The Billboard chart is totally arbitrary. For awhile artists in the 90s manipulated the chart by holding off on an official release of a single so it could debut at #1. They didn't count YouTube hits for awhile, and when they finally did, a random French song had a video with girls kissing that went top 10 even though no one ever listened to it. Now Spotify plays give the chart a little more legitimacy, but the whole system is totally arbitrary. Rival chart Cashbox had different songs as the biggest hit of the year throughout the 60s and 70s because they measured different things (and were considerably more corrupt, selling chart positions for cash until that went public in the 90s and they collapsed as a result). Long story short, Billboard is not the greatest measure of popularity. More evidence... BTS's chart success in 2020 is very suspect to me.
You have a similar problem with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I typed Mars immediately, then pulled a D'oh! Strictly speaking Ronson and Gotye should be the correct answers.
I'm impressed with you. I listened to it on the radio when it came out so I would have been shamed not to have gotten it. Am mad at self for not remembering Lulu. I knew she had only one name but just couldn't remember it.
Amazing how many of the artists are one-hit wonders (and the absence of many huge artists with long careers, like Michael Jackson, Madonna, U2, Rolling Stones, etc.).
kept trying 'julio' for coolio - I think it was because it was opposite Simon and Garfunkel and my subconscious was thinking 'me and Julio down by the school yard'
The thing is, Thriller had so many hits on the albums with 8, that they kept knocking each other out during the reign of Thriller. That album had 8 top 10 hits, most by any album in history, which made it hard for each song to stay on the charts for a whole year.
If you liked this quiz, check out my similar one: http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/154362/most-popular-song-by-year-1940-2016 It has slightly different answers though.
Crazy that Michael Jackson nor the Bee Gees never had one and even crazier that only one artist did it twice. All hail Paul who is three times greater than any not named John, George or Ringo. He's just 50% better than them :)
please correct the 1965 entry to Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs as the #1 song of 1965. first time a number 2 song was song of the year. check this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1965
I actually own all of these songs since I love to collect music by lists.
Even though I got 3 more than the average, after 1985 I know very little. That is when I stopped listening to current music. If you went back further than 1963, into the 50's, I would have had even a higher score. More questions concerning music should include the 50's. Our generation is still very much alive.
Wham should be the answer. It is a quiz based off an American list so it should be the way it appeared on the American Label, "Wham! featuring George Michael". If you want George Micheal to be an acceptable answer so be it. Go search for Careless Whisper record photos. The ones with Columbia on the label (North America was the only place that Columbia released it) it is Wham.
I guess I am going to have to do this once a year until it finally gets updated...
"Careless Whisper" was the number one song in the US for 1985 not the UK where is was the number five song. In the US it was Wham! featuring Gorge Michael. From the Wikipedia article...
The song also topped the charts in 25 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit "Wham! featuring George Michael". Spending three weeks at the top in America, the song was later named Billboard's number-one song of 1985.
Every other song on the quiz that has a featured artist only the credited artist is acceptable much less listed. Please correct.
Most of these songs are pretty lame, but to get the kind of mass appeal that gets you to Song of the Year, you either need to be really, uncommonly great (see "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or "I Will Always Love You"), or shallow and catchy in a way that hits everyone. I was a teenager in 2001. I don't know anyone who was a devoted Lifehouse fan, or anyone who called Hanging By a Moment their favorite song, but everyone *liked* it. That chorus is impossibly catchy. And that's what does it. It's the kind of song you always hear in bars and restaurants and stores because they know it won't offend anyone and it's a toe-tapper. So this is less about what people love and more about the nature of mass appeal. (I know that distinction sounds minor, but I don't think it is.)
Also remember that from sometime in the mid 60s until the mid 2000s, the single was not how most people purchased music especially by better bands. Lots of good songs were never purchased as singles. The album was how the song was purchased. I think that is a major reason that there are a lot of one hit wonders types from the 70s 80s and 90s.Album sales are somewhat accounted for in the Billboard numbers but not enough to make up for the lost single purchase.
It's 2022 now, and I'm still amazed that WHAM! isn't accepted for Careless Whisper. It was on the WHAM! Make It Big album I got back in 1985. What the hell?
I actually own all of these songs since I love to collect music by lists.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71eTw9bGA5L._SX522_.jpg
"Careless Whisper" was the number one song in the US for 1985 not the UK where is was the number five song. In the US it was Wham! featuring Gorge Michael. From the Wikipedia article...
The song also topped the charts in 25 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit "Wham! featuring George Michael". Spending three weeks at the top in America, the song was later named Billboard's number-one song of 1985.
Every other song on the quiz that has a featured artist only the credited artist is acceptable much less listed. Please correct.