First full week of September, summer officially in the rearview and the radio switching into a different gear. The songs at the top of the chart now were the ones that would carry you into fall, the records that stopped being about the beach and started being about everything else. Here is what was number one the week of September 7 in each year of the 1980s.
The number one song the week of September 7, 1984 was "What's Love Got to Do with It" by Tina Turner, the comeback single that gave her a first solo number one at 44 and became one of the greatest resurrections in pop history. It topped the chart that week during a three-week run. Across the decade this same week ranged from Diana Ross to Guns N' Roses to New Kids on the Block.
1980 to 1983
Diana Ross opened September 1980 at number one with "Upside Down," the shimmering dance record written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, and it held the top for four weeks.
In 1981 Ross was back on top in a different pairing, still riding "Endless Love" with Lionel Richie. September 1982 belonged to the Steve Miller Band and "Abracadabra," and in 1983 the week went to Michael Sembello and "Maniac," the second number one to come out of the "Flashdance" soundtrack that year.
1984 to 1986
Tina Turner ruled the first week of September 1984 with "What's Love Got to Do with It," the single that rewrote her whole story and went on to win the Grammy for Record of the Year, a staggering result for an artist most of the industry had written off a few years earlier. The week of September 7, 1985 belonged to John Parr and "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," the David Foster co-write from the Brat Pack film, its subtitle a nod to the Man in Motion world tour of wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen. And in 1986 the top went to Bananarama and their cover of "Venus," a remake of Shocking Blue's 1970 number one that made the same song a chart-topper for two different acts sixteen years apart.
1987 to 1989
Los Lobos held the first week of September 1987 with "La Bamba," deep in its three-week run. In 1988 the week belonged to Guns N' Roses and "Sweet Child o' Mine," the only number one the band would ever score and the softest, most melodic moment on an otherwise ferocious debut album, "Appetite for Destruction," which had been slowly climbing for over a year before the single broke it wide open. And in September 1989, New Kids on the Block reached the top with "Hangin' Tough," the title track that turned five kids from Boston into the biggest teen act in the country and one of the defining pop phenomena of the decade's final years.
The honest bottom line
The first week of September is the chart's changing of the guard. Summer's giants are fading and the fall's new order is moving in, which is why this week can hold Tina Turner's comeback, a Chic-produced Diana Ross groove, and a Guns N' Roses power ballad without any of them feeling like they belong to the same world. That is the honest charm of pinning one week across ten years. You do not get a genre. You get a snapshot of pop radio caught mid-turn, every single year.
FAQ
What song was number one on September 7, 1984? "What's Love Got to Do with It" by Tina Turner, her first solo number one, which held the top for three weeks in the late summer of 1984.
What Guns N' Roses song was number one? "Sweet Child o' Mine," which reached number one in September 1988, was the only Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper of the band's career.
Was Venus by Bananarama a cover? Yes. "Venus" was originally a 1970 number one for the Dutch band Shocking Blue. Bananarama's 1986 version took the same song back to number one.
Who produced Upside Down by Diana Ross? "Upside Down" was written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, and it spent four weeks at number one in September 1980.
What New Kids on the Block song hit number one in 1989? "Hangin' Tough," the title track from their breakthrough album, reached number one the week of September 9, 1989.
What movie was St. Elmo's Fire from? "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" by John Parr was the theme from the 1985 Brat Pack film "St. Elmo's Fire," and it reached number one the week of September 7, 1985.
A week rebuilt from primary charts, like every week here.
Part of This Week in 80s Music. Next: the week of September 14.