, it peaked at #8 on the Hot 100.
#50: Kajagoogoo – Too Shy
iTunes stats: 10 plays
Thanks to heavy rotation on MTV, the song, the group’s only US hit, peaked at #5.