The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published since August 1958 by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States. In 1980, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations, respectively. During the year, 17 different singles spent time at number one.
In the issue of Billboard dated January 5, KC and the Sunshine Band moved into the number-one position with "Please Don't Go", displacing the final chart-topper of 1979, "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes. The following week, Holmes's single returned to the top spot for one further week. The British rock band Queen reached the top spot for the first time in February with "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". The group returned to number one in October with "Another One Bites the Dust" and was the only act with more than one Hot 100 number one during 1980. Although Queen is one of the best-selling acts of all time, with reported sales of more than 300 million records, the band's two number ones in 1980 were its only Hot 100 chart-toppers. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was replaced at number one by another single by a successful British band, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II" by Pink Floyd. It was the first and only Hot 100 number one for the group, which had been active since the 1960s and is also one of the best-selling acts of all time. The next chart-topper, "Call Me" by Blondie, was the first of two singles to spend six consecutive weeks at number one in 1980, the most by any single.
Between May and August, Lipps Inc., Billy Joel, and Christopher Cross all topped the Hot 100 for the first time. "Funkytown", the first charting single for Lipps Inc., spent four weeks at number number one, but after one more single, which only reached number 64, the act's Hot 100 career ended. In contrast, Joel was still having top 10 success in the 1990s and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Kenny Rogers gained his first Hot 100 number one in November 1980 with "Lady". The singer had first entered the chart in the late 1960s as the leader of the First Edition (later Kenny Rogers and the First Edition), but had launched a highly successful solo career in the country music genre after the break-up of that group, achieving nine number ones on the Hot Country Singles chart between April 1977 and January 1980. "Lady", written by Lionel Richie, was his biggest crossover success to date, topping both the country and pop charts as well as Billboards Adult Contemporary listing and even entering the Hot Soul Singles chart; its six weeks atop the Hot 100 tied for the year's longest run at number one. The year's final chart-topper was "(Just Like) Starting Over" by John Lennon, which moved into the top spot in the issue of Billboard dated December 27. It was the first new song released by Lennon since 1975 and was intended to be the start of a comeback for the singer, but it proved to be a posthumous number one after he was murdered on December 8.
Chart history
+Issue dateTitleArtist(s)480"Please Don't Go" KC and the Sunshine Band479 (re)"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"481"Rock with You"482"Do That to Me One More Time"Captain & Tennille483"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"Queen484"Another Brick in the Wall, Part II"Pink Floyd485"Call Me"Blondie486"Funkytown"Lipps Inc.487"Coming Up"488"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"489"Magic"490"Sailing"491"Upside Down" 492"Another One Bites the Dust"Queen493"Woman in Love"494"Lady"495""
Notes
Number-one artists + List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one Weeks at No. 1 Artist 7 Queen 6 Blondie Kenny Rogers 4 Michael Jackson Pink Floyd Lipps Inc. Olivia Newton-John Diana Ross 3 Paul McCartney Barbra Streisand 2 Billy Joel 1 KC and the Sunshine Band Rupert Holmes Captain & Tennille Christopher Cross John Lennon
See also 1980 in music List of Cashbox Top 100 number-one singles of 1980 Lists of Billboard number-one singles List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1980s
References
Works cited