COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

but some artists like Billy Joel, but no George Michael?

I don't know what country you're in, but Billy Joel was a big act the USA since the 1970s. George Michael only had one album in the 1980s, Billy had several. Even if you count Wham!, only Make It Big was a big thing here. Music From The Edge Of Heaven did ok, but Fantastic was not a big album in the states. So that's 2 albums compared to Billy's 5 or 6. Def Leppard & Bon Jovi was bigger than George Michael as far as sales go.

Billy Joel was huge. Some of his best stuff like The Stranger came out in the 70s. In fact, most of the acts listed already had hit songs in the 70s.

Comser said:

it's the Hot 100 Singles....

#1s = 100 pts for first week, plus 10 pts for each add week at #1

#2s = 90 pts for first week, plus 5 pts for each add week at #2

#3s = 80 pts for first week, plus 3 pts for each add week at #3

#4-5 = 70 pts

#6-10 = 60 pts

(so on and so forth....)

sadly Bruce is #26 on the list.....

11. Kool & The Gang (1379)

12. Kenny Rogers (1363)

13. Huey Lewis & The News (1358)

14. Sheena Easton (1293)

15. Whitney Houston (1245)

16. Pointer Sisters (1235)

17. Stevie Wonder (1224)

18. Diana Ross (1216)

19. Duran Duran (1213)

20. Journey (1193)

21. Chicago (1151)

22. Rick Springfield (1150)

23. Rod Stewart (1121)

24. Bon Jovi (1089)

25. Olivia Newton-John (1088)

26. Bruce Springsteen (1079)

27. Starship (1075)

28. Paul McCartney (1069)

29. Air Supply (1050)

30. Kenny Loggins (1046)

31. Bob Seger (1045)

32. Pat Benatar (1027)

33. Cyndi Lauper (1014)

34. REO Speedwagon (1011)

35. Billy Ocean (1011)

36. Survivor (1007)

37. Heart (991)

38. Genesis (980)

39. Tina Turner (973)

40. Steve Winwood (965)

41. Gloria Estefan (949)

42. Kim Carnes (936)

43. Van Halen (930)

44. Donna Summer (880)

45. Foreigner (880)

46. Bryan Adams (879)

47. Culture Club (852)

48. The Rolling Stones (834)

49. The Police (827)

50. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (820)

(yes I had time on my hands...lol)

Comser said:

MotownSubdivision said:

No Bruce Springsteen? How did they calculate these points?

Other than with the Born In The USA album, Bruce wasn't really a huge Top 40 act. Some acts are more popular with albums like Led Zeppelin & Pink Floyd, some with singles like The Supremes, and others with both like Lionel Richie & Phil Collins.

MickyDolenz said:

MotownSubdivision said:

No Bruce Springsteen? How did they calculate these points?

Other than with the Born In The USA album, Bruce wasn't really a huge Top 40 act. Some acts are more popular with albums like Led Zeppelin & Pink Floyd, some with singles like The Supremes, and others with both like Lionel Richie & Phil Collins.

That's true, but he was huge in the 80s with Born In The USA. Although, I think his best work came before then.

Comser said:

Madonna - 2014 pts (damn 'Into The Groove' would've put her over the top if it was released)

As I recall.Warners didn't want "Into The Groove" released as a single because they felt it would compete with her then-current single "Angel" It got a tremendous amout of airplay regardless.At around the same time,her song "Crazy For You" was also doing some damage on the charts.1985 was truly her year! You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing one of her songs.

SoulAlive said:

Comser said:

Madonna - 2014 pts (damn 'Into The Groove' would've put her over the top if it was released)

As I recall.Warners didn't want "Into The Groove" released as a single because they felt it would compete with her then-current single "Angel" It got a tremendous amout of airplay regardless.At around the same time,her song "Crazy For You" was also doing some damage on the charts.1985 was truly her year! You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing one of her songs.

I was crazy for Into The Groove in 85.

oh, it's just a list of chart music

The 80's were the last era that you had artists that were selling singles (selling them not just about airplay) and also selling albums too, while touring. The 90's when soundscan crept in it was ALL about the album sales and NOT releasing physical singles because it was viewed as a "competition" to selling your record. Granted you still had a few that could do it like Mariah, but singles were vanishing really quick as it became all about Airplay and selling an album. NOW its really about nothing, because you can release 5 singles before an album is out, and then when the album is out no one really buys a full length they can grab any song they want, so you still have the artists from that LAST era like the 80's that still sell full albums, I mean Bruce and Jovi can debut at number one and you never know a song from that album no videos no airplay anymore and this is why you have that HUGE seperation between selling albums and singles and also who sells tickets to shows. I mean U2 is going to have the biggest tour, while top acts of today cant even sell 1/4 of the venues they play, so it really is telling when you see a list of (points) like that from the 80's and remember that alot of that day was about SALES now it is not, so i cant compare Michael and Prince selling actual physical things as opposed to Drake and Nikki streaming shit. Sorry it is just not the same and to PUT those artists into conversations with the likes of Madonna and Michael and Prince is just shows that people just do not get the difference and there is no comparison.

purplethunder3121 said:

SoulAlive said:

As I recall.Warners didn't want "Into The Groove" released as a single because they felt it would compete with her then-current single "Angel" It got a tremendous amout of airplay regardless.At around the same time,her song "Crazy For You" was also doing some damage on the charts.1985 was truly her year! You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing one of her songs.

I was crazy for Into The Groove in 85.

Me too, it's my favourite Madonna song. Loved Desperately Seeking Susan but the film Who's That Girl was really bad.

Into the groove WAS a single, wasn't it?? It was not on the album, there was a video, so that must have a single.?

edit found it, i have it

[Edited 6/2/17 6:11am]

I guess these would be my Top-10 "artists" (not including jazz, etc.) of the 1980s, based on what they did in the 80s (i.e., ignoring whatever they did, if anything, before 1980 and after 1989):

1. U2

2. Prince

3. The Police (3 albums) + Sting (2 albums + 1 live)

4. The Stone Roses (1 album in 1989, but maybe the best one of the whole decade)

5. R.E.M. (5 'indie' albums + 1 for Warners)

6. The Smiths

7. Yazoo (only 2 albums, but good ones and major synth-influence in the UK)

8. Bruce Springsteen (I don't like The River, but the other three in the 80s I really like... amazing unreleased songs, too)

9. The Housemartins (2 albums) + The Beautiful South (1st album)

10. The Bangles (1 great debut, and then 2 pretty-good hit albums... but I like them a lot)

Honorable Mentions:

New Order

The Grapes of Wrath (Canadian folk-pop band)

A-ha

Depeche Mode

I might add The Clash if London Calling counts (released in '79 in the UK and '80 in North America). I quite like Gladys Knight and the Pips' early-80s stuff, and also Gladys solo, but not quite enough to make my list. They're total nerds but I guess Tears for Fears' three 80s' records are all pretty good, but they're just not one of my real favorites.

This was hard. A lot of 80's artists I like emerged toward the end of the decade and then did most of their stuff in the '90s (Sinead O'Connor; Indigo Girls). For example, Depeche Mode, which I really like, span the whole 80s' decade, but their two best albums are released in 1990 and 1993, so... 80s or 90s? U2 and Prince stand tall as the two I really, really like whose best work was almost entirely framed in the 80s (more so in Prince's case). I think this would be easier for the 60s, 70s, and 90s.

[Edited 6/3/17 6:10am]

ThePanther said:

I guess these would be my Top-10 "artists" (not including jazz, etc.) of the 1980s, based on what they did in the 80s (i.e., ignoring whatever they did, if anything, before 1980 and after 1989):

1. U2

2. Prince

3. The Police (3 albums) + Sting (2 albums + 1 live)

4. The Stone Roses (1 album in 1989, but maybe the best one of the whole decade)

5. R.E.M. (5 'indie' albums + 1 for Warners)

6. The Smiths

7. Yazoo (only 2 albums, but good ones and major synth-influence in the UK)

8. Bruce Springsteen (I don't like The River, but the other three in the 80s I really like... amazing unreleased songs, too)

9. The Housemartins (2 albums) + The Beautiful South (1st album)

10. The Bangles (1 great debut, and then 2 pretty-good hit albums... but I like them a lot)

Honorable Mentions:

New Order

The Grapes of Wrath (Canadian folk-pop band)

A-ha

Depeche Mode

I might add The Clash if London Calling counts (released in '79 in the UK and '80 in North America). I quite like Gladys Knight and the Pips' early-80s stuff, and also Gladys solo, but not quite enough to make my list. They're total nerds but I guess Tears for Fears' three 80s' records are all pretty good, but they're just not one of my real favorites.

This was hard. A lot of 80's artists I like emerged toward the end of the decade and then did most of their stuff in the '90s (Sinead O'Connor; Indigo Girls). For example, Depeche Mode, which I really like, span the whole 80s' decade, but their two best albums are released in 1990 and 1993, so... 80s or 90s? U2 and Prince stand tall as the two I really, really like whose best work was almost entirely framed in the 80s (more so in Prince's case). I think this would be easier for the 60s, 70s, and 90s.

[Edited 6/3/17 6:10am]

Mine would be:

1. Prince

2. The Cure

3. Beastie Boys

4. Sigue Sigue Sputnik

5. Erasure

6. Eurythmics

7. R.E.M.

8. New Order

9. Duran Duran

10. U2

TheFman said:

Into the groove WAS a single, wasn't it?? It was not on the album, there was a video, so that must have a single.?

It appeared on the B-side of Madonna's "Angel" 12",but it wasn't a single on its own,which means it was ineligible to chart on the Billboard Top 100 or Hot Singles chart.Yeah I know that's insane This would have been an easy Number One for her.

ThePanther said:

A-ha seems to be fairly well liked around her despite being a pretty boy pop band.

They're actually more of a alternative-pop band. A lot of their best stuff is in the 90s/00s.

My favorite songs:

1980s:
- Hunting High & Low

- The Sun Always Shines on TV (this hit #1 in the UK)

- Scoundrel Days

- Stay on these Roads

1990s:

- Crying in the Rain (Everly Brothers' cover -- fantastic!)

- Slender Frame

- Angel in the Snow

- Dark is the Night for All (this sounds exactly like U2)

- Shapes that go Together

2000s:

- Minor Earth, Major Sky

- Summer Moved On

- Velvet

Morten Harket's solo stuff is sometimes interesting. The two best songs might be:

- Spanish Steps

- Brother (this is one of the more powerful songs I've heard in many years)

Hey, they are the artists who played to the largest playing audience in music history (198.000 people in Brazil).