The Forgotten Hits of 1985

In 1985, twenty-seven songs reached #1 in the Billboard Hot 100.  I've already written about five of them.  Twenty more will be featured among the top 50 videos of this countdown.  But there were two #1 hits that didn't make the MTV Top 100 countdown at all.

The first was Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love For You". Whitney had a huge 1985, as she rose to international prominence with her self-titled debut album.  This song was just the first of a record seven consecutive #1 hits.

The second was Jan Hammer’s instrumental Miami Vice Theme.  To date, it is the last instrumental song to top the chart.  The Miami Vice soundtrack ruled the album charts for eleven weeks in 1985.

I don’t know why these songs didn't make the MTV countdown.  I remember "Saving All My Love" playing on VH-1 all the time.  Was there some exclusivity governing which channel got to play videos back then?  I’m not sure how that would have worked.  I recall the "How Will I Know" video being played in heavy rotation on MTV.

I wondered if it could be because the songs reached #1 late in 1985, so maybe they were part of the 1986 countdown.  But they are not.  And several songs that topped the charts after these two are included in the 1985 countdown.

So, even though these two #1 songs were neglected in MTV’s honor roll, they find their proper recognition where it counts.  Here.  I believe Whitney would have been proud.