Finding 1986 Radio Non-Hot 100 Hits
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Topic: Finding 1986 Radio Non-Hot 100 Hits
Posted By: PopArchivist
Subject: Finding 1986 Radio Non-Hot 100 Hits
Date Posted: 29 December 2021 at 7:51pm
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I'm trying to put an airplay list together of huge radio hits from 1986 that never made the Hot 100. Stuff that was huge on the radio and we all thought they were Billboard Hits.
An example would be Whitney Houston's All At Once which while released in numerous other countries was never released as a single here. I remember hearing it here in New York on the radio in 1986. I know freestyle was taking off as well, I just can't find any listing or charts that would help identify these classic non-hot 100 hits. Any help is appreciated ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Replies:
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 2:57am
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Define "huge radio hit". "All At Once" got some Top 40 airplay, but not enough to chart pop in
either Radio & Records or The Gavin Report. Songs like "Into The Groove" and "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin'" were huge, but those were VERY few and far between, at least prior to the 1990s. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 3:50am
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Here's what I have for "Non-Hot 100 Charted Radio Hits" prior to 1990:
1975 - Pinball Wizard - Elton John (#9 in Radio & Records) 1978 - More Than A Woman - Bee Gees (#21 in R&R) 1979 - All My Love - Led Zeppelin (#10 in R&R) 1984 - Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' - Jermaine Jackson & Michael Jackson (#6 in R&R) 1985 - Into The Groove - Madonna (#6 in R&R) 1987 - Never Say Goodbye - Bon Jovi (#28 in Billboard (Hot 100 Airplay) & #35 in R&R) 1987 - Edge Of A Broken Heart - Bon Jovi (#38 in Billboard & #39 in R&R) 1988 - Spotlight - Madonna (#32 in Billboard & #31 in R&R) I'm currently working on The Gavin Report and have found more, including some prior to when R&R started in 1973. But as you can see, it's overall a pretty small list. |
Posted By: Michaeldila
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 3:51am
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I was very surprised to learn that "All At Once" never charted, as it
seemed to be on near-constant rotation on Z-100 and WPLJ... |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 4:42am
"All At Once" did manage to make it to #23 A/C in Radio & Records. It got some CHR airplay as well, just not enough on a national scale to make the Top 40. |
Michaeldila wrote:Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 7:02am
Agreed, and likely limited to specific markets. Kiss 108 in Boston played a lot of stuff (often in a very heavy rotation) back in the 80s that never (or barely) charted, but few of them got played anywhere else, even in the market which tells me they were just turntable hits. |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 8:31am
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Hi People,
Please don't forget in the pre-BDS days, songs that were not worked (promoted) by the record company were oftentimes not on the reported playlist of the station to make room for a lamer cut the Promotion Label or Independent Promoter WAS working. Occasionally the record company would be vehemently against the charting of a specific cut they weren't promoting at that time. Therefore, if you remember an album cut getting played for a while on your CHR station, it was probably because it was "undeniable" to the audience (as in behaving like a top-ten record). I would welcome a list of most/all of the LP cuts from 1968 to 1990 that received regular rotation for a brief period on select Top-40 stations, even if it was compiled from people's memories only as documentation & airchecks are scant. For example, when 'Teaser And The Firecat' by Cat Stevens came out a couple of Top-40 stations in my area programmed "Bitterblue" for a while, while a friend in The Bronx told me that "Tuesday's Dead" got the extra play where he tuned in. Of course, I'm confident that "Morning Has Broken" received advanced airplay before single release in other markets, but this is just conjecture as there is little real documentation of this for reasons explained earlier in my post. Andy |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 9:11am
In compiling the Gavin Report research, I'm seeing a lot of songs that fit into this category. I would suggest perusing the charts posted at ARSA. You'll find a lot of "non Hot 100" songs there. For example, KDWB in Minneapolis was charting a lot of album cuts, especially after they went rock-leaning in 1979-80. In the late summer/early fall of 1979 they were playing the studio version of "Breakfast In America" so often, that I thought for sure it would be the third single release from Supertramp's album. Instead, we got "Take The Long Way Home." |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 10:42am
Yep, glad I am not the only one who remembers! It was played all the time on rotation in 1986 after her big #1 hits of 1985 had charted already. That one and Nice & Wild's Diamond Girl were in heavy rotation. ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 10:47am
There are plenty of classic 1960's Hits which never charted on the Hot 100 that are considered huge hits today: Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter and Beatles - Here Comes the Sun are just two examples. I do agree a list would be nice. I don't recall ever seeing one. Whitburn's mention in the 1955-2018 book of the Classic Non-Hot 100 Hits is about as close as anyone has come to including them all. That's why I posted, it would be cool to remember what people heard that never charted. 1984's Debbie Deb - Music was another big freestyle hit for example. 1985's Madonna - Into The Groove was a huge non-hot 100 hit. Stuff like that which got airplay here but were huge hits everywhere and charted in other countries! ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: Fetta
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 10:49am
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Richie,
While I can't comment nationally, I can help with songs that were played in the NY Tri-State Area in 1986 but did not chart on the Hot 100. I own all of the WPLJ Power Hit Weekly Survey's and I went through them and found the following songs made PLJ's weekly charts but did not make the Hot 100: Affection - Ta Mara & The Seen Guilty - Yarbrough & Peoples I'm Not Gonna Let - Colonel Abrams Love Can Take Us All The Way - Jack Wagner If You Should Ever Be Lonely - Val Young Sweetheart - Rainy Davis Respect The Power Of Love - Stephanie Mills All At Once - Whitney Houston Jump Back (Set Me Free) - Dhar Braxton Let's Go Mets! - Dream Team Some of these I personally remember extremely well and others I don't recall at all. I also have the Z-100 and Hot 103 Survey's but I need to dig those out. Hope this is a helpful start. -Jeff |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 11:18am
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It still seems to me you'd have to establish some sort of "minimum airplay" threshold. There are literally
thousands of songs that may have been played a few times on a few stations. If that's what you're after, then it seems like a never-ending quest. |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 11:19am
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[/QUOTE]
In compiling the Gavin Report research, I'm seeing a lot of songs that fit into this category. I would suggest perusing the charts posted at ARSA. You'll find a lot of "non Hot 100" songs there. For example, KDWB in Minneapolis was charting a lot of album cuts, especially after they went rock-leaning in 1979-80. In the late summer/early fall of 1979 they were playing the studio version of "Breakfast In America" so often, that I thought for sure it would be the third single release from Supertramp's album. Instead, we got "Take The Long Way Home."[/QUOTE] Yeah, Paul, that's exactly the type of documentation I'm looking for - I can't wait 'til your distillation of the Gavin Report comes to light if it contains this sort of info! Andy Edit to add: Something went wrong with the formatting of my quote of Paul Haney.. |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 11:28am
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To add to this great discussion, I would like to see this
thread concentrate on LP cuts that weren't conventional singles (at that time) that got a few weeks of play on your local CHR/Top-40 as opposed to regional hits that got play on your station that were 'proper" singles. Am I making any sense here? I think that is PopArchivist's goal too Andy |
Posted By: Fetta
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 11:33am
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Agreed Paul. I think it will definitely vary market by
market. That being said, as I look at just these 10 songs from '86 that WPLJ played, I remember hearing several of them constantly (I will be curious if Z100 and Hot 103 also played them....when I pull those survey's I will post). As Richie mentioned, "All At Once" was really big in NY. To this day it amazes me that it never made the Hot 100. Another one is "If You Should Ever Be Lonely". I also remember hearing that constantly. But I do agree, there is no threshold to define "huge radio hits" on a national scale. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 30 December 2021 at 12:44pm
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The Gavin Report research will include quite a few album cuts from the 1960s. One example is "Michelle" by The Beatles.
It peaked at #1 on January 7, 1966. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 31 December 2021 at 6:26am
Not to mention almost impossible to document. With the exception of Beatles songs (in a category all by themselves) and a handful of others (Monkees theme is one), it was rare for LP cuts to be listed on a station's surveys, or at least the surveys of any stations I'm familiar with. Even WRKO in Boston, which around '71-72 played quite a few album cuts, but you'd never know it going by their surveys. They were just "extras", maybe reported to the trades, maybe not. "Michelle" was a legitimate hit song, just one that for whatever reason wasn't released as a single. I NEVER heard the David & Jonathan version on the radio...I'm sure its chart position was sales from people thinking it was the Beatles using a pseudonym (D&J were also on Capitol). And, as I mentioned before, it was largely market (and sometimes station) specific. Of the songs Fetta listed as being big in NYC, the only one I might have heard on Boston radio was the Whitney Houston song, and I don't think it was on top 40. The rest are completely unfamiliar. |
Posted By: mjb50
Date Posted: 02 January 2022 at 6:29pm
| [edit:] Never mind. (I had posted about George Michael's "Hard Day" seemingly being abandoned (not getting a 45) due to the popularity of "I Want Your Sex", but I think I am mixed up about when it came out; per http://www.top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4165 - another thread , "...Sex" came first.) |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 02 January 2022 at 10:54pm
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Andrew:
You can fix the HTML by having only one QUOTE without the backslash to start and leave the one with the backslash. Then delete the one after the ..dots after Paul Haney. ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 03 January 2022 at 6:42am
Thanks! I've done it successfully before, but I got somewhat frustrated trying to correct it after I had written my response, so I let it track as is... Andy |