# Rate the #1 songs of your birthdays **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303 "2015-10-21T00:03:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/1 "2015-10-21T00:03:30Z")
[http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/numberonesongs/](http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/numberonesongs/) For my birthday, including the year I was born… > [@](#): > > Year Artist - Title Weeks at number one > > 1967 Turtles - Happy Together 3 > 1968 Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay 4 > 1969 Tommy Roe - Dizzy 4 > 1970 Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water 6 > 1971 Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) 2 > 1972 America - A Horse With No Name 3 > 1973 Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song 5 > 1974 John Denver - Sunshine on My Shoulders 1 > 1975 Minnie Riperton - Lovin’ You 1 > 1976 Johnnie Taylor - Disco Lady 4 > 1977 Hall and Oates - Rich Girl 2 > 1978 Bee Gees - Night Fever 8 > 1979 Bee Gees - Tragedy 2 > 1980 Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) 4 > 1981 Blondie - Rapture 2 > 1982 Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - I Love Rock 'n Roll 7 > 1983 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean 7 > 1984 Kenny Loggins - Footloose 3 > 1985 Phil Collins - One More Night 2 > 1986 Falco - Rock Me Amadeus 3 > 1987 Starship - Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now 2 > 1988 Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror 2 > 1989 Bangles - Eternal Flame 1 > 1990 Alannah Myles - Black Velvet 2 > 1991 Gloria Estefan - Coming Out of the Dark 2 > 1992 Vanessa Williams - Save the Best for Last 5 > 1993 Snow - Informer 7 > 1994 Ace of Base - The Sign 6 > 1995 Madonna - Take a Bow 7 > 1996 Celine Dion - Because You Loved Me 6 > 1997 Puff Daddy feat. Mase - Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down 6 > 1998 K-Ci and JoJo - All My Life 3 > 1999 Cher - Believe 4 > 2000 Destiny’s Child - Say My Name 3 > 2001 Shaggy feat. Rayvon - Angel 1 > 2002 Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule - Ain’t It Funny 6 > 2003 50 Cent - In Da Club 9 > 2004 Usher feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris - Yeah! 12 > 2005 50 Cent feat. Olivia - Candy Shop 9 > 2006 Sean Paul - Temperature 1 > 2007 Fergie feat. Ludacris - Glamorous 2 > 2008 Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love 4 > 2009 Flo Rida - Right Round 6 > 2010 Rihanna - Rude Boy 5 > 2011 Lady Gaga - Born This Way 6 > 2012 fun. feat. Janelle Monae - We Are Young 6 > 2013 Baauer - Harlem Shake 5 > 2014 Pharrell Williams - Happy 10 > 2015 Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk 14 OK, well let’s just say that there is some supreme shit on this list… so much so I wonder if I have accidentally brought upon our planet some sort of vengeance from a demon of the musical arts. I mean, it starts off OK, even a little strong with 60s classics “Happy Together” and “Dock of the Bay” to lead things off, and the Roberta Flack song is pretty… but seeing America and Tommy Roe is a portent of things to come. Then we got three years of total crap, and the only reason it doesn’t extend to four years is because I’m going through a Hall and Oates thing right now so “Rich Girl” is, temporarily at least, no longer crap. Then… holy hell, we have 3, 4, even 5 good songs over the next few years! “Night Fever”, a quintessential disco hit, “Brick in the Wall”, which was supremely cool to my 13yo self, “Rapture”, the first song to feature rapping to hit #1, “Billie Jean” (MJ’s best song), and even “I Love Rock and Roll”, a song I particularly don’t like but understand why people do. So stop right there… I got Otis, I got the Bee Gees, I got Floyd, Michael Jackson, Blondie - not a bad set if it came on the local 60s/70s/80s station, right? But then… my God, it just falls off the rails. Kenny Loggins. Phil Collins. Falco. _Starship_. Gloria Estefan. Celine. And, representing the absolute nadir of Western Civilization, Cher’s “Believe”. What the hell did I do to deserve _that_??? I mean… Christ, there was no hope after that, right? I’m sure some of those 2000’s-era songs are good, but I still see Fergie on the list and that can’t be a good sign… right? (Looks further on list, sees “Harlem Shake” paired up with “Happy”.) All right, just kill me now. This world can no longer afford any more birthdays from me. * * * So… what were the #1 songs on your birthdays? What do you think ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/2 "2015-10-21T00:11:00Z")
(Hit submit too soon. I’d blame it on the cat, but I don’t have one. Stupid cat.) Anyway… what do you think? Does your birthday have a bunch of classics on it, or is it a stain upon the arts (as mine is)? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/3 "2015-10-21T00:36:24Z")
A stain upon the arts. But I thought the first entry worked out well: > [@](#): > > 1972 – Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/4 "2015-10-21T00:52:57Z")
Let’s put it this way. Not only are my #1 songs not the best songs of the year, they aren’t even the best songs by those particular acts. Still, there are a couple of good songs from early Elvis Presley and Del Shannon’s classic “Runaway”, so it’s not a total loss. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/5 "2015-10-21T01:02:16Z")
It starts with The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You”, which normally would tip us off that it’s going to be bad. But the year after I was born, we had a good run. Sly and the Family Stone’s “Family Affair”, Temptations’ “Papa was a Rolling Stone”, then The Carpenters’ “Top of the World”. Pretty good songs, I can live with those three. After that, it’s just terrible. It eventually includes “Blame it on the Rain”. Ugh, at least I have only one birthday each year. The UK charts start promising, with Dave Edmund’s “I Hear You Knocking”, then Slade, then Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling”. After that, it performs the same type of slide. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/6 "2015-10-21T01:07:49Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Let’s put it this way. Not only are my #1 songs not the best songs of the year, they aren’t even the best songs by those particular acts. > > Still, there are a couple of good songs from early Elvis Presley and Del Shannon’s classic “Runaway”, so it’s not a total loss. Hey, I was born on Apr. 30th also. The early stuff is pretty good, Heartbreak Hotel and Witchdoctor are among my nostalgic favorites. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/7 "2015-10-21T04:24:54Z")
My birthday songs are all pretty bad, with one big exception: Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/8 "2015-10-21T04:33:38Z")
Damn, “In the Year 2525” for my first day on Earth. I hope I make it. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/9 "2015-10-21T08:31:25Z")
I picked the UK charts because it’s geographically closer to where I grew up. Some comments are included when I feel like it. “?” denotes a song that I don’t know/remember. 1974 – David Essex - Gonna Make You A Star _?_ 1975 1 David Bowie - Space Oddity _GREAT ! One of my favourite Bowie songs._ 1976 2 Chicago - If You Leave Me Now _Meh._ 1977 3 ABBA - The Name Of The Game _Far from their best._ 1978 4 Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap _?_ 1979 5 Dr Hook - When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman _?_ 1980 6 Blondie - The Tide Is High _Perhaps the only Blondie single that I can’t stand._ 1981 7 Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic _Meh again._ 1982 8 Eddy Grant - I Don’t Wanna Dance _OK song._ 1983 9 Billy Joel - Uptown Girl _Not my favourite Joel song but I have clear memories of when it came out so bonus points for nostalgia. My dad loved it._ 1984 10 Chaka Khan - I Feel For You _NO. Mid 80s dance music at it’s most annoying._ 1985 11 Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart _A song I think of once every 5 years. It’s quite good. Sharkey was everywhere for about 6 months in 1985._ 1986 12 Berlin - Take My Breath Away _Not bad. Memories again._ 1987 13 T’Pau - China In Your Hand _Another band which was everywhere then and forgotten now. I can’t say I miss them._ 1988 14 Enya - Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) _Boring._ 1989 15 Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World _I hated it at the time. Like it a little bit better now._ 1990 16 Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody _A good song that I’ve heard too often._ 1991 17 Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy _?_ 1992 18 Boyz II Men - End Of The Road _Ugh. Terrible and unescapable in 1992._ 1993 19 Meat Loaf - I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) _Way too long and so serious._ 1994 20 Pato Banton (with Robin and Ali Campbell) - Baby Come Back _?_ 1995 21 Robson and Jerome - I Believe / Up On The Roof _?_ 1996 22 Robson and Jerome - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted / Saturday Night At The Movies / You’ll Never Walk Alone _?_ 1997 23 Aqua - Barbie Girl _Goes from fun to annoying in a matter of seconds._ 1998 24 Cher - Believe _Meh again. Slightly annoying actually._ 1999 25 Geri Halliwell - Lift Me Up _?_ 2000 26 A1 - Same Old Brand New You _?_ 2001 27 Westlife - Queen of My Heart _?_ 2002 28 Westlife - Unbreakable _?_ 2003 29 Kylie Minogue - Slow _Hmmm, not bad come to think of it. Her mini-come back at the beginning of the 00s yielded some of her best songs._ 2004 30 Eminem - Just Lose It _?_ 2005 31 Westlife - You Raise Me Up _?_ 2006 32 Westlife - The Rose \*? WTF are Westlife? The name is familiar but 4 songs at #1 in 5 years, none of which rings a bell? Weird. \* 2007 33 Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love _I have vague memories of it. Forgettable._ 2008 34 The X Factor Finalists - Hero _?_ 2009 35 JLS - Everybody In Love _?_ 2010 36 Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World) _?_ 2011 37 Professor Green feat. Emeli Sande - Read All About It _?_ 2012 38 Robbie Williams - Candy _?_ 2013 39 Storm Queen - Look Right Through _?_ 2014 40 Cheryl - I Don’t Care _?_ So. Lots of songs that I completely blank on. _Space Oddity_ is the only one that I’d consider great. Another 6-7 songs are decent. The rest is really bad. Disappointing. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/10 "2015-10-21T10:35:56Z")
The first _two_ on my list are _both_ Frankie Valli! [ul] [li]For my birthyear: “My Eyes Adored You”, my most hated Frankie Valli song[/li][li]Then for my first birthday: “December 1963”, o.k., this one’s actually damned good[/li][/ul] Then, with the exception of two, count 'em _two_, appearances by REO Speedwagon, it’s a pretty good run up to my tenth birthday. Progressing from Frankie Valli, it’s [ul] [li]Streisand’s “Evergreen” (Love, soft as an easy chair…)[/li][li]Bee Gees “Night Fever”[/li][li]Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”[/li][li]Pink Floyd “Another Brick in the Wall”[/li][li]then the dreaded REO Speedwagon “Keep On Loving You”[/li][li]but we bounce back with Joan Jett “I Love Rock n Roll”[/li][li]Michael Jackson “Billie Jean”[/li][li]Van Halen “Jump”[/li][/ul] Then, for my 10th birthday, I’m treated to REO Speedwagon’s crappitude again. This time it’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”. Ugh! Then it’s hit-or-miss for the rest of my life. Snow’s “Informer” the year I graduated from highschool, Puff Daddy’s “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” the year I graduated from college. Nothing particularly memorable- in fact there are several, even from years when I listened to more popular radio, that I can not remember at all. Still, it was a relatively good first ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/11 "2015-10-21T10:39:44Z")
Not bad, early on. Couple of Everly Brothers, couple of Beatles. Number one on my 16th birthday was Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, and it was all downhill from there. “Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs. . .” ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/12 "2015-10-21T11:09:30Z")
Maybe I overlooked something? In no way can I remember music around the date of my birth. I was a baby. The only music was if my mum switched the radio on. I have no memory of that at all. My first memory of music was Nat King Cole singing Rambling Rose. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/13 "2015-10-21T12:09:41Z")
Love Me Tender by Elvis when I was born. Not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/14 "2015-10-21T14:21:43Z")
I’m pretty limited by the fact that I’m not sure I would recognize any of the tunes since 85 or so. Have to put Isaac Hayes – Theme from Shaft (1971) at the top, followed by KC and the Sunshine Band - That’s the Way I Like it (1975) and Partridge Family - I think I Love You (1970), just for nostalgic fun. Maybe also Rod the Mod’s Tonight’s the Night (1976) – really liked than album in HS. There are 3 Supremes tunes from 64-66 - Baby Love, I Hear A Symphony, and You Keep Me Hanging On. Then 4 Seasons - Big Girls Don’t Cry in 62. Wraps up the only ones I’d willingly listen to. Kind depressing how many of the dreck I still know every word/note of. Anyone else wanna Get Physical w/ me and Olivia? Kids today have NOTHING the likes of top 40 AM back then. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/15 "2015-10-21T14:25:36Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Maybe I overlooked something? > > In no way can I remember music around the date of my birth. I was a baby. The only music was if my mum switched the radio on. I have no memory of that at all. > > My first memory of music was Nat King Cole singing Rambling Rose. I don’t think you overlooked anything - the thread isn’t asking if you remember these songs, but if you consider those songs you do remember to be crap or not. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/16 "2015-10-21T14:30:22Z")
You know, **Dinsdale** , your list was looking pretty solid… until I came across this twenty-year run: > [@](#): > > 1977 Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life 10 > 1978 Donna Summer - MacArthur Park 3 > 1979 Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) 2 > 1980 Kenny Rogers - Lady 6 > 1981 Olivia Newton-John - Physical 10 > 1982 Lionel Richie - Truly 2 > 1983 Lionel Richie - All Night Long (All Night) 4 > 1984 Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 3 > 1985 Starship - We Built This City 2 > 1986 Human League - Human 1 > 1987 Billy Idol - Mony Mony 1 > 1988 Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine 2 > 1989 Milli Vanilli - Blame It On The Rain 2 > 1990 Mariah Carey - Love Takes Time 3 > 1991 Michael Bolton - When a Man Loves a Woman 1 > 1992 Heights - How Do You Talk to an Angel 2 > 1993 Meat Loaf - I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) 5 > 1994 Boyz II Men - I’ll Make Love to You 14 > 1995 Whitney Houston - Exhale (Shoop Shoop) 1 > 1996 Blackstreet - No Diggity 4 > 1997 Elton John - Candle In The Wind 1997 / Something About The Way You Look Tonight 14 Ugh. But at least you don’t have “Believe” on your list! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rate-the-1-songs-of-your-birthdays/735303/17 "2015-10-21T14:36:46Z")
Never heard of the #1 from my first birthday in 1968, _Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue_, but the next two years are fantastic, _Sly and The Family Stone - Everyday People_ and _Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water_. Other notable songs are _Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song,_ _Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive,_ _Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love_ (I even had the album, _The Game_, on cassette), _J. Geils Band - Centerfold_, _Michael Jackson - Billie Jean_. But there are some real stinkers, songs I absolutely loathe: _Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun, REO Speedwagon - Can’t Fight This Feeling, Bon Jovi - Livin’ on a Prayer, Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up, Mr. Big - To Be With You, Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On, James Blunt - You’re Beautiful, Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be_. Ughhh. Glad I didn’t listen to the radio on those birthdays. About the rest I’m quite indifferent or else I don’t know them. So my top #1 birthday song would be _Everyday People_ from 1969, and the nadir 1974’s _Seasons In The Sun_, which is even still a tad more horrible than the rest of the dreck I posted above.