Eras · The 1980s

1985 in music

Who ruled 1985? Madonna was Artist of the Year on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Every #1 song of 1985, the biggest songs and the top artists.

Billboard Hot 100

Artist of the Year 1985

Madonna

17 crowns · 23 weeks among the top five artists · Era Power 138

Top artists of 1985
#	Artist	Era Power	Crowns	Top-five weeks
1	Madonna	138	17	23
2	Phil Collins	128	1	13
3	Bryan Adams	120	2	7
4	Tears For Fears	104	6	18
5	Wham!	101	0	5
6	Kool & The Gang	99	0	4
7	Bruce Springsteen	95	0	2
8	Glenn Frey	92	0	9
9	Tina Turner	85	0	4
10	Prince And The Revolution	82	0	5

Every #1 song of 198527 songs reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100
First week at #1	Song	Artist	Weeks at #1
Jan 5, 1985	Like A Virgin	Madonna	4
Feb 2, 1985	I Want To Know What Love Is	Foreigner	2
Feb 16, 1985	Careless Whisper	Wham! feat. George Michael	3
Mar 9, 1985	Can't Fight This Feeling	REO Speedwagon	3
Mar 30, 1985	One More Night	Phil Collins	2
Apr 13, 1985	We Are The World	USA For Africa	4
May 11, 1985	Crazy For You	Madonna	1
May 18, 1985	Don't You (Forget About Me)	Simple Minds	1
May 25, 1985	Everything She Wants	Wham!	2
Jun 8, 1985	Everybody Wants To Rule The World	Tears For Fears	2
Jun 22, 1985	Heaven	Bryan Adams	2
Jul 6, 1985	Sussudio	Phil Collins	1
Jul 13, 1985	A View To A Kill	Duran Duran	2
Jul 27, 1985	Everytime You Go Away	Paul Young	1
Aug 3, 1985	Shout	Tears For Fears	3
Aug 24, 1985	The Power Of Love	Huey Lewis & The News	2
Sep 7, 1985	St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)	John Parr	2
Sep 21, 1985	Money For Nothing	Dire Straits	3
Oct 12, 1985	Oh Sheila	Ready For The World	1
Oct 19, 1985	Take On Me	a-ha	1
Oct 26, 1985	Saving All My Love For You	Whitney Houston	1
Nov 2, 1985	Part-Time Lover	Stevie Wonder	1
Nov 9, 1985	Miami Vice Theme	Jan Hammer	1
Nov 16, 1985	We Built This City	Starship	2
Nov 30, 1985	Separate Lives	Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin	1
Dec 7, 1985	Broken Wings	Mr. Mister	2
Dec 21, 1985	Say You, Say Me	Lionel Richie	2

Biggest songs of 1985Songs that entered the chart in 1985, by Record Power
#	Song	Artist	Peak	Weeks	Record Power
1	That's What Friends Are For	Dionne Warwick	#1	23	45.2
2	Say You, Say Me	Lionel Richie	#1	20	43.6
3	Separate Lives	Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin	#1	21	42.9
4	I Miss You	Klymaxx	#5	29	42.3
5	Broken Wings	Mr. Mister	#1	22	41.2
6	Crazy For You	Madonna	#1	21	40.7
7	How Will I Know	Whitney Houston	#1	24	40.4
8	Everybody Wants To Rule The World	Tears For Fears	#1	24	40.0
9	We Built This City	Starship	#1	24	39.8
10	Everytime You Go Away	Paul Young	#1	23	39.6

UK Singles Chart

Artist of the Year 1985

Madonna

15 crowns · 28 weeks among the top five artists · Era Power 161

Top artists of 1985
#	Artist	Era Power	Crowns	Top-five weeks
1	Madonna	161	15	28
2	Bruce Springsteen	77	0	8
3	Tears For Fears	74	0	9
4	King	70	3	6
5	Phil Collins	63	3	3
6	Go West	63	0	2
7	Dead Or Alive	59	3	4
8	Jennifer Rush	55	1	9
9	Kool & The Gang	54	0	5
10	Eurythmics	53	0	5

Every #1 song of 198520 songs reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart
First week at #1	Song	Artist	Weeks at #1
Jan 6, 1985	Do They Know It's Christmas?	Band-Aid	1
Jan 13, 1985	I Want To Know What Love Is	Foreigner	3
Feb 3, 1985	I Know Him So Well	Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson	4
Mar 3, 1985	You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)	Dead Or Alive	2
Mar 17, 1985	Easy Lover	Philip Bailey & Phil Collins	4
Apr 14, 1985	We Are The World	USA For Africa	2
Apr 28, 1985	Move Closer	Phyllis Nelson	1
May 5, 1985	19	Paul Hardcastle	5
Jun 9, 1985	You'll Never Walk Alone	The Crowd	2
Jun 23, 1985	Frankie	Sister Sledge	4
Jul 21, 1985	There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)	Eurythmics	1
Jul 28, 1985	Into the Groove	Madonna	4
Aug 25, 1985	I Got You Babe ft Chrissie Hynde	UB40 feat. Chrissie Hynde	1
Sep 1, 1985	Dancing In The Street	David Bowie & Mick Jagger	4
Sep 29, 1985	If I Was	Midge Ure	1
Oct 6, 1985	The Power Of Love	Jennifer Rush	5
Nov 10, 1985	A Good Heart	Feargal Sharkey	2
Nov 24, 1985	I'm Your Man	Wham!	2
Dec 8, 1985	Saving All My Love For You	Whitney Houston	2
Dec 22, 1985	Merry Christmas Everyone	Shakin' Stevens	2

Biggest songs of 1985Songs that entered the chart in 1985, by Record Power
#	Song	Artist	Peak	Weeks	Record Power
1	Merry Christmas Everyone	Shakin' Stevens	#1	108	151.6
2	Running Up That Hill	Kate Bush	#1	62	91.3
3	The Power Of Love	Jennifer Rush	#1	33	54.4
4	Move Closer	Phyllis Nelson	#1	26	42.8
5	Everybody Wants To Rule The World	Tears For Fears	#2	83	42.2
6	Into the Groove	Madonna	#1	22	41.7
7	Cherish	Kool & The Gang	#4	22	40.8
8	Frankie	Sister Sledge	#1	17	37.3
9	Trapped	Colonel Abrams	#3	24	36.9
10	Take On Me	a-ha	#2	22	36.9

Artist of the Year and the rankings are the ChartReign Power model: the artist with the most chart power over the year, not the most #1s. Crowns are weeks crowned Artist of the Week. How it works