When 1984 began, people didn’t know that the members of an English prog rock band were about to put a stranglehold on the pop charts the entire back half of the decade.

Originally led by Peter Gabriel, Genesis undoubtedly entered a new era after his departure. Vocal duties were handed over to the band’s drummer Phil Collins, and the talented, witty former child actor would not only shoot to solo stardom, he would lift the band along with him.

And while both the band and Collins himself had had minor hits, the takeover really touched off in 1984.

(Note: Collins had already released the stone-cold solo classic “In The Air Tonight” in 1981, but at the time of its release, it only peaked at #19 on the pop chart. Its legend would grow as the 80s wore on.)

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The first Genesis song to hit the American top 10 came from their self-titled 1983 LP. The band had already started to embrace more radio-friendly song structures and move away from the extended ruminations that were the calling card of progressive rock on their previous 80s output, 1980’s Duke and 1981’s Abacab.

Collins admitted that he was trying to write something Beatles-esque, attempting what he called a “Ringo Starr drum part.” The tune also features keyboardist Tony Banks front and center with an electric piano riff and an organ solo. The third member of the trio, guitarist Mike Rutherford, also gets to show off a bit with a solo of his own to play the song to the fade.

But Collins is the glue holding everything together with his trademark impassioned delivery.

The countdown may not be over yet, but “That’s All” from Genesis comes in at #34.

They were an overnight success over a decade in the making.

No one expected an also-ran rock band from the Midwest named after an old-time fire engine would suddenly ascend to the top of the music world 13 years and nine albums into their career. But that’s what happened for REO Speedwagon in 1981.

Their album Hi Infidelity spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard album chart and spawned four top 40 hits – including chart-topper “Keep On Loving You” – when the band had never before reached that lofty tier.

But of course with new success comes new expectations, and REO had a difficult time trying to follow-up such a huge breakthrough. Their 1982 album Good Trouble would hit the top 10 but it didn’t have the staying power or generate the hits of its predecessor. So the band took some time off to reassess what resonated with people.

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When they returned in 1984, they released what is one of my absolute favorite albums of the 80s, Wheels Are Turnin’. The LP would spin off four more top 40 hits for the band, and it’s a record that I wore out as a kid as one of the few full-lengths we actually owned in our house.

The crazy part is that the first single actually underachieved on the charts before the LP picked up steam, but while it only reached #28 on the Hot 100, I’ve always loved its energy and its classic rock vibe. It’s just a good time, and it lets the whole band get some shine.

Guitarist Gary Richrath and keyboardist Neal Doughty both get lengthy solos despite the song’s brisk 4-minutes-and-change runtime and vocalist Kevin Cronin gets to show off his range as he sings about a relationship that seems on the verge of ending, so he wants to have a clean break without fake sentimentality. And despite its lower ranking on the pop chart, it was a big rock radio hit and set the table for the massive hit that would follow it.

Go ahead and keep them in the dark. REO Speedwagon’s “I Do’Wanna Know” comes in at #35.

They were still three years away from becoming truly one of the biggest bands in the world, but the rise of U2 was well underway by the time they released their fourth album The Unforgettable Fire in 1984.

After embracing political themes in songs that addressed issues and events closer to home in songs like “New Year’s Day” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” lyricist Bono turned his attention towards America, its history of racism and the 1960s civil rights movement.

However, the song originally had different subject matter.

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Bono’s first draft focused on the military might of the United States and how proud then-President Ronald Reagan was of American dominance in that regard. But that led him to look deeper at the way the country’s downtrodden were able to enact change across the pond despite the strength of the American armed forces.

He read books on both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and contrasted the two sides of the civil rights coin – how the men used different methods towards the same goal of equality. Eventually he zeroed in on Dr. King as the subject he felt he should be writing about.

It proved to be the band’s big breakthrough in the U.S., introducing The Edge’s chiming guitar chords and Bono’s expressive vocal style to the masses who hadn’t yet discovered the band’s burgeoning greatness.

And while it only topped out at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100, it was the Irish rockers’ first top 40 placement and set the table for the domination that would follow on their masterpiece of a fifth album.

U2’s “Pride (In The Name Of Love)” is #36.

While the LGBT community continues to fight for basic human rights in many places in 2026, much of the world has come a very long way in terms of acceptance since the 1980s, when hate crimes were rampant and HIV was looked on by some politicians as a disease not even worth studying, much less trying to cure.

This was the cultural climate when a synth-pop band from England decided to take a stand not just with their debut album, but indeed with their very first single.

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The trio of instrumentalists Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek and vocalist Jimmy Somerville came together to form Bronski Beat in 1983, and by 1984 they were already releasing their first LP on London Records.

The set’s title, The Age Of Consent, was a reference to the UK’s decision to keep homosexual acts illegal for anyone under 21, even though that law had been changed in other European nations already. Somerville’s native country of Scotland in particular remained hostile towards and restrictive of those who were out of the closet.

The song that announced Bronski Beat’s arrival on the music scene found Somerville telling the tale of a young man whose mistreatment in his hometown forces him to leave for greener pastures elsewhere. And while the music video lays it out plainly that the youth in question, played by Somerville, is clearly being harassed for being gay, the lyrics are also broad enough that the song can serve as a supportive anthem for anyone who has been bullied for being different.

Somerville later said that he felt he could have done a better job on the words, telling The Guardian, “It’s strange because I spent maybe 15 years being a bit embarrassed by that song because I thought it wasn’t that good compared to other lyricists’ words.” But even if you agree that the lyrics are lacking, Somerville more than makes up for any shortcomings with the emotion in his falsetto delivery.

While the song was more of an underground favorite in America, it hit #3 on the pop charts in the UK and became a touchstone for the country’s gay culture.

Bronski Beat leave behind the small-minded hate and level up to the big time on “Smalltown Boy” at #37.

What if I told you that one of the biggest and best throwback hits of the 80s is only little more than a footnote in the stellar career of its singer?

British-born Tracey Ullman has worn many hats over the course of more than four decades in show business and is mostly known as an actress and comedian. She was given title billing in her own sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show in 1985 on the fledgling Fox TV network in America, and her show would eventually birth the longest-running episodic sitcom in television history.

Yes, The Simpsons began life as animated shorts on Ullman’s show.

She would move to cable for a more unfettered, uncensored sketch show, Tracey Takes On…, in the 90s for HBO, and she continues to have a vibrant and successful acting career to this day.

But before all that, Ullman became an unexpected pop star.

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After earning a record deal thanks to musical parodies she performed on British TV, she released her debut album You Broke My Heart In 17 Places in 1983, and the set was evocative of the girl-group tunes of the 60s. The song she hit big with though actually had much more recent roots at the time, having been recorded by its writer, 19-year-old future British singing star Kirsty MacColl, just four years earlier.

Ullman’s cover went full “Phil Spector Wall of Sound” with its production, and a tongue-in-cheek music video with a megastar cameo at the end helped put the finishing touches on an undeniable earworm.

It would go top 10 in America, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, adding an extra bit of entertaining spice to the talented star’s resume.

Maybe “They Don’t Know” but now you’ve been informed. The multi-talented Tracey Ullman is at #38.

Musicians often pay homage to other artists who they feel influenced by or respect for. It’s a mainstay of pop music, whether it be Don McLean tributing Buddy Holly on “American Pie” or Taylor Swift shouting out a silver screen legend she relates to on “Elizabeth Taylor.”

It just so happened that a swing band from Chicago came out of nowhere in late 1983 and scored a surprise hit that paid homage to a true American original who became an enduring Hollywood legend alongside his brothers.

The comedy team known as The Three Stooges got their start as a vaudeville act way back in 1922 and became major stars all over the world thanks to their slapstick-filled film shorts that delighted matinee movie audiences in theaters from 1934 until 1959, then found new life when those clips migrated to the burgeoning television medium.

Syndicated packages of classic Three Stooges shorts were still widely shown across the country in the 80s, years after the stars of those shorts had passed away. And while the team featured a rotating third member throughout its lifespan, there’s no doubt that the most well-known version of the trio featured mainstays Moe Howard and Larry Fine and Moe’s younger brother Jerome “Curly” Howard.

With his “lovable idiot” persona, exaggerated mannerisms and agile physical comedy style, it’s no surprise Curly was popular. His emoting through the use of distinctive vocal noises made him the most often imitated member of the troupe.

And the main subject of a song written by a group called Jump ‘N The Saddle.

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They released the song independently on, fittingly, the Acme record label, and it proved such a crowd-pleaser regionally that it was picked up for national distribution by Atlantic Records. Of course, the label was all too eager to pigeonhole the group under the “novelty” category, and the band’s resistance led to a short-lived moment in the spotlight.

But their one hit was a big one, reaching #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of the biggest comedy songs of the decade.

No, it’s not as weighty as some of the other songs on this list, but we all need to laugh sometimes, too, so soytenly you won’t begrudge me a little fun. Jump ‘N The Saddle elbow, slap, kick, and eye-poke their way onto my list at #39 with “The Curly Shuffle.”

A quartet of fresh-faced English lads forms a band and gets a record deal. They put out their debut and promptly watch their main songwriter make his exit and go on to other very successful musical partnerships, leaving you utterly rudderless.

Do you say, “Well we had a good run but I guess that’s it?” Not if you’re Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Depeche Mode.

In fact, their march to the mainstream accelerated once Vince Clarke left and Martin Gore took over songwriting duties. That trek to a breakthrough would culminate with their 1984 album Some Great Reward, their fourth overall and third since Clarke’s departure.

By then the group had morphed from a New Wave also-ran into something darker. Synth-driven electro-rock with touches of industrial-style percussion had made them a rock band that could still pack a dance floor in even the trendiest clubs, and their sound would soon lift them onto the pop chart the following year.

But the movement started upon the album’s release with songs that were making a splash in their native UK even as they courted controversy.

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The album’s third single was critical of the church in England and was nearly banned by the BBC before they reconsidered. According to the website Story of Song, singer Dave Gahan said the meaning of the song wasn’t strictly about religion but was simply about taking ownership of your existence.

“he song only wants to say that no one should let someone force anything upon him,” Gahan said. “Whether it’s politics or something else, that doesn’t matter. You have to choose yourself what you wanna do with your life.”

Decide for yourself. Depeche Mode kicks off our top 40 at #40 with “Blasphemous Rumours.”

So far on this countdown, we’ve seen a number of heavy metal legends show up – Quiet Riot, Ratt, Iron Maiden – and we’ve discussed the impact MTV had on their success. But when it comes to metal’s most memorable music video of the year, there’s really no debate.

It gave a New York City outfit that turned the glam movement on its ear their only career top 40 hit, and the rebellion it preached was something Twisted Sister came by honestly.

It was just one year later that the band’s frontman Dee Snider was testifying before Congress and shocking the stuffy old suits in seats of power by dropping the most educated and common-sense statements of the hearings amid the roil and bluster of the newly-formed PMRC and their calculated outrage.

He joined a noble list of music and TV personalities – names like Frank Zappa and Mister Rogers – who have stood up to government’s encroachment on the First Amendment through direct testimony.

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But rewind back to 1984 and Snider was front and center on one of the most heavily played videos of the year on MTV, showing his support for a kid who just wanted to rock in the face of his overbearing dad – played brilliantly by Mark Metcalf, channeling his most memorable character, Animal House’s insufferable ROTC d*ckhead Doug Neidermeyer.

In fact, Metcalf offered a word-for-word recitation of his famous “What do you want to do with your life?” speech from the film, reframing it for the younger brothers and sisters – or perhaps nieces and nephews – of the original film’s target audience.

It’s a youth-gone-wild anthem for the ages. Twisted Sister has had enough at #41 with “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”

Dan Hartman had been bouncing around the music business for two decades when he finally got his one big smash hit single as a solo artist.

Hartman had spent time with The Legends and the Edgar Winter Group in the 70s, writing and singing hits like “Free Ride” for Winter and hitting the top 40 on his own with the song “Instant Replay” in 1976. He produced albums for other 70s rock acts like Foghat, Rick Derringer and 38 Special.

He even dipped his toe in the world of disco, writing and producing “Love Sensation” for Loleatta Holloway, a dance classic that would later serve as the foundation for Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch’s chart-topping “Good Vibrations” in 1991.

But through it all, Hartman’s real love was the sound of classic 1960s Motown.

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Thus, he was well-versed in the style when he was tasked with writing a song for a fictional doo-wop group called the Sorels in the action movie Streets Of Fire. While the track used in the film was sung by Winston Ford, it was Hartman’s version that was released on the soundtrack and as a single from the film.

It’s funny. When people reference “80s music” it often means they’re going to play synth-heavy dance music, hair metal, maybe some old-school rap. But there was also a gigantic amount of 60s nostalgia still present in pop music during the decade as the kids who grew up on that music matured and formed bands of their own. That’s on display here and honestly, that makes this song a truly quintessential 80s hit for me.

It became his only top 10 solo hit of his career, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it ranks #42 on my list of 1984’s top songs: Dan Hartman with “I Can Dream About You.”

One of the most powerful and soulful voices of the 80s spent the first part of her career with those pipes juxtaposed against cold electronic beats and synthesizers courtesy of her musical partner, and the stark contrast gave them a sound like no one else.

Vocalist Annie Lennox and instrumentalist Dave Stewart emerged from the UK in 1983 as Eurythmics and exploded out the gate with a massive chart-topping debut single, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).”

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That song demonstrated just how different the duo sounded from anyone else, and they were back again a year later with another smash following the same formula.

Against another synth-drenched backdrop, Lennox gets emotional about the feelings of excitement that come from a new romance, and the song became the duo’s second top 10 hit in America, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Grab your umbrella. “Here Comes The Rain Again” as Eurythmics check in at #43.

Lindsey Buckingham came to prominence when he and his then-girlfriend/musical partner Stevie Nicks both joined the British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac and reinvigorated it into an absolute pop music force.

But Buckingham always kept one foot in the band and one foot out, continuing on his own musical path during breaks from the band.

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He released his solo debut album Law And Order in 1981 and earned a top 10 hit with the album’s lead single “Trouble.” Then two years later, he gifted perhaps his most enduring solo tune, “Holiday Road,” to the film National Lampoon’s Vacation, and its repeated use in the beloved Chevy Chase vehicle made sure it lodged in the collective consciousness of Gen X.

He earned his final solo top 40 hit in 1984 with the title track from his second solo effort, a song about the lunacy of falling for someone exactly like his ex – a song that’s certainly club-ready with its thumping backbeat and synth-heavy instrumentation.

Listen to Lindsey Buckingham “Go Insane” at #44.

Formed in 1980 in the burgeoning and vibrant music scene of Athens, GA, R.E.M. were almost immediately embraced as indie darlings and underground stars, continuously growing their fanbase until the mainstream couldn’t ignore them any longer.

Four years later, they were releasing their sophomore LP, and second album in as many years, quickly becoming a truly foundational band in the history of American alternative rock and helping to cement their jangly guitar style as one of the predominant rock sounds in college radio thanks to a slew of imitators.

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That sound is front and center on the first single from their 1984 release Reckoning, a song they had actually premiered the previous year during their network television debut on Late Night with David Letterman, before the song even had a title.

In its fully-formed state, it became the band’s second tune to crossover from the rock chart to the Billboard Hot 100, but it’s not as well-known as many of their later hits. I think it’s one of the year’s best though and worth a listen.

R.E.M. forecast more brilliance to come on “Southern Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” at #45.

In 1947, the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists first published the Doomsday Clock.

The clock is a symbol for the danger humanity is putting itself in and essentially sets odds on the likelihood of a global man-made human extinction event. Its first setting was “7 minutes until midnight.”

(The three pillars of the Doomsday Clock in 2026 are climate change, nuclear warfare and artificial intelligence, if you were curious.)

Certainly nuclear war was a major factor in the 80s as well, and I wrote back at #48 in my entry on “99 Luftballons” about how the very real threat loomed heavily over the world’s population during the Cold War. And Nena wasn’t the only band to tackle the issue in 1984.

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English heavy metal quintet Iron Maiden also dug into the tensions between the West and the USSR and how some politicians get rich on war profiteering, incentivizing continued conflict rather than de-escalation, with vocalist Bruce Dickinson singing, “The golden goose is on the loose and never out of season.”

But this isn’t some slow dirge-like meditation. This is Iron Maiden, so we get a full six minutes of high impact heavy metal riffage along with Dickinson’s soliloquys on the dangers of the atomic bomb and the fat cats who control it.

The bottom line: If the mushroom cloud is coming anyway, taking cover won’t do much good so we might as well headbang on the way out.

Iron Maiden counts us down at #46 with “2 Minutes To Midnight.”

Sometimes life can feel like an endless slog. Unless you’re one of the privileged few, we all know what it’s like to have someone above you profiting off your hard work, someone ahead of you keeping a foot on your neck. Whether you’ve dealt with greedy bosses or schoolyard bullies, we’ve all felt that feeling of helplessness at one time or another.

And when life weighs you down, a certain heartland rocker has just the “F-U” anthem to pick you back up again.

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Back when he was still mid-transition from his unwanted stage moniker back to his given name, John Cougar Mellencamp dropped an upbeat middle finger of defiance squarely onto the pop chart as the final single from his 1983 album Uh-Huh.

The result was his seventh top 20 hit… and this hit hits back. The message: If you’re gonna go down, go down swinging. Then lick your wounds and fight the good fight again tomorrow.

John Cougar Mellencamp pulls no punches on “Authority Song” at #47.

As someone who lived through the Cold War era of the 80s, albeit as a kid, it’s hard (or at least it used to be hard) to describe the underlying sense of dread that permeated society, and that feeling informed a lot of the art of the time. That certainly includes pop music.

A few of the entries on this list take inspiration from the heightened anxieties of the “Me Decade” but very few could say they wrote something from one of the true epicenters of Cold War symbolism and took it global the way the band Nena did in 1984.

Nena formed in what at the time was the divided city of West Berlin, West Germany in 1981. So they were uniquely qualified to create a pop song that called for the end of political tensions and a more peaceful society.

And of course, it helped that you could dance to it.

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Originally released in German, an English version was eventually recorded as well, but both versions tell essentially the same story. Military forces mistake a cache of balloons released into the sky for an enemy air assault, and the initially innocent act sets off a nuclear war.

The song spoke to how high tensions were running between western countries and the Soviet Union, how it felt like we were always one misstep away from annihilation. It would go on to top the charts in 10 different countries, while in America, it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the original German version actually proving just as, if not more, popular than the English translation.

Whether you prefer “99 Luftballons” or “99 Red Balloons” it all adds up to Nena’s biggest hit floating in at #48.

Formed in 1981, it only took two years for the British group Culture Club to conquer the music world and thrust their androgynous lead singer Boy George into the global spotlight.

After spending 1982 building their brand throughout Europe, they moved on to America by 1983 and blasted out of the gate with two huge hit songs, “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” and “Time (Clock Of The Heart)”. Both songs just missed topping the American pop chart, topping out at #2.

But their sophomore album would help them grab that elusive U.S. chart topper.

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They did it with a song that describes a wishy-washy acquaintance, someone who is always more than happy to tell people whatever they want to hear to get what they want. In doing so, they coined an enduring phrase, and its repetitive chorus made it a singalong classic of the 80s.

Culture Club tells off a two-faced pseudo-friend on “Karma Chameleon” at #49.

1984 was the year that the British quartet led by Freddie Mercury inexplicably fell out of favor with American audiences. And I really can’t tell you why.

On the worldwide stage, Queen remained a force in the music world and would continue releasing new original music until Mercury’s death from AIDS in 1991. But 1984 saw the band hit the American top 40 for the final time with a new song. (They would triumphantly return in 1992 in the wake of Mercury’s death with a re-release of their seminal hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.”)

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That final hit was a synth-driven rocker that would eventually give Lady Gaga her moniker. But “Radio Ga Ga” is not the song I’m ranking on this countdown. Nor am I ranking “I Want To Break Free,” their beloved UK hit whose video found the whole band hilariously vamping it up as a house full of several generations of British women.

No, I’m going with a third option off their 1984 album The Works, an uptempo rocker that showcases their trademark vocal harmonies with an almost ELO-influenced flourish. It’s big and bold and lets the band show off many of the things it did best as Mercury raises his voice to sarcastically chide the leaders driving the Cold War and its constant underlying threat of nuclear annihilation.

Queen perch their throne at #50 with “Hammer To Fall.”

By the middle of the 1980s, the breakdancing fad was reaching critical mass. The artform had spent years bubbling up from the streets, and by 1984 it had gone mainstream with the youth of America. The year saw the release of the major motion picture Breakin’, a movie that starred actual breakdancers Shabba Doo and Boogaloo Shrimp in the roles of Ozone and Turbo as well as a young Ice T.

Before the year was out, a sequel – Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo – was also rushed out to theaters.

Musically, the electro style of hip-hop that was favored by breakdancers had its biggest year on the pop charts with a pair of top 10 hits namechecking the style: Irene Cara’s “Breakdance” and Ollie & Jerry’s “Breakin’… There’s No Stopping Us”. The latter was actually taken from the soundtrack to the first Breakin’.

But perhaps the most authentic breakdance cut to garner national attention was from a crew in Brooklyn called Newcleus.

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Released on the independent Sunnyview label, the song had its roots in a previous recording that was something of an anti-hip hop record, as group member Cozmo D thought the style of music was frivolous and silly.

But in the process, he ended up making a sort of electro “Rapper’s Delight” with a beat that breakdancers could really sink their teeth into.

And while it missed the top 40, peaking at #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, it became a favorite of the streets and an enduring classic of a street movement whose influence can still be seen over 40 years later.

Newcleus pops and locks in at #51 with “Jam On It.”

Plucked from midwestern obscurity by 80s super-producer Quincy Jones, Akron, Ohio, native James Ingram exploded onto the R&B scene thanks to key featured vocal spots on Jones’s 1981 album The Dude.

Ingram was the voice behind the album’s biggest hits, “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways,” and in 1982, he duetted with Patti Austin on the #1 smash “Baby, Come To Me.”

So his star was already well on the rise when he finally released his debut album It’s Your Night in 1983. And after teaming again with Austin for the R&B hit “How Do You Keep The Music Playing?” Ingram finally made a splash in the pop top 40 as a lead artist, though once again, he had a partner in crime.

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One of the most distinctive singing voices of the 70s and 80s, Michael McDonald was a session all-star as a backup vocalist before joining the Doobie Brothers near the end of their most successful period. When they called it quits, he started releasing his own music as a solo artist, but he remained open to a top-notch collab.

His pairing with Ingram would indeed prove to be top-notch, earning them a Grammy for a song with a Gospel-influenced message (“Yah” = Yahweh) that climbed the charts after getting a key remix by NYC dance music producer “Jellybean” Benitez.

And if that’s not enough, the song’s distinctive title earned a shout-out of sorts in the 2005 comedy film The 40-Year-Old Virgin when Paul Rudd’s character, electronics store worker David, is so tired of the Michael McDonald DVD on loop on the stores bank of TVs that he threatens to “Yah mo burn this place to the ground.”

James Ingram and Michael McDonald have faith that “Yah Mo B There” at #52.

He first came to prominence as frontman for The Babys, a British group that generated a pair of top 20 hits in the late 70s, but as the new decade dawned, their fortunes waned and the group broke up.

That’s when John Waite decided to bet on himself as a solo artist, and it didn’t take long for the record-buying public to justify that decision. By his second album, 1984’s No Brakes, he had co-written and recorded one of the decade’s truly classic ballads.

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The song finds Waite exploring the denial stage of grief after a bad breakup with a vocal yearning that evokes Don Henley’s most emotional output.

His first solo pop hit in America, it would far surpass any of his previous group success, taking him all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first of two career chart-toppers he would voice.

Don’t believe what you’ve heard. John Waite ain’t “Missing You” at #53.