Billboard #1 Soul Songs Of 1983 Rankdown (COMPLETE)

[Private Dancer]

Donna and CHAKA IN THE TOP FIVE!!!! NOW LETS GET CHAKA IN THE TOP 3! Donna will probably be #5/#4...if Chaka wins...well nvm Micheal jackson gonna win🤦🏾‍♂️ chaka will either be #3 or #2

[Soulsista]

5. She Works Hard For The Money - Donna Summer

"She Works Hard For The Money" was Donna's biggest '80s hit, with a Top 5 peak on the Hot 100. The music video was the first by an African American woman to be put in heavy rotation on MTV.


Stats:
Chart Entry: June 4, 1983
Peak Date: July 30, 1983
Weeks At #1: 3
Weeks In Top 10: 8
Weeks On Chart: 19
Hot 100 Peak: #3

Points: 248
Average: 5.81

netti - 1
.indulgecountry - 1
Private Dancer - 3
#LisaRinna - 3
craziaskowboi - 3
Troublemaker - 3
Juanca - 3
mamooshka - 3
gonecountry - 4
annoymous1 - 4
@gabingston - 4
Ky - 4
wyckyd - 5
Mirago - 5

Red - 6
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 7
rowellfarm490 - 7
@slipperyslope - 7
Soulsista - 8
Unhinged - 8
singingrulebritannia - 9
jtd Thee Stallion - 9
@antigonerising - 9
Ivy Leegue™ - 9
B-Boy - 10

stallie - 11
SHOOTER - 11


The final four, in chronological order:

Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Beat It - Michael Jackson
Juicy Fruit - Mtume
Ain't Nobody - Rufus & Chaka Khan

Will we see an all-MJ Top 2? Find out tomorrow!

[Deleted]

Top 4 is my top 4 nice.

[annoymous1]

I think MJ will take the top 2 spots.

[Soulsista]

Today's extra was the breakthrough single for this family group from Michigan. It spent 4 weeks at #2 on the soul chart and also peaked at #31 on the Hot 100.

I Like It - DeBarge

[Red]

Oh wow. Cannot say I was expecting Mtume to make the top four, but I'm here for it.

FWIW, I think the top two will be "Billie Jean" and "Ain't Nobody", but it, obviously, wouldn't surprise me if "Beat It" is there.

[SHOOTER]

Definitely expecting BJ to pull off the win! But solid top-4 regardless.

[#LisaRinna]

YAS top 5!

[Private Dancer]

Of course MJ will take the top two spots because those songs are popular and chaka will take #3

[Soulsista]

Welcome back!

We kick off today's reveals with 4 perfect rankings...and someone will shed a bottom 4 ranking.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}B-Boy Private Dancer singingrulebritannia jtd Thee Stallion netti @antigonerising wyckyd stallie #LisaRinna Mirago Unhinged gonecountry craziaskowboi 🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 rowellfarm490 .indulgecountry Red Troublemaker Juanca annoymous1 Ivy Leegue™ mamooshka @slipperyslope SHOOTER @gabingston Ky

[Private Dancer]

Chaka at #3 or #2 but no doubt BJ gonna win.

AINT NOBODY IS BETTER THAN BILLIE JEAN

[Soulsista]

4. Juicy Fruit - Mtume

One of the longest-running #1 soul hits of the year, "Juicy Fruit" managed to go gold, despite missing the Top 40 of the Hot 100. It's been notably sampled in "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G., "Let It Go" by Keyshia Cole, and "The One" by Tamar Braxton.


Stats:
Chart Entry: April 9, 1983
Peak Date: June 4, 1983
Weeks At #1: 8
Weeks In Top 10: 13
Weeks On Chart: 25
Hot 100 Peak: #45

Points: 256
Average: 5.52

Troublemaker - 2
netti - 3
wyckyd - 3
.indulgecountry - 4
Juanca - 4
@slipperyslope - 4
SHOOTER - 4
Soulsista - 5
B-Boy - 5
Private Dancer - 5
@antigonerising - 5
gonecountry - 5
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 5
rowellfarm490 - 5
Red - 5
Ivy Leegue™ - 5
@gabingston - 5

#LisaRinna - 6
Mirago - 6
Unhinged - 6
mamooshka - 6
singingrulebritannia - 7
stallie - 7
annoymous1 - 7
jtd Thee Stallion - 8
Ky - 10

craziaskowboi - 12


Up next: the first of 2 songs that everyone ranked in their Top 10...5 people will lose a #1.

[#LisaRinna]

Sampled for the Gawds!

[Soulsista]

3. Beat It - Michael Jackson

Featuring a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen, not only is "Beat It" one of MJ's most well-known songs, it's also one of his biggest worldwide hits, topping the charts in Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and Spain. In the US, it also topped the Hot 100 and made it to #14 on the rock chart. Fall Out Boy covered it in 2008 with John Mayer doing the guitar solo.


Stats:
Chart Entry: April 2, 1983
Peak Date: May 21, 1983
Weeks At #1: 1
Weeks In Top 10: 12
Weeks On Chart: 19
Hot 100 Peak: #1 (3 weeks)

Points: 302
Average: 3.81

Soulsista - 1
jtd Thee Stallion - 1
stallie - 1
gonecountry - 1
@slipperyslope - 1

wyckyd - 2
Unhinged - 2
Red - 2
annoymous1 - 2
Ivy Leegue™ - 2
mamooshka - 2
@gabingston - 2
B-Boy - 3
Mirago - 3
singingrulebritannia - 4
@antigonerising - 4
craziaskowboi - 4
rowellfarm490 - 4
#LisaRinna - 5
.indulgecountry - 5
SHOOTER - 5

Juanca - 6
Private Dancer - 7
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 8
Ky - 8
netti - 9
Troublemaker - 9

[Soulsista]

The Top 2 will be revealed shortly!

But first, an extra. Their other duet closed out 1983 with a 6-week stay atop the Hot 100, and a 4-week stay at #2 on the soul chart.

Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson

[Deleted]

Apparently Say Say Say is considered Michael Jacksons biggest song ever. It's also one of my least favorites from MJ as well. His Paul McCartney tracks aren't that good.

[Soulsista]

This is is...the conclusion of the Billboard #1 Soul Songs Of 1983 Rankdown.

In the previous rankdowns, the #1 song was usually a song that everyone ranked in their Top 10. Not quite so in this case...



2. Ain't Nobody - Rufus & Chaka Khan

One of 4 studio recordings from their live album Stompin' At The Savoy, "Ain't Nobody" is one of Chaka's most well-known songs. It's been covered numerous times since its release.


Stats:
Chart Entry: July 30, 1983
Peak Date: October 15, 1983
Weeks At #1: 1
Weeks In Top 10: 9
Weeks On Chart: 27
Weeks On Chart: #22

Points: 319
Average: 3.19

🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 1
Troublemaker - 1
Ky - 1
Private Dancer - 2
netti - 2
stallie - 2
#LisaRinna - 2
Mirago - 2
gonecountry - 2
craziaskowboi - 2
rowellfarm490 - 2
.indulgecountry - 2
Juanca - 2
SHOOTER - 2

Soulsista - 3
jtd Thee Stallion - 3
@antigonerising - 3
Red - 3
@slipperyslope - 3
wyckyd - 4
Ivy Leegue™ - 4
mamooshka - 4
singingrulebritannia - 5
annoymous1 - 5

B-Boy - 7
Unhinged - 7
@gabingston - 10

---

1. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

It took "Billie Jean" just 3 weeks to top the soul chart, the fastest rise to #1 since The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There", which also did it in 3 weeks in 1970. In addition to the US, it also topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. The music video was one of the first by a black artist to be played on MTV.

Here's his performance at Motown 25:




Stats:
Chart Entry: January 29, 1983
Peak Date: February 12, 1983
Weeks at #1: 9
Weeks In Top 10: 14
Weeks On Chart: 23
Hot 100 Peak: #1 (7 weeks)

Points: 337
Average: 2.52

B-Boy - 1
singingrulebritannia - 1
@antigonerising - 1
wyckyd - 1
#LisaRinna - 1
Mirago - 1
Unhinged - 1
craziaskowboi - 1
rowellfarm490 - 1
Red - 1
Juanca - 1
annoymous1 - 1
Ivy Leegue™ - 1
mamooshka - 1
SHOOTER - 1
@gabingston - 1

Soulsista - 2
jtd Thee Stallion - 2
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 2
@slipperyslope - 2
stallie - 3
gonecountry - 3
Troublemaker - 4

Private Dancer - 6
netti - 8
Ky - 9

.indulgecountry - 11


And that concludes the Billboard #1 Soul Songs Of 1983 Rankdown. Thanks so much to everyone who participated.

See you in '84!

[Ivy Leegue™]

LOL indulge. Great #1 and #2!

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

So my top two made it exactly in the top 2...just in reverse. lol

[gonecountry]

Soulsista, thanks for a great rankdown.  Happy to see Chaka make it to #2.  I took a peek at 1984's #1s, that is going to be a challenging year to rank.  We have some heavy hitters.

[annoymous1]

Thanks for another great rankdown Soulsista . At least I got the #1 right this time.

[mamooshka]

Soulsista - a great RD. Looking forward to the next one. 

Attachment Deleted

[Private Dancer]

I'm glad my girl Chaka made it at #2. And I saw the #1's of 1984 and I'm reaaaaaaady!!!!!!

[Soulsista]

Perfect Rankings:

Red / SHOOTER - 6
Mirago / rowellfarm490 / mamooshka / Juanca - 5
singingrulebritannia / gonecountry / Private Dancer - 4
Unhinged / craziaskowboi / #LisaRinna - 3
stallie / @gabingston / netti / @slipperyslope / wyckyd / .indulgecountry / B-Boy - 2
jtd Thee Stallion / Troublemaker / Soulsista / 🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 / @antigonerising / annoymous1 / Ivy Leegue™ - 1
Ky - 0


I'll leave you with one final extra, from a movie about a woman who was a welder by day and a dancer by night. It topped the Hot 100 for 6 weeks and spent 5 weeks at #2 on the soul chart. Produced by Giorgio Moroder.

Flashdance...What a Feeling - Irene Cara

[SHOOTER]

Aug 16, 2020 15:51:03 GMT -5 Soulsista said:

Perfect Rankings:

Red / SHOOTER - 6

Thanks for hosting! Soulsista bring on 1984!

[Juanca]

Well, 5 perfect rankings was great!
Well deserved top 2.
I LOVE Beat It and could’ve ranked it at #2 but I don’t see it as a great representative of Soul Music. It’s much more rock or pop, whereas Ain’t Nobody is a much more fitting song for the Soul chart in terms of vocals, sound, vibe. Plus it was about time for Chaka to have a big hit in one of this 80s RDs :)
Billie Jean is one of my favorite songs ever and has a good Soul vibe, so it was my clear winner.

Juicy Fruit and Outstanding were my favorite discoveries in this RD (#4 and #5 respectively). I recognized some of the melodies, from samples and maybe radio too. Great to see JF at #4, but O could’ve been a bit higher. Same with Cold blooded. The musicality from TGB and RJ was quite strong in these two songs.

Also, great to see She Works Hard for the Money (my #3) in the top 5. Loved how she infused a bit of rock energy but kept the pop soul vibe at the center of this tune. Also, that video was great!!

Finally, it was good to discover nice stuff from Gladys and Aretha.
Thanks [mention]soulsista [/mention] for another interesting RD!

[.indulgecountry]

I liked everything here except for my last place really so I still like "Billie Jean" and all but it's always been a little overrated to me and I would've rather something else won here, lol. But it was an expected outcome. I enjoyed discovering several jams through this and am looking forward to the next installment. Loving this series.

[#LisaRinna]

Yass Miss Chaka!!

Thank you Soulsista for hosting!

[craziaskowboi]

Ha! My top two were THE top two, just like on the 1996 Active Rock rankdown! Sweeet!

Even sweeeter, unlike the 1996 Active Rock rankdown, where #2 was my #1, and #1 was my #2, I got my top two in the correct order on this rankdown!

I debated long and hard about which one of these two to rank #1, because I love both songs, but I ultimately chose "Billie Jean" because of that opening drum and bass line, which is arguably the best opening to a song I've ever heard!

[craziaskowboi]

Aug 16, 2020 14:10:16 GMT -5 🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 said:

So my top two made it exactly in the top 2...just in reverse. lol

That happened to me once too (scroll down my post at this link).