80s Pop Songs

How this sound was built

25 essential tracks

Listed in release order. Tap a title to play it, or play all 25 in a row.

1. 1. Physical — Olivia Newton-John (1981)

   Ten weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, the longest run at the top of the decade. Olivia Newton-John traded her country-pop image for a headband and a gym, and the video turned the aerobics craze into pop culture. Billboard ranked it the biggest single of 1982.

2. 2. Mickey — Toni Basil (1981)

   A cheerleader chant set to a pounding beat, with Toni Basil choreographing and directing her own video in a real cheerleading uniform. It took a while to catch on in America, then hit No. 1 in December 1982. It is the definition of an 80s earworm.

3. 3. 1999 — Prince (1982)

   Prince's party song for the end of the world stalled at No. 44 on its first release. When MTV started playing "Little Red Corvette", "1999" was reissued and climbed to No. 12. Its Linn drum machine and shared lead vocals became the template for the Minneapolis sound.

4. 4. Girls Just Want to Have Fun — Cyndi Lauper (1983)

   Robert Hazard wrote it from a man's point of view. Cyndi Lauper rewrote it as an anthem about girls wanting the same freedom as everyone else. The joyful, homemade-looking video made her a star, and the song reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in early 1984.

5. 5. All Night Long (All Night) — Lionel Richie (1983)

   Lionel Richie mixed Caribbean rhythms and a made-up chant into the decade's great party song. It spent four weeks at No. 1, and he performed it at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in front of a worldwide television audience.

6. 6. Say Say Say — Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (1983)

   The second McCartney and Jackson duet after "The Girl Is Mine", and the bigger hit: six weeks at No. 1 at the end of 1983. The video casts the two as travelling con men selling a miracle potion, with Linda McCartney along for the ride.

7. 7. Holiday — Madonna (1983)

   Madonna's first Top 20 hit, a simple, bubbly dance track written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens. It reached No. 16 in the US and made her a club star before MTV turned her into the biggest woman in pop.

8. 8. 99 Luftballons — Nena (1983)

   A German-language protest song about balloons that set off a war, sung over a bright new wave beat. It topped the chart in West Germany and reached No. 2 in the US in 1984, one of the very few foreign-language hits of the decade there.

9. 9. What's Love Got to Do with It — Tina Turner (1984)

   The comeback of the decade. Tina Turner was 44 when this cool, grown-up song reached No. 1, her first chart-topper as a solo artist. It won the Grammy for Record of the Year, and her album Private Dancer went on to sell millions.

10. 10. Careless Whisper — George Michael (1984)

    George Michael wrote it with Andrew Ridgeley when they were teenagers, long before Wham! broke big. That saxophone line is one of the most recognizable in pop. It went to No. 1 in the UK in 1984 and in the US in 1985.

11. 11. Material Girl — Madonna (1985)

    Madonna restaged Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" number for the video, and the title became her nickname for years. It reached No. 2 in early 1985, while Like a Virgin was on its way to selling millions in the US.

12. 12. Sussudio — Phil Collins (1985)

    Phil Collins built the song around a made-up word he improvised over a drum machine and never replaced. With the Phenix Horns punching the rhythm, it went to No. 1 in 1985, from No Jacket Required, one of the biggest albums of the year.

13. 13. How Will I Know — Whitney Houston (1985)

    Written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam and first offered to Janet Jackson, who passed. Whitney Houston's version became her second straight No. 1 in early 1986, and its colourful video made her an MTV fixture. It is still one of the most joyful dance-pop records of the decade.

14. 14. Kiss — Prince (1986)

    Prince first gave the song to the band Mazarati, then took it back and stripped it down to a drum machine, a guitar scratch and his falsetto. The bare-bones result went to No. 1 in 1986 and proved that less could be more.

15. 15. Papa Don't Preach — Madonna (1986)

    A teenage girl tells her father she is pregnant and keeping the baby. The story caused a huge argument in 1986, and the song went to No. 1 anyway. Its string introduction showed a more serious Madonna on the album True Blue.

16. 16. Walk Like an Egyptian — The Bangles (1986)

    Written by Liam Sternberg, with three different Bangles singing lead on the verses. It spent four weeks at No. 1 and finished as Billboard's top single of 1987. The sideways dance from the video was copied at every school dance in the country.

17. 17. Nasty — Janet Jackson (1986)

    Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis built a hard, clanging track that sounds nothing like her brother's records. The line about her first name became a catchphrase, and the song reached No. 3. Control made her a star in her own right.

18. 18. True Colors — Cyndi Lauper (1986)

    Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly wrote it, and Cyndi Lauper slowed it right down to an intimate near-whisper. It went to No. 1 in 1986 and became an anthem of acceptance that is still sung decades later. Her gentle vocal over a sparse arrangement is the opposite of her loud early hits.

19. 19. Faith — George Michael (1987)

    A church organ, a strummed guitar and a Bo Diddley beat, plus leather jacket and jeans in the video. It spent four weeks at No. 1 and was Billboard's top single of 1988. The album Faith won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

20. 20. I Think We're Alone Now — Tiffany (1987)

    A cover of the 1967 Tommy James hit, sung by a 15-year-old Tiffany on a tour of shopping malls across America. The mall tour worked: the song went to No. 1 in November 1987 and started the late-80s teen pop boom.

21. 21. Never Gonna Give You Up — Rick Astley (1987)

    Stock Aitken Waterman's biggest hit. It spent five weeks at No. 1 in the UK in 1987 and reached No. 1 in the US in 1988. Decades later it found a second life as the internet's favourite prank, the "Rickroll".

22. 22. Only in My Dreams — Debbie Gibson (1987)

    Debbie Gibson wrote this debut single herself, and it reached No. 4 in 1987. A year later "Foolish Beat" made her the youngest woman to write, produce and perform a Billboard No. 1 single. She and Tiffany were rivals all through 1988.

23. 23. Man in the Mirror — Michael Jackson (1988)

    Written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard, with a gospel choir that takes over the final minutes. The video used news footage instead of Jackson himself. It was the fourth straight No. 1 from Bad, the first album to produce five No. 1 singles.

24. 24. Straight Up — Paula Abdul (1988)

    Paula Abdul was a choreographer for the Lakers cheerleaders and for Janet Jackson before she sang. "Straight Up" spent three weeks at No. 1 in 1989, helped by a black-and-white video full of her own dance moves. It was the first of six No. 1 singles she would score by 1991.

25. 25. Rhythm Nation — Janet Jackson (1989)

    Janet Jackson closed the decade with a call for unity set to an industrial funk beat. The black-and-white video, with its military-style dance routine, is one of the most copied of the era. It reached No. 2 on the Hot 100.

Where to go next

• The best 80s songs
• The 80s hits mix
• 80s love songs
• New wave and synth-pop
• 80s R&B and funk
• Build your own 80s pop playlist

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