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 1981, 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.
The year's first chart-topper was "(Just Like) Starting Over" by John Lennon, which had 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, 1980. In the issue dated February 21, the country music singer Dolly Parton topped the Hot 100 for the first time with "9 to 5". A week later, it was displaced by another country song, "I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbitt. It was the first Hot 100 number one for Rabbitt and marked the only occasion during the 1980s when two consecutive number ones were both country songs. The Scottish singer Sheena Easton gained her first number one in May with "Morning Train (9 to 5)". In her native United Kingdom, the song had been a top ten success under the title "9 to 5", but it was given a new title for the U.S. market to avoid confusion with Parton's identically titled song. In June, Stars on 45, a Dutch studio-based group consisting of session singers, topped the Hot 100 for the first and only time with a medley of soundalike versions of songs from the 1960s, predominantly tracks originally recorded by the Beatles. In other territories, the single was also entitled "Stars on 45", but for legal reasons it was released in the United States under a title incorporating the names of all the songs included in the medley. Its 41-word title set a new record for the longest of any song to enter the Hot 100. Other acts that hit number one for the first time in 1981 were Kool & the Gang, REO Speedwagon, Kim Carnes, Air Supply, and Rick Springfield.
The final number-one single of 1981 was "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John which reached the top of the chart in the issue of Billboard dated November 21; it held the top spot for the final six weeks of 1981. It remained at number one for four further weeks in 1982, tying the record set by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" in 1977 for the longest-running chart-topper in the history of the Hot 100. Newton-John retained her share of the record until 1992, when "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men spent 13 weeks at number one. The longest run at number one wholly within 1981 was the nine weeks which "Endless Love" by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie spent atop the chart; it tied for the most weeks in the peak position during the year with "Bette Davis Eyes" by Carnes, which also spent nine weeks at number one but in two separate runs. "Endless Love" was the first solo chart-topper for Richie, who had previously reached number one as a member of Commodores. Blondie and Daryl Hall & John Oates were the only acts to take more than one single to number one during the year; both acts had two singles reach the top spot. Blondie's "Rapture", a number one in March and April, is notable as the first Hot 100 number one to feature rapping, performed by the group's lead singer Debbie Harry; at the time rapping was mainly an underground artform and little known in the mainstream.
Chart history
+Issue dateTitleArtist(s)495""496""Blondie497"Celebration"Kool & the Gang498"9 to 5"499"I Love a Rainy Night"498 (re)"9 to 5"500"Keep On Loving You"REO Speedwagon501"Rapture"Blondie502 "Kiss on My List"Daryl Hall & John Oates503"Morning Train (Nine to Five)"504"Bette Davis Eyes"505"Medley"Stars on 45504 (re)"Bette Davis Eyes"506 ""Air Supply507"Jessie's Girl"508"Endless Love" and Lionel Richie509"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"510"Private Eyes"Daryl Hall & John Oates511"Physical"
Notes
Number-one artists + List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one Weeks at No. 1 Artist 9 Kim Carnes Diana Ross Lionel Richie 6 Olivia Newton-John 5 Daryl Hall & John Oates 4 John Lennon 3 Blondie Christopher Cross 2 Kool & the Gang Eddie Rabbitt Dolly Parton Sheena Easton Rick Springfield 1 REO Speedwagon Stars on 45 Air Supply
See also 1981 in music Cashbox Top 100 number-one singles of 1981 List of Billboard number-one singles List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1981 List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1980s
References
Works cited