My Top 100 Singles of 1988
I already did the 1988 albums list, so here's the counterpart, and a Spotify playlist of all 100 songs.
1. Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - "It Takes Two"
2. Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine"
3. New Edition - "If It Isn't Love"
4. INXS - "New Sensation"
5. Living Colour - "Cult Of Personality"
6. Big Daddy Kane - "Ain't No Half-Steppin'"
7. The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"
8. Tracy Chapman - "Fast Car"
9. N.W.A. - "Straight Outta Compton"
10. Public Enemy - "Bring The Noise"
11. Steve Winwood - "Roll With It"
12. The Ramones - "I Wanna Be Sedated"
13. Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song"
14. Guns N' Roses - "Welcome To The Jungle"
15. Sonic Youth - "Teenage Riot"
16. They Might Be Giants - "Ana Ng"
17. INXS - "Never Tear Us Apart"
18. Michael Jackson - "Smooth Criminal"
19. Traveling Wilburys - "Handle With Care"
20. Biz Markie - "Vapors"
21. The Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl"
22. Lita Ford - "Kiss Me Deadly"
23. E.U. - "Da Butt"
24. Rick Astley - "Never Gonna Give You Up"
25. Def Leppard - "Hysteria"
26. Eric B. & Rakim - "Microphone Fiend"
27. Run-DMC - "Run's House"
28. Terence Trent D'Arby - "Wishing Well"
29. George Michael - "Father Figure"
30. Bobby Brown - "Don't Be Cruel"
31. Cheap Trick - "Don't Be Cruel"
32. Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine - "1-2-3"
33. R.E.M. - "Orange Crush"
34. Information Society - "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)"
35. Midnight Oil - "Beds Are Burning"
36. INXS - "Devil Inside"
37. Jane's Addiction - "Jane Says"
38. Def Leppard - "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
39. The Sugarcubes - "Birthday"
40. Aerosmith - "Rag Doll"
41. Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Peek-a-Boo"
42. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "Parents Just Don't Understand"
43. U2 - "Desire"
44. Sir Mix-A-Lot - "Posse On Broadway"
45. Public Enemy - "Don't Believe The Hype"
46. Eric B. & Rakim - "Follow The Leader"
47. Tracy Chapman - "Baby Can I Hold You"
48. The Deele - "Two Occasions"
49. Van Halen - "Finish What Ya Started"
50. The Escape Club - "Wild, Wild West"
51. Robert Palmer - "Simply Irresistible"
52. George Michael - "Monkey"
53. Poison - "Nothin' But A Good Time"
54. Michael Jackson - "Man In The Mirror"
55. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Fat"
56. Kix - "Cold Blood"
57. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "Brand New Funk"
58. Rod Stewart - "Forever Young"
59. Stetsasonic - "Sally"
60. J.J. Fad - "Supersonic"
61. L'Trimm - "Cars That Go Boom"
62. EPMD - "You Gots To Chill"
63. Little Feat - "Let It Roll"
64. LL Cool J - "Going Back To Cali"
65. Prince - "I Wish U Heaven"
66. Sting - "Englishman In New York"
67. Aerosmith - "Angel"
68. Bobby McFerrin - "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
69. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "A Nightmare On My Street"
70. Bruce Springsteen - "One Step Up"
71. Pebbles - "Girlfriend"
72. The Bangles - "In Your Room"
73. Run-DMC - "I'm Not Going Out Like That"
74. Elton John - "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That"
75. Def Leppard - "Armageddon It"
76. The Cure - "Hot Hot Hot!!!"
77. Anita Baker - "Giving You The Best That I Got"
78. Johnny Hates Jazz - "Shattered Dreams"
79. Slick Rick - "Teenage Love"
80. New Edition - "Can You Stand The Rain"
81. Jane Wiedlin - "Rush Hour"
82. Taylor Dayne - "Tell It To My Heart"
83. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - "I Hate Myself For Loving You"
84. Little Feat - "Hate To Lose Your Lovin'"
85. Neil Young - "This Note's For You"
86. Daryl Hall & John Oates - "Downtown Life"
87. Al B. Sure! - "Nite And Day"
88. R.E.M. - "Finest Worksong"
89. David Lee Roth - "Just Like Paradise"
90. Billy Ocean - "Get Out Of My Dreams, Get Into My Car"
91. Prince - "Alphabet St."
92. Def Leppard - "Love Bites"
93. Sade - "Love Is Stronger Than Pride"
94. Rick Astley - "Together Forever"
95. The Beach Boys - "Kokomo"
96. Kim Wilde - "You Came"
97. Pet Shop Boys - "Always On My Mind"
98. Kylie Minogue - "The Loco-Motion"
99. Phil Collins - "A Groovy Kind Of Love"
100. Cheap Trick - "The Flame"
With lists of albums, I go strictly by year of release, whereas with singles I go with the more ambiguous "year of impact" (chart peaks, etc.). One editorial judgment call I made was with "I Wanna Be Sedated," which The Ramones released as a Road To Ruin album track and "She's The One" B-side in 1978, then an A-side in the Netherlands in 1979, then an A-side in America for the Times Square soundtrack in 1980, and then finally shot the video for the song in 1988 when it appeared on the Ramones Mania soundtrack. I didn't know anything about the Ramones as a kid in the '80s to say whether the song was really prominent before Ramones Mania, but that seems to be the real starting point of it becoming one of the band's most famous songs, so I went with '88.
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