This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1984. [1]
The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, online streaming, and radio airplay in the U.S.
"When Doves Cry" is a song by American musician Prince, and the lead single from his sixth studio album Purple Rain. According to the DVD commentary of the film Purple Rain (1984), Prince was asked by director Albert Magnoli to write a song to match the theme of a particular segment of the film that involved intermingled parental difficulties and a love affair. The next morning, Prince had composed two songs, one of which was "When Doves Cry". According to Prince's biographer Per Nilsen, the song was inspired by his relationship with Vanity 6 member Susan Moonsie.
"What's Love Got to Do with It" is a song written by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten, and recorded by Tina Turner for her fifth studio album, Private Dancer (1984). Capitol Records released it as a single from Private Dancer in May 1984 and it eventually became Turner's biggest-selling single.
"Last Christmas" is a song by English pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in several European countries. The song has been covered by many artists since its original release, including Whigfield, Crazy Frog, Billie Piper, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande.
"Somebody's Watching Me" is a song recorded and written by American singer Rockwell, released by the Motown label in December 1983, as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name. It features guest vocals by Michael Jackson and Jermaine Jackson. The song became a major commercial success internationally, topping the charts in Belgium, France, and Spain, and reaching the top 5 in Canada, West Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. In the UK, it reached No. 6 and is Rockwell's only top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart. Rolling Stone magazine called the song "an international and enduring smash hit that, more than 30 years later, remains the perennial paranoia-rock anthem and Halloween mix go-to song."
"Thriller" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 11, 1983 in the UK and on January 23, 1984, in the US, as the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album, Thriller.
"Time After Time" is a song by American singer Cyndi Lauper from her debut studio album, She's So Unusual (1983). It was released as the album's second single in March 1984, by Epic and Portrait Records. Written by Lauper and Rob Hyman, who also provided backing vocals, the song was produced by Rick Chertoff. It was written in the album's final stages, after "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "She Bop" and "All Through the Night" had been written or recorded. The writing began with the title, which Lauper had seen in TV Guide, referring to the 1979 film Time After Time.
"I Just Called to Say I Love You" is a ballad written, produced, and performed by American R&B singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder. It was a major international hit, and remains Wonder's best-selling single to date, reaching number one in 28 countries worldwide.
Billboard Year-End charts are cumulative rankings of entries in Billboard magazine charts in the United States in any given chart year. Several hundred Year-End charts are now published by Billboard, the most important of which are the single or album charts based on Hot 100 and Billboard 200 respectively.
"Missing You" is a song co-written and recorded by English musician John Waite. It was released in June 1984 as the lead single from his second album, No Brakes (1984). It reached number one on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks and on the Hot 100, as well as number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. "Missing You" was the only record in 1984 to spend only a single week at the top of the Hot 100. The song was nominated for the 1985 Best Pop Vocal Performance Male Grammy Award.
"It's All in the Game" is a pop song whose most successful version was recorded by Tommy Edwards in 1958. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to a wordless 1911 composition titled "Melody in A Major", written by Charles G. Dawes, who was later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President or a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
"I'm So Excited" is a song by American girl group the Pointer Sisters. Jointly written and composed by the sisters in collaboration with Trevor Lawrence, it was originally released in September 1982, reaching number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This was followed by a remixed re-release in July 1984, reaching number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard named the song number 23 on their list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs Of All Time".
"Hello" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lionel Richie. Taken as the third single from his second solo album, Can't Slow Down (1983), the song was released in 1984 and reached number one on three Billboard music charts: the pop chart, the R&B chart, and the Adult Contemporary chart. The song also went to number one on the UK Singles Chart for six weeks.
"Footloose" is a song co-written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. It was released in January 1984 as the first of two singles by Loggins from the 1984 film of the same name. The song spent three weeks at number one, March 31—April 14, 1984, on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Loggins' only chart-topper, and was the first of two number-one hits from the film. Billboard ranked it at the No. 4 song for 1984.
"Let's Hear It for the Boy" is a song by Deniece Williams that appeared on the soundtrack to the feature film Footloose. The song was released as a single from both the soundtrack and her album of the song's same name Columbia Records. It was written by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford and produced by George Duke. The song became Williams' second number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on May 26, 1984. It also topped Billboard's dance and R&B charts and on the Cash Box Top 100. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and was certified platinum in the US and gold in Canada and the UK by the Recording Industry Association of America, Music Canada and the British Phonographic Industry, respectively. The music video was released in mid-April 1984. The song features background vocals from George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who would go on to form the duo Boy Meets Girl.
The singles discography of American country music artist Barbara Mandrell contains 54 singles as a lead artists, seven singles as a collaborative artist, six promotional singles and one music video. In 1966, Mandrell's debut single was released titled "Queen for a Day". She then signed a recording contract and in 1969 had her first charting release with a cover of "I've Been Loving You Too Long ". In the early 1970s, Mandrell had a series of top 20 charting singles on America's Billboard country songs chart. This included "Playin' Around with Love" (1970), "Treat Him Right" (1971) and "Show Me" (1972). She collaborated with David Houston on several singles as well. Their most successful was 1970's "After Closing Time", which became Mandrell's first top ten hit on the Billboard country chart. During this period she also reached the top ten with "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home" (1971) and "The Midnight Oil" (1973). In 1975, Mandrell signed to ABC Records and had a top five country hit with "Standing Room Only".
This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1983.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.