Pop music is widely known as being aimed at 12-year-olds. Here’s your chance to share what songs were in the top five when you turned that age. I turned 12 in March of 1981 and here’s what was hot here in the US:
The Best of Times - Styx
Keep On Loving You - REO Speedwagon
Woman - John Lennon
9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
I Love a Rainy Night - Eddie Rabbit
September 1973
1 Delta Dawn by Helen Reddy
2 Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose
Tony Orlando
4* Brother Louie*
Stories
Not bad, I s’pose. Two absolutely terrific songs (nos. 3 and 5), one charmingly saccharine power ballad (number 2), and two songs that are utter dreck.
August 1975
I turned 12 on August 21, 1980. The top 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 that week were:
I actually like all of these pretty well. The ages of 11-16 are my peak years for listening to and enjoying Top 40 pop music. Once I got a car and put a tape deck in it, I started to listening to other stuff and pretty much lost touch.
July 1982
“Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
“Rosanna” – Toto
“Hurts So Good” – John Cougar
“Hold Me” – Fleetwood Mac
“Let It Whip” – Dazz Band
I’m sure I liked all of these at the time, since I don’t hate them even now.
Billboard top five singles for the week of May 9th, 1981 (my birthday is actually the 12th):
“Morning Train (Nine to Five)” (Sheena Easton)
“Just the Two of Us” (Grover Washington Jr & Bill Withers)
“Being with You” (Smokey Robinson)
“Angel of the Morning” (Juice Newton)
“Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes)
I dunno, I don’t think any of those songs are particularly aimed at 12 year old demographics.
First week of July, 1979… good g-d, the humanity.
1 Bad Girls - Donna Summer
2 Ring My Bell - Anita Ward
3 She Believes In Me - Kenny Rogers
4 Chuck E.'s In Love - Rickie Lee Jones
5 We Are Family - Sister Sledge
November 1962
He’s A Rebel
The Crystals
Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)
The Contours
Monster Mash
Bobby Boris Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers
All Alone Am I
Brenda Lee
Only Love Can Break A Heart
Gene Pitney
I know them, and they were okay, but I really didn’t get into music until a couple of years later with the Beatles.
February 1973
1 CROCODILE ROCK –•– Elton John
2 YOU’RE SO VAIN –•– Carly Simon
3 OH, BABE, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY –•– Hurricane Smith
4 DUELING BANJOS –•– Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel
5 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG –•– Roberta Flack
Nothing really good, but at least there’s nothing as bad as the #1 single the day I was born (“Calcutta” by Lawrence Welk!)
5: NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN – THE MOODY BLUES
4: EVERYBODY PLAYS THE FOOL – THE MAIN INGREDIENT
3: BURNING LOVE – ELVIS PRESLEY
2: USE ME – BILL WITHERS
1: MY DING-A-LING – CHUCK BERRY
OK, there is only one good song here (#5). #10 was “Go All The Way” by the Raspberries, so the week (10/21/72) wasn’t that bad, I guess.
OK, my Google-fu is really sucking here. I can get lists of all songs that hit #1, or were in the top 10, or were in the top 40 at some time during 1966, but I can’t get the top 5 or 10 or 40 by week. What’s the secret?
April 15, 1972
In the UK in March 1969:
Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Englebert Humperdinck - The Way It Used To Be
Cilla Black - Surround Yourself With Sorrow
Dean Martin - Gentle On My Mind
I don’t think I would knowingly choose to listen to any of these ever ever again, except the Marvin Gaye (although I prefer the Credence version)
I’d love to tell you, but I have no idea where you guys are finding these charts - I’ve Googled every combination of Billboard charts and the month and year I was born, and can’t find anything other than lists for the #1 song for every week or the top songs 100 songs for the whole year.
Try this page
(For the Uk I just googled charts march 1969 and it was the first hit!)
Carl Douglas
Kung Fu Fighting
Spooky & Sue
Swinging On A Star
De Strangers
Schele Vanderlinde
Donny & Marie Osmond
I’m Leaving It (All) Up To You
George McCrae
I Can’t Leave You Alone
Only the first one is familiar.
(Belgium - November 1974)
Oh dear god… I can see why I transistioned to AOR so early. I thought it my older sister’s influence, but geez.
From January 1978…
On the plus side, Queen’s still fresh and not-yet-overplayed-to-death We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions was #6 that week.
This will get you to the archives for my year. From there you can navigate to the Top 10 for the year and week you want
The week of September 7, 1985
#5 - Bob Lind, “Elusive Butterfly.” I won’t claim it’s the greatest song ever written, but it’s always been a personal favorite of mine.
#4 - The Mamas and the Papas, "California Dreamin’. A really fine song that (IMHO, at least) has held up very well over the decades.
#3 - Herman’s Hermits, “Listen People.” I was a big Hermits fan back then, but even at the time, my feeling was that this song left a bit to be desired.
#2 - Nancy Sinatra, “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” Still iconic after all these years.
#1 - Barry Sadler, “The Ballad of the Green Berets.” Gah.