1sotrue said:

Before Madonna Janet or Whitney became huge pop stars in the mid 80s. We seemed to forget about the female pop singers of the early 80s. Im curious to know your thoughts of was the most popular before MTV circa 1980 to 1983

My pick

Olivia Newton-John

Pat Benatar

Sheena Easton

Joan Jett

Irene Cara

You can also added.....

Donna Summer

Diana Ross

Deborah Harry (Blondie)

Crystal Gayle

Juice Newton

Evelyn "Champagne" King

[Edited 11/2/11 13:30pm]

musicjunky318 said:

sosgemini said:

Guitly owns Physical but Physical (the single) owned anything released from Guilty. Hmmm...

She not only had Guilty but she also had Memories in 1981. Streisand's sales dwarf hers.

[Edited 11/2/11 8:55am]

I agree with you sales wise Babs "wins", and she was very popular in general, but as has been said, her audience was with adults only really. It's like saying Garth Brooks was more popular in 1991 then Michael Jackson and Nirvana, because his album easily outsold both "Dangerous" and "Nevermind" in the US. But does anyone still care? Was his album culterally important or popular with anyone but adult country fans? Probably not.....

So in general, I would say in the US (which is what Iam presume we are talking about), I would say in the early 80's, I would put Olivia and Pat infront of Babs. Striesand was not a singles artist either, so theres that to consider.

it was somebody boring

Thanks Tony

I can't believe we all forgot Debbie Harry...

Okay, if we are only dealing with 80-83 then it ain't Blondie. Blondie album sales peaked in 78-79. They did have hit songs thought. Here's the 411:

Blondie's next single, the Grammy-nominated "Call Me" was the result of Deborah Harry's collaboration with the Italian songwriter and producer Giorgio Moroder, who had been responsible for Donna Summer's biggest hits. This track was not included on any Blondie studio album; rather, it was the title theme of the soundtrack for the film American Gigolo. Released in February 1980, "Call Me" spent six consecutive weeks at #1 in the U.S. and Canada, reached #1 in the U.K. and became a hit throughout the world. The song is the band's biggest selling single in the U.S.^{[citation needed]} (over a million copies sold - gold status) and was Billboard magazine's #1 single of 1980.^{[citation needed]}

In November 1980, Blondie's fifth studio album, Autoamerican (Australia, #8, UK #3, US #7) was released and contained two more #1 US hits: the reggae-styled "The Tide Is High", a cover version of a 1967 song by The Paragons, and the rap-flavored "Rapture", which was one of the earliest songs containing elements of rap vocals to reach number one in the U.S., sweeping the world by storm. "Rapture" would be the band's only single to achieve a higher chart position on the U.S. charts than in the UK, where it peaked at #5. Autoamerican was a departure from previous Blondie records, featuring less New Wave and rock in favor of stylistic experiments, including acoustic jazz: "Faces", and from an early Broadway show, "Camelot", came "Follow Me". As the title somewhat suggested, a recurring general theme of the album was the car as a subject; obvious for example in the song "T-Birds", referring to the Ford Thunderbird, and Harry's spoken intro after the first instrumental track, "Europa". Autoamerican was, however, not generally well-received by critics.

In October 1981, Chrysalis Records released The Best of Blondie (Australia #1, UK #4, US #30), the group's first greatest hits compilation.

I guess Autoamerica didn't even go gold? That's odd, when Parallel Lines sold 20 million in 78.

Harry released Koko in 81 and the band released Hunter but both were flops and the band broke up. It looks like, once you look at the data (the same way with Donna Summers and Diana Ross), their sales just don't justify them being the biggest compared to Babs and Lauper (during this timeperiod).

Olivia Newton-John was HUGELY popular in the early 80's. Even though her movie, Xanadu, flopped at the box office, the soundtrack was a big hit and gave her three more hit singles. Olivia - Physical - was a multi-media phenomenon. It was one of the first music video-long forms available. There was "Physical" the single, album, video, video-album and ABC-TV special which aired in February of 1982. In late 1982 Olivia went on a hugely successful tour of the US which wrapped up in the spring of 1983. HBO taped one of the concerts and aired it for what seemed like forever during 1983-84. Here is a re-cap of some of Olivia's big hits in the 80's.

"Magic" (1980)

"Xanadu" (1980)

"Suddenly" (1981)

"Physical" (1981)

"Make A Move On Me" (1982)

"Heart Attack" (1982)

"Twist of Fate" (1984)

"Soul Kiss" (1985)

Wowugotit said:

Olivia Newton-John was HUGELY popular in the early 80's. Even though her movie, Xanadu, flopped at the box office, the soundtrack was a big hit and gave her three more hit singles. Olivia - Physical - was a multi-media phenomenon. It was one of the first music video-long forms available. There was "Physical" the single, album, video, video-album and ABC-TV special which aired in February of 1982. In late 1982 Olivia went on a hugely successful tour of the US which wrapped up in the spring of 1983. HBO taped one of the concerts and aired it for what seemed like forever during 1983-84. Here is a re-cap of some of Olivia's big hits in the 80's.

"Magic" (1980)

"Xanadu" (1980)

"Suddenly" (1981)

"Physical" (1981)

"Make A Move On Me" (1982)

"Heart Attack" (1982)

"Twist of Fate" (1984)

"Soul Kiss" (1985)

Yes Olivia Newton-John was that's why to me she outshined Deborah Harry. Deborah Harry I'll always associate with Blondie the band not as a solo singer though people knew who she was. As someone mention here Barbara Streisand was just as popular but in the adult-comtemporary category.

If I was to take a guess who was more popular to teens and young adult demographic Olivia Newton-John was the 'it' girl. Her song 'Physical' tied in with the fitness craze( I thought the song was about exercise as a kid) of the early 80s and she had a good girl image. I believed she peaked at 1983.