originally posted on Billboard.com
Check out 30 years of summer songs, from “Papa Don’t Preach” to “Macarena” to “I Gotta Feeling” to “Fancy.”
Hot weather plus nostalgia makes for a potent mix(tape). In order to aid your festive flashbacks, we analyzed the Billboard Hot 100 chart for each of the past 30 years and came up with this definitive list of the 10 jams that pumped out of your stereo most between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Crank up these hits and feel the heat.
These hot tunes are ranked based on each track’s performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the summer. For the period of 1985 to 1991, prior to the advent of Nielsen BDS radio monitoring data and Nielsen SoundScan point-of-sales data, the rankings are based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. For the years corresponding with Nielsen Music data, 1992 onward, the rankings are based on accumulated radio and sales points, and points from other data sets that were included in the Hot 100 during those respective years.
1. “Shout” – Tears For Fears
2. “Everytime You Go Away” – Paul Young
3. “The Power Of Love” – Huey Lewis & The News
4. “A View To A Kill” – Duran Duran
5. “Sussudio” – Phil Collins
6. “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” – Sting
7 . “Raspberry Beret” – Prince and the Revolution
8. “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)” – John Parr
9. “Heaven” – Bryan Adams
10. “Never Surrender” – Corey Hart
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