1988

The Top 150 Hits of… 1988

A tie at #150 means this list has 151 songs.

The only surprise this time might be that “Faith” isn’t #1. Here’s what happened. According to the official record, “Faith” was #1 for four weeks in Dec. ’87. However, its last week was the week in which Billboard takes its annual one-week publication break and freezes the chart from the week before. By its third week at #1, the week whose chart was frozen, “Faith” had lost its bullet (a designation Billboard bestows upon songs that have significant increases in sales and airplay. There are lots of them every week) and “So Emotional” was coming up fast at #2. The week following the frozen week, the latter was #1 and “Faith had fallen to #3. This leads me to believe that, had there been an actual chart for the week of Jan. 2, 1988, “Faith” would have been #2. So instead of receiving 28 points for a fourth week at #1, it only got 24. Had I used the frozen chart, not only would “Faith” have had four more points, “Need You Tonight” would have had 3 fewer (16 points at #10, rather than 19 points at #7 on my mock chart. See the entry “The Scale I Use” for an explanation of the mock chart) and “Faith” would have been #1 for the year.

1. Need You Tonight – INXS 269
2. Faith – George Michael 264.5
3. Got My Mind Set on You – George Harrison 256
4. Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley 254.5
5. Hands to Heaven – Breathe 253.5
6. Wild, Wild West – Escape Club 253.5
7. Sweet Child o’ Mine – Guns n’ Roses 250.5
8. Wishing Well – Terence Trent D’Arby 249
9. The Flame – Cheap Trick 246
10. So Emotional – Whitney Houston 243.5
11. Anything for You – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine 243.5
12. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley – Will to Power 241
13. I’ll Always Love You – Taylor Dayne 241
14. Roll With It – Steve Winwood 239.5
15. Could’ve Been – Tiffany 238.5
16. Kokomo – The Beach Boys 237
17. Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car – Billy Ocean 236.5
18. Pour Some Sugar on Me – Def Leppard 235
19. One More Try – George Michael 234.5
20. Hungry Eyes – Eric Carmen 234.5
21. Groovy Kind of Love – Phil Collins 234
22. Seasons Change – Expose 233.5
23. Shake Your Love – Debbie Gibson 230.5
24. Naughty Girls (Need Love Too) – Samantha Fox 229
25. Is This Love – Whitesnake 227.5
26. How Can I Fall? – Breathe 227.5
27. Simply Irresistible – Robert Palmer 225.5
28. Angel – Aerosmith 225
29. Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin 225
30. Hold On to the Nights – Richard Marx 224.5
31. Red, Red Wine – UB40 224.5
32. The Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson 222.5
33. The Loco-Motion – Kylie Minogue 219
34. Endless Summer Nights – Richard Marx 218.5
35. Love Bites – Def Leppard 218
36. Shattered Dreams – Johnny Hates Jazz 217
37. Foolish Beat – Debbie Gibson 216.5
38. Father Figure – George Michael 214
39. Make Me Lose Control – Eric Carmen 214
40. Where Do Broken Hearts Go – Whitney Houston 213.5
41. Hazy Shade of Winter – Bangles 213.5
42. The Way You Make Me Feel – Michael Jackson 212.5
43. She’s Like the Wind – Patrick Swayze 212
44. Bad Medicine – Bon Jovi 209.5
45. I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That – Elton John 206
46. What’s on Your Mind (Pure Energy) – Information Society 206
47. Tell It to My Heart – Taylor Dayne 204.5
48. I Don’t Want to Live Without Your Love – Chicago 203
49. Together Forever – Rick Astley 199.5
50. Make It Real – The Jets 199.5
51. Don’t You Want Me – Jody Watley 199
52. Monkey – George Michael 198
53. What Have I Done to Deserve This? – Pet Shop Boys 198
54. Devil Inside – INXS 197
55. Out of the Blue – Debbie Gibson 194
56. Sign Your Name – Terence Trent D’Arby 192.5
57. Desire – U2 189.5
58. I Want to Be Your Man – Roger 189.5
59. Girlfriend – Pebbles 187.5
60. 1-2-3 – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine 187.5
61. I Get Weak – Belinda Carlisle 187
62. Rocket 2 You – The Jets 184.5
63. Mercedes Boy – Pebbles 182.5
64. Catch Me (I’m Falling) – Pretty Poison 182.5
65. Candle in the Wind – Elton John 179.5
66. If It Isn’t Love – New Edition 178
67. New Sensation – INXS 177.5
68. Dirty Diana – Michael Jackson 177
69. I Don’t Want Your Love – Duran Duran 177
70. I Want Her – Keith Sweat 176
71. Perfect World – Huey Lewis & the News 175
72. Say You Will – Foreigner 175
73. Don’t Be Cruel – Bobby Brown 174.5
74. Electric Blue – Icehouse 174
75. Piano in the Dark – Brenda Russell 174
76. Don’t Shed a Tear – Paul Carrack 174
77. One Good Woman – Peter Cetera 172.5
78. Don’t Be Cruel – Cheap Trick 170.5
79. Fast Car – Tracy Chapman 170.5
80. Pink Cadillac – Natalie Cole 169
81. I Hate Myself for Loving You – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts 168.5
82. Everything Your Heart Desires – Daryl Hall and John Oates 167.5
83. I Found Someone – Cher 166
84. Can’t Stay Away from You – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine 165
85. The Promise – When in Rome 163
86. The Valley Road – Bruce Hornsby and the Range 162.5
87. I Still Believe – Brenda K. Starr 162
88. When It’s Love – Van Halen 161.5
89. We’ll Be Together – Sting 160.5
90. Never Tear Us Apart – INXS 159
91. I Don’t Want to Live Without You – Foreigner 157.5
92. Nite and Day – Al B. Sure! 157.5
93. Cherry Bomb – John Mellencamp 157.5
94. Always on My Mind – Pet Shop Boys 156.5
95. Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do – Steve Winwood 155
96. One Moment in Time – Whitney Houston 154.5
97. Please Don’t Go Girl – New Kids on the Block 152.5
98. Wait – White Lion 151.5
99. Just Like Paradise – David Lee Roth 151
100. Valerie – Steve Winwood 150.5
101. Nothin’ but a Good Time – Poison 150
102. Prove Your Love – Taylor Dayne 147.5
103. Nobody’s Fool – Kenny Loggins 145.5
104. Two Occasions – The Deele 142.5
105. Kissing a Fool – George Michael 142
106. Pump Up the Volume – M/A/R/R/S 142
107. Circle in the Sand – Belinda Carlisle 141.5
108. Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) – Cinderella 140.5
109. Push It – Salt-n-Pepa 140.5
110. Forever Young – Rod Stewart 139
111. Just Got Paid – Johnny Kemp 138.5
112. Rush Hour – Jane Wiedlin 136.5
113. I Live for Your Love – Natalie Cole 136
114. Kiss Me Deadly – Lita Ford 135.5
115. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man – Prince 134
116. I Saw Him Standing There – Tiffany 131
117. It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man – Rick Astley 131
118. Parents Just Don’t Understand – DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince 129
119. Some Kind of Lover – Jody Watley 128.5
120. Love Will Save the Day – Whitney Houston 127.5
121. There’s the Girl – Heart 127.5
122. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay – Michael Bolton 126.5
123. Another Lover – Giant Steps 126.5
124. Dude (Looks Like a Lady) – Aerosmith 126.5
125. That’s What Love Is All About – Michael Bolton 125
126. Crazy – Icehouse 124
127. Tunnel of Love – Bruce Springsteen 123.5
128. Hysteria – Def Leppard 123.5
129. Chains of Love – Erasure 123
130. Alphabet St. – Prince 121
131. Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac 116.5
132. Pop Goes the World – Men Without Hats 112
133. Lost in You – Rod Stewart 111
134. Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil 108
135. Do You Love Me – The Contours 106.5
136. True Love – Glenn Frey 104
137. Another Part of Me – Michael Jackson 102.5
138. Fallen Angel – Poison 102.5
139. Check It Out – John Mellencamp 102.5
140. Dreaming – Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark 102.5
141. Here with Me – REO Speedwagon 102.5
142. Spy in the House of Love – Was (Not Was) 102
143. One Step Up – Bruce Springsteen 101.5
144. Because of You – The Cover Girls 100.5
145. Animal – Def Leppard 99.5
146. Rag Doll – Aerosmith 99
147. We All Sleep Alone – Cher 97.5
148. The Colour of Love – Billy Ocean 97
149. Be Still My Beating Heart – Sting 96
150. All Fired Up – Pat Benatar 95.5
151. A Nightmare on My Street – DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince 95.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1988