1984: The Year In Top 40 Hits (Week #2: January 14, 1984)
Elton John, Billy Joel, Shannon, and Pretenders all get a look-in, while Prince gets weird in the chart’s nether regions
(Note: If you’re new here, you might want to read an introduction to this series to get caught up on what we’re doing. Glad you could make it. This series will be published approximately weekly for the rest of the year.)
After the relative stasis of the year’s first chart, there was a little more movement this week, even though the top 10 was basically identical save for some shifting around. (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson’s “Say Say Say,” a song no one ever thinks about 40 years later, was number one for its fifth and final week.) Eight new songs charted, with Van Halen’s “Jump” highest at #47. We’ll get to that one.
At #8, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” by Elton John
During my ’70s childhood, only The Beatles loomed larger in my personal musical pantheon than Elton John. His first two greatest hits albums were two of the first LPs I ever owned, but the Mason siblings went deep on EJ’s catalogue. Even as a small child, album track “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” was a personal favorite. Both of my sisters adored the…
