My Top 100 Singles of 1989
Last week I kicked off my 1980s lists with my favorite 1989 albums, and now here's the singles for the same year. Obviously there's a lot of the same artists, although I think with singles you can get a little more variety of all the stuff that happened that year, plus I go with chart peaks rather than original release for singles lists, so there's lots of later singles from 1987 and 1988 albums on here. Here's the Spotify playlist which, like the other one, has everything on the list except 2 of the 3 De La Soul songs.
1. Slick Rick - "Children's Story"
2. The B-52s - "Love Shack"
3. Madonna - "Like A Prayer"
4. Public Enemy - "Fight The Power"
5. De La Soul - "Me, Myself & I"
6. Motley Crue - "Kickstart My Heart"
7. Tom Petty - "I Won't Back Down"
8. Guns N' Roses - "Paradise City"
9. Bobby Brown - "On Our Own"
10. Special Ed - "I Got It Made"
11. U2 - "All I Want Is You"
12. Fine Young Cannibals - "Good Thing"
13. Cowboy Junkies - "Sweet Jane"
14. Madonna - "Express Yourself"
15. N.W.A. - "Express Yourself"
16. Janet Jackson - "Rhythm Nation"
17. Metallica - "One"
18. Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down A Dream"
19. Tears For Fears f/ Oleta Adams - "Woman In Chains"
20. Kate Bush - "This Woman's Work"
21. Neil Young - "Rockin' In The Free World"
22. MC Lyte - "Cha Cha Cha"
23. EPMD - "So What Cha Sayin"
24. The Cure - "Lovesong"
25. Madonna - "Cherish"
26. Poison - "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"
27. Erasure - "A Little Respect"
28. Was (Not Was) - "Walk The Dinosaur"
29. Young M.C. - "Bust A Move"
30. Tone-Loc - "Wild Thing"
31. Tom Petty - "Free Fallin'"
32. Soul II Soul - "Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)"
33. Milli Vanilli - "Girl You Know It's True"
33. Milli Vanilli - "Girl You Know It's True"
34. Janet Jackson - "Miss You Much"
35. Public Enemy - "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos"
36. Bobby Brown - "Every Little Step"
37. New Edition - "N.E. Heart Break"
38. Michael Jackson - "Leave Me Alone"
39. George Jones - "The King Is Gone (So Are You)"
40. Van Halen - "Feels So Good"
41. Traveling Wilburys - "End Of The Line"
42. Jody Watley - "Real Love"
43. Big Daddy Kane - "Smooth Operator"
44. Kix - "Don't Close Your Eyes"
45. Motley Crue - "Dr. Feelgood"
46. Digital Underground - "Doowutchyalike"
47. Tone-Loc - "Funky Cold Medina"
48. The Bangles - "The Eternal Flame"
49. Guns N' Roses - "Patience"
50. The Ramones - "Pet Sematary"
51. Tina Turner - "The Best"
52. Bobby Brown - "My Prerogative"
53. R.E.M. - "Pop Song 89"
54. Fabulous Thunderbirds - "Powerful Stuff"
55. Too $hort - "Life Is...Too Short"
56. Paula Abdul - "Forever Your Girl"
57. De La Soul f/ Q-Tip, Phife, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and the Jungle Brothers - "Buddy (Remix)"
58. The Replacements - "I'll Be You"
59. Fine Young Cannibals - "She Drives Me Crazy"
60. Elvis Costello - "Veronica"
61. LL Cool J - "Big Ole Butt"
62. Bonnie Raitt - "Thing Called Love"
63. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Knock Me Down"
64. The Rolling Stones - "Mixed Emotions"
65. Donny Osmond - "Soldier Of Love"
66. Roy Orbison - "You Got It"
67. Todd Rundgren and Bobby Womack - "Want Of A Nail"
68. Neneh Cherry - "Buffalo Stance"
69. Aerosmith - "Love In An Elevator"
70. De La Soul - "Eye Know"
71. Tears For Fears - "Sowing The Seeds Of Love"
72. Beastie Boys - "Hey Ladies"
73. Little Feat - "One Clear Moment"
74. Belinda Carlisle - "Leave A Light On"
75. 2 Live Crew - "Me So Horny"
76. The Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)"
77. Billy Joel - "We Didn't Start The Fire"
78. Paula Abdul - "Straight Up"
79. Camper Van Beethoven - "Pictures Of Matchstick Men"
80. Great White - "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"
81. Aerosmith - "Janie's Got A Gun"
82. Prince - "Batdance"
83. Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians - "What I Am"
84. Def Leppard - "Rocket"
85. U2 - "Angel Of Harlem"
86. Queen - "I Want It All"
87. The D.O.C. - "It's Funky Enough"
88. The B-52's - "Channel Z"
89. INXS - "Mystify"
90. Pixies - "Here Comes Your Man"
91. R.E.M. - "Stand"
92. LL Cool J - "I'm That Type Of Guy"
93. Rod Stewart - "Downtown Train"
94. Aerosmith - "What It Takes"
95. Prince - "Scandalous!"
96. Mike + The Mechanics - "The Living Years"
97. Phil Collins - "Two Hearts"
98. Bette Midler - "Wind Beneath My Wings"
99. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies"
100. New Kids On The Block - "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"
My strongest musical memories of 1989 include "Love Shack," which I like just as much now as I did when I was 7, if not more, and hearing kids on the school bus sing "Paradise City" and assuming it was more of an old limerick than a currently popular rock song. A lot of this stuff is so overplayed and dated in that inevitable late '80s way, but I tried to kind of really think about how I feel about the songs and not just dismiss them the way I would if they came on the radio for the 3rd time in a week.
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