And… we’re back!
When we last left off, we’d made it all the way up to Number 51!
And as promised:
Here’s #50-21, from the (sadly defunct as of September 21, 2023) #2 countdown channel on SiriusXM… and my thoughts on many of them.
- 50. “Rosanna” – Toto (1982)
49. “Don’t Know Much” – Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville (1989)
The 4th #2 hit between the duet partners. Aaron’s 2nd (after “Tell It Like It Is”) and Linda’s 3rd (alongside “Somewhere Out There” and “When Will I Be Loved”).
- 48. “Pump Up the Jam” – Technotronic (1990)
47. “Don’t Let Go (Love)” – En Vogue (1997)
Creedence Clearwater Revival had five #2 hit, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears had three without ever reaching #1. However, all of the records by both groups are in the bottom half of the countdown.
In contrast, all three #2 hits by En Vogue (who never had a #1 either) are in the top half, with two in the top 100.
- 46. “Donna” – Ritchie Valens (1959)
- 45. “The Rubberband Man“ – The Spinners (1976)
- 44. “Party All the Time” – Eddie Murphy (1985)
- 43. “Get Up and Boogie (That’s Right)” – Silver Convention (1976)
42. “Bird Dog” – The Everly Brothers (1958)
The highest-placing song from the first few years of the Hot 100, and it’s lucky that it came from these two legends.
41. “Bad Romance” – Lady Gaga (2009)
TNOCS.com’s choice for the “Official Song of the 2000s” turns out well in the countdown.
40. “Exodus” – Ferrante and Teicher (1961)
The highest-ranking instrumental song.
- 39. “All That She Wants” – Ace of Base (1993)
38. “1, 2 Step” – Ciara and Missy Elliott (2005)
The MTV mashup with “1, 2 Step” and the Freestylers’ “Push Up” might be even better than the original – though I wonder why the mashup producer kept in the line “Jazze made it.”
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xf1lbn
- 37. “Stay with Me” – Sam Smith (2014)
- 36. “Woman” – John Lennon (1981)
- 35. “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” – Celine Dion (1996)
34. “Gloria” – Laura Branigan (1982)
Of course, Phlash Phelps mentioned “the Blues” “in his intro.
- 33. “I Love You Always Forever” – Donna Lewis (1996)
32. “Dancing Machine” – The Jackson 5 (1974)
The J5’s third and highest-ranking #2 (after “Mama’s Pearl” and “Never Can Say Goodbye”). Michael also had one as a solo artist (his version of “Rockin’ Robin”) and one as a duet partner (“The Girl Is Mine”).
- 31. “Twisted” – Keith Sweat (1996)
30. “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here” – Deborah Cox (1998)
“HOW DID YOU GET HERE?” is a contender for best opening line in a #2 song.
29. “You Belong with Me” – Taylor Swift (2009)
Swift has 8 #2 hits, and like Drake, she has only one appearance in the top 100 and an additional one in the top 200 (“I Knew You Were Trouble”).
28. “Limbo Rock” – Chubby Checker (1962)
90s on 9 DJ and former TNOs subject Lisa Loeb did a heartwarming intro to this song.
- 27. “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” – Backstreet Boys (1997)
- 26. “Since U Been Gone” – Kelly Clarkson (2005)
25. “Y.M.C.A.” – Village People (1979)
When I heard the top 100 on the first day, they played a re-recording without the unmistakable voice of singer Victor Willis. I wrote to SiriusXM about it.
Hearing the countdown again, they replaced it with a club remix of the song, but featuring the original vocals this time.
24. “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” – England Dan and John Ford Coley (1976)
The highest-ranking song from the 70s. With one of the biggest #2 hits ever and three other top 10 hits, the duo has to be one of the most popular artists to never be mentioned by Tom in his column.
23. “Lucid Dreams” – Juice WRLD (2018)
The late emo-rap star has the second-largest distance between their two #2 hits out of any artist, with 441 spots between “Come and Go” and his much bigger hit. The largest is Marshmello, Juice WRLD’s collaborator on “Come and Go,” with 444 spots. Bill Withers (433) and Foreigner (409) are the only other acts to break 400.
22. “Dynamite” – Taio Cruz (2010)
21. “From a Distance” – Bette Midler (1990)
My mind thinks of it as the Gulf War song, even though it actually peaked a month before Operation Desert Storm.
… to be continued…
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
I’m sure thegue will want a word with you … Just kidding. But this *does* make a good teaser for his series as well.
Like you, I’ve heard that Y.M.C.A. re-recording and it is lifeless. Good call on your part to complain.
Rosanna came from a 12-month period with a host of great #2’s (including Gloria and a couple we’ll see soon). “The Girl Is Mine” is *not* among them.
Love this!!
(England Dan and John Ford Coley came in at #33, with 38.5 points…35 basically times 1.1 for having their biggest hit in TNO)
The short hit-making career clearly didn’t help.
Where do Ferrante and Teicher rank?
Great question, cause I saw them pop up in an article I’d written for this series… and was going to rank them… but realized I hadn’t scored all the artists that could possibly be ahead of them.
They’re #46
The shuffled chronology makes my mind snap back and forth like a rubberband man. Hard not to get it twisted. Still, the selections are largely dynamite.
Quite the eclectic selection. All over the place in genre and time. Dancing Machine, Gloria, Rubberband Man and Bad Romance are right up there as songs I’ll always be happy to hear but they’re outweighed by songs I’ll be happy never to hear again.
Main culprit being Donna Lewis; I Love You Always Forever. Thankfully it has disappeared from view so I haven’t had to revisit it since the 90s. My gut reaction at the time was irrational contempt. I’m sure she’s a lovely person but just, no.
I’d be perfectly OK with never hearing “Rosanna” again. “Lucid Dreams” too, but that’s less due to the song than due to the cult of personality around the artist.
Band story:
In 2016 I passed an audition on guitar for a 7-piece horn band. All were excellent players. The band leader was a drummer.
At the first meet-up, he asked if I knew “Rosanna,” so I gave it a shot. 5/10 at best. He suggested that I work on it, in order to play it *exactly* like the record. Which was an essential problem, because Steve Lukather is Steve Lukather, and I’m really, really not. But I dutifully kept at it, in order to be a team player.
He had some odd fixation with the song, because at every single rehearsal, he’d suddenly break into the drum intro, and we’d find ourselves playing it in its entirety. This would often happen twice in one night. And no one would try to stop it. I figured that like the drummer,they must all revere the tune as well.
At actual gigs, he’d insist that we open with it – and close the night with the song as well. And I came to learn that my first assumption was wrong, and that the others hated this move as well. “Rosanna” was re-titled by the other guys and gal to: “oh no – not that ****ing song again.”
This is how you get to the point where an otherwise good song becomes an immediate radio station change. Haven’t gotten through it once in six years..
I love this and can totally relate. I have a similar story about that song I will share sometime.
I mentioned this before. The presumed inspiration behind the Toto song hated “Rosanna”. As walk-on music it’s a perfect fit but Rosanna Arquette gave Paul Shaffer the “kill” signal on Late Night w/David Letterman, causing the bandleader did a great imitation of losing your balance on a wave-tossed ship. Arquette was dating Paul Buchanan by this time.
Oh, I didn’t know this. David Paich wrote it, not Steve Porcaro. And he doesn’t sing.
I like Weezer. But I didn’t need them to cover “Africa”.
Oh, my. I guess Arquette’s relationship with The Blue Nile lead singer didn’t end well. There is no mention of him on her Wikipedia page.
I don’t get Toto at all. I know people like them and “Rosanna” in particular, but they never struck me as innovative or interesting or anything other than well-rehearsed. Give me some sloppy, energetic, punk rock any day.
Georgie Porgy slaps.
Your comment on Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here reminded me of this:
https://youtu.be/XFhpctuUwb4?si=icBFIjubPj5Bz4Wd
Great line with a great delivery by Leslie Nielsen. I have a feeling he must’ve loved mocking setups like this that he endured performing them straight as possible dozens of times on other TV shows.
My top 5
I was giving consideration to Balsam Hill, until I realized it was an ad for Christmas Trees.
At the bottom of my list- From a Distance. Not even Eddie Murphy could dig past that pile of trash.
My top 5 (not ranked):
“The Rubberband Man“ – The Spinners (1976)
“Gloria” – Laura Branigan (1982)
“Since U Been Gone” – Kelly Clarkson (2005)
“Y.M.C.A.” – Village People (1979)
“All That She Wants” – Ace of Base (1993)
Interestingly, this week I saw MJ the Musical about you know who, and of all the number two hits by the King of Pop, only Dancin’ Machine made the cut for inclusion in the production (mercifully, Ben and Say Say Say were left out as well).
“You Are Not Alone” was left out too, I’d assume
Yes, but there’s a good reason: The book covers Michael’s preparation for the Dangerous tour, so any songs after that period naturally were excluded.
The person (people?) from SiriusXM who curated this list are smoking crack if Bad Romance and Since U Been Gone aren’t in the Top 10. And both below From a Distance? WTF???
I think it was compiled by Billboard, based on chart performance (weighted to account for yearly differences). Nevertheless, crack smoking at SiriusXM remains a strong possibility.