What song held the number one spot for the longest in 1987?
The 1980s will often be regarded by fans and music historians as the decade in which pop reached the peak of its powers, dominating the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
The emergence of new technologies made it easier for pristine and polished productions, and the use of digital instruments, like synthesisers and drum machines, became increasingly prevalent in lieu of using acoustic or amplified instruments that had been more commonplace in the previous decades.
While some of the biggest hits of the period were being written in a way to court chart success by songwriting teams like Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, there were plenty of other notable musicians who were either beginning to lean towards these musical trends and abandoning their old methods, such as Prince, Stevie Wonder and Phil Collins. Also, there were emerging stars who saw a gap in the market to create hyper-catchy pop music that used the digitisation of recording to its full potential, such as Madonna.
Not only was pop music taking a turn towards polished production methods, but rock music was being diluted in this sense. Gone were the booming acoustic drum sounds, and gated reverb was being applied to shorten the sound and maximise its punchiness. Hair metal was in fashion for a period, and if any strand of rock music is guilty of overusing this method, it’s this particular fad that came and went after a handful of years.
However, while pop may have been having a fruitful period during the ‘80s, nobody really discusses ’87 as being one of the decade’s defining years, so what exactly was dominating the charts during this time?
What held the number one spot for the longest in 1987?
In the UK, two songs battled it out for the title of the most popular single of 1987, both ending the year with five weeks at the top of the charts apiece. Unsurprisingly, one of these was written and produced by the illustrious team of Stock Aitken Waterman, and while incredibly popular at the time of its release, has been reduced to something of a punchline in the modern era.
Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ may have achieved meme status in recent times for the role it played in an infamous April Fool’s joke played by YouTube on its visitors, but it was a massive hit for both Astley and ‘The Hit Factory’ in the UK, allowing their hot streak of managing to have a song of theirs in the UK top 40 every week between 1986 and 1990 to run steady.
However, it doesn’t sit alone as the most successful single of the year in the UK, with T’Pau tying Astley for top spot with their hit, ‘China in Your Hand’. While not as fondly remembered these days, presumably due to it not having been rendered a laughing stock in the 21st century, the track was a major hit at the time, and was frequently cited as not just one of the duo’s finest moments, but one of the greatest power ballads of the decade.
On the other side of the pond, the US were most enthralled by a rock anthem that has the power to either make listeners belt the lyrics at the tops of their lungs or wince in disgust. Achieving four weeks at number one, which is surprisingly low considering its infamy, Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ was the most successful US number one of 1987, but has since gone on to be one of the most iconic hard rock songs of all time, for better or worse.
It should be noted that two other songs achieved four consecutive weeks at the top of the US charts during 1987, but not wholly in 1987. At the end of 1986, Americans couldn’t get enough of The Bangles’ ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’, managing to remain at the top of the charts as the calendar rolled over, while similarly, the song sat at number one at the end of 1987 was George Michael’s ‘Faith’, which remained at number one for an additional week at the start of 1988. However, because neither of these four-week periods took place entirely within the same year, the title for the longest stint at number one in the US in 1987, unfortunately, has to be bestowed to Bon Jovi.
