Billboard #1 Soul Songs Of 1988 Rankdown (COMPLETE)

[Jay D83]

This is my favorite Teena Marie song.

[Soulsista]

9. Love Overboard - Gladys Knight & The Pips

"Love Overboard" was the 10th and final soul charttopper for this legendary group. Written and produced by Reggie and Vincent Calloway, it was not only their final Top 40 hit on the Hot 100, but their final entry on that chart.

Gladys performed this on A Different World with the characters Whitley and Jaleesa.



Apologies to Private Dancer, SHOOTER, and annoymous1...


Stats
Chart Entry: November 14, 1987
Peak Date: January 23, 1988
Weeks At #1: 1
Weeks In Top 10: 7
Weeks On Chart: 15
Hot 100 Peak: #13

Points: 569
Average: 11.29
Standard Deviation: 8.765 (9th highest)

Soulsista - 1
Private Dancer - 1
SHOOTER - 1
annoymous1 - 1
jtd Thee Stallion - 3
#LisaRinna - 4
Jay D83 - 4
ccarter1023 - 5
.indulgecountry - 5
Mirago - 5
Ty - 6
wyckyd - 8
divasummer - 9

jenglisbe - 13
craziaskowboi - 14
mamooshka - 15
rowellfarm490 - 17
back2blk - 19

singingrulebritannia - 21
legend1982 - 22
Ivy Leegue™ - 22
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 24
gonecountry - 25
@antigonerising - 26

Observing
Ky

Two more #1s will say goodbye with our next reveal. Twelve more will shed a Top 10, and 3 will rid themselves of a bottom 10, with one being a bottom 5.

[#LisaRinna]

[annoymous1]

Ya'll did Gladys dirty for what? Not even letting Love Overboard be in the top 5 smh.

[Soulsista]

8. Don't Be Cruel - Bobby Brown

Produced and co-written by L.A. Reid and Babyface, "Don't Be Cruel" was Bobby's second solo #1 on the soul chart and first solo Top 10 on the Hot 100. Certified gold, it started his run as one of the biggest stars of the new jack swing era.

Apologies to legend1982 and @antigonerising...

Stats
Chart Entry: May 28, 1988
Peak Date: July 23, 1988
Weeks At #1: 2
Weeks In Top 10: 5
Weeks On Chart: 20
Hot 100 Peak: #8

Points: 584
Average: 10.67
Standard Deviation: 8.736 (10th highest)

legend1982 - 1
@antigonerising - 1
Soulsista - 2
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 3
Jay D83 - 3
mamooshka - 4
Ivy Leegue™ - 4
craziaskowboi - 5
divasummer - 6
gonecountry - 6
wyckyd - 7
ccarter1023 - 8
rowellfarm490 - 8
back2blk - 10

singingrulebritannia - 12
jenglisbe - 12
jtd Thee Stallion - 12
#LisaRinna - 15
Mirago - 15
SHOOTER - 16
Private Dancer - 18


Ty - 27
.indulgecountry - 29
annoymous1 - 32

Observing
Ky

We'll lose one more #1 with the next reveal. Fifteen others will lose a Top 10 while two more will shed a bottom 10 (and one is a bottom 5).

[legend1982]

:'(

[Jay D83]

Wow at how y'all did "Love Overboard" and "Don't Be Cruel" - ewww...oh and I tanked the other Bobbaaayyy song.

[Soulsista]

7. My Prerogative - Bobby Brown

The follow-up to "Don't Be Cruel" became Bobby's biggest hit and signature song, topping both the soul and pop charts and helping push the Don't Be Cruel album to 7x platinum and the #1 album of 1989. Produced and co-written by Teddy Riley, it was later covered by Britney Spears.

Apologies to mamooshka...


Stats
Chart Entry: August 27, 1988
Peak Date: October 15, 1988
Weeks At #1: 2
Weeks In Top 10: 6
Weeks On Chart: 26
Hot 100 Peak: #1 (1 week)

Points: 595
Average: 10.21
Standard Deviation: 8.241 (13th highest)

mamooshka - 1
ccarter1023 - 2
divasummer - 2
🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 2
Ivy Leegue™ - 2
gonecountry - 3
SHOOTER - 4
Soulsista - 5
@antigonerising - 7
annoymous1 - 7
#LisaRinna - 8
singingrulebritannia - 9
craziaskowboi - 10
rowellfarm490 - 10
jenglisbe - 10
Ty - 10

back2blk - 11
legend1982 - 11
jtd Thee Stallion - 11
Private Dancer - 19
Mirago - 20

wyckyd - 23
.indulgecountry - 26
Jay D83 - 32

Observing
Ky

The next reveal misses the Top 5 by just 4 points. Someone will lose their #1, while 13 others will shed a Top 10. This is the first reveal where nobody loses a bottom 10. It has the second lowest SD.

[annoymous1]

Yes got another perfect ranking.

[Ivy Leegue™]

In. WHAT. FUCKING. WORLD. IS. ONE. MORE. TRY. NOT. NUMBER 1. COMPARED. TO. THE. OTHER. SONGS. MY God, I am lost. Bye!

[Soulsista]

6. I Want Her - Keith Sweat

The first charted single by this Harlem-born singer became his first soul charttopper and first Top 10 on the Hot 100, helping to popularize new jack swing. Written and produced by Keith and Teddy Riley, it was named Billboard's top soul song for 1988.

Apologies to 🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲...


Stats
Chart Entry: November 14, 1987
Peak Date: January 30, 1988
Weeks At #1: 3
Weeks In Top 10: 7
Weeks On Chart: 21
Hot 100 Peak: #5

Points: 597
Average: 10.13
Standard Deviation: 4.848 (2nd lowest)

🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 - 1
@antigonerising - 5
craziaskowboi - 6
back2blk - 6
jenglisbe - 6
jtd Thee Stallion - 6
Jay D83 - 7
Private Dancer - 8
mamooshka - 8
gonecountry - 8
Mirago - 9
Ivy Leegue™ - 9
SHOOTER - 10
ccarter1023 - 10

singingrulebritannia - 11
Soulsista - 12
legend1982 - 12
divasummer - 12
annoymous1 - 12
rowellfarm490 - 13
#LisaRinna - 14
Ty - 14

wyckyd - 21
.indulgecountry - 23

Observing
Ky

[Ivy Leegue™]

LOL @ Love Overboard in the Top 10. This is the closest I have been to having a meltdown over a rankdown.

[Soulsista]

The Top 5, in chronological order:

Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson
Nite And Day - Al B. Sure!
Paradise - Sade
The Way You Love Me - Karyn White
Giving You The Best That I Got - Anita Baker

MJ's back in the Top 5...will he win for the third time in this series? Or will he be overtaken by Al, Sade, Karyn, or Anita? And there's one last #34 ranking out there, where will it land?

Find out when the Billboard #1 Soul Songs Of 1988 Rankdown concludes tomorrow!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Soul Class Of '88}Private Dancer craziaskowboi SHOOTER back2blk singingrulebritannia legend1982 #LisaRinna wyckyd ccarter1023 divasummer rowellfarm490 Mirago jenglisbe jtd Thee Stallion @antigonerising mamooshka 🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲 Jay D83 gonecountry annoymous1 Ivy Leegue™ .indulgecountry Ty Ky

[jenglisbe]

May 13, 2021 11:29:26 GMT -5 Jay D83 said:

Wow at how y'all did "Love Overboard" and "Don't Be Cruel" - ewww...oh and I tanked the other Bobbaaayyy song.

How is top 10 not good? Lol.

[Deleted]

I definitely underranked Love Overboard, but even if I had given it more thought it still wouldn't have made my top 10, so I'm quite fine with where it landed.

Daw, thought at least one Bobby B song would make top 5. At least I got a perfect ranking out of one of them!

Not unhappy with this top 5 at all but I have to say I am rather surprised that Al B. Sure made it this far.

[gonecountry]

Whitney's ghost is going to haunt all y'all. Neither Bobby Brown CLASSIC made it to the Top 5?!?!?!?

WT HOLY F is that about?

Paradise made the Top 5?

Sing me more than one line of that classic....

[singingrulebritannia]

May 13, 2021 12:29:08 GMT -5 gonecountry said:

Whitney's ghost is going to haunt all y'all. Neither Bobby Brown CLASSIC made it to the Top 5?!?!?!?

With what we know about their relationship? Do you think your confidence in this joke is a little undue maybe?

[back2blk]

Oooh bitch, if my Anita made it to no. 1..... I will celebrate.

[mamooshka]

May 12, 2021 11:16:02 GMT -5 Soulsista said:

13. Girlfriend - Pebbles

Fun fact: this song was originally intended for Vanessa Williams' debut album....

She woulda slayed it.

Attachment Deleted

[Private Dancer]

At least Love Overboard made it to the top ten...dont disrepct the legendary Gladys...

If Karyn wins or Anita wins it will be fine with me

[Private Dancer]

And man in the mirror in the top ten??? Really??? Wow

[wyckyd]

YES, I love that my top 4 are still in! ...and Man In The Mirror too, ok

[annoymous1]

Have a feeling Man In The Mirror is going to be the #1 for this rankdown.

[jenglisbe]

3 of my top 5 and 4 of my top 7 are still in!

[Soulsista]

Today's extra was another one of her 7 consecutive #1s on the Hot 100. On the soul chart, it peaked at #5.

So Emotional - Whitney Houston

[SHOOTER]

These results are not conducive to my healing. Bye.

[craziaskowboi]

"Don't Be Cruel" is a quintessential new jack swing composition: uptempo and energetic, with half of the vocals sung, and the other half rapped. New jack swing proved that rap and R&B could go well together. Unfortunately, many classic soul fans and hard-core rap fans hated new jack swing. The classic soul fans hated the inclusion of rap and the use of sampling, and the hard-core rap fans hated its accessibility and widespread appeal. I like it, though. It's fun, and it makes me feel good when I listen to it.

[Jay D83]

May 13, 2021 12:21:05 GMT -5 jenglisbe said:

May 13, 2021 11:29:26 GMT -5 Jay D83 said:

Wow at how y'all did "Love Overboard" and "Don't Be Cruel" - ewww...oh and I tanked the other Bobbaaayyy song.

How is top 10 not good? Lol.

Should’ve been higher lol

[Jay D83]

May 13, 2021 15:39:40 GMT -5 craziaskowboi said:

"Don't Be Cruel" is a quintessential new jack swing composition: uptempo and energetic, with half of the vocals sung, and the other half rapped. New jack swing proved that rap and R&B could go well together. Unfortunately, many classic soul fans and hard-core rap fans hated new jack swing. The classic soul fans hated the inclusion of rap and the use of sampling, and the hard-core rap fans hated its accessibility and widespread appeal. I like it, though. It's fun, and it makes me feel good when I listen to it.

I remember learning those raps and thinking I was the coolest around. I still know them. His other number one though? Overplayed to death.

[craziaskowboi]

May 13, 2021 17:53:50 GMT -5 Jay D83 said:

May 13, 2021 15:39:40 GMT -5 craziaskowboi said:

"Don't Be Cruel" is a quintessential new jack swing composition: uptempo and energetic, with half of the vocals sung, and the other half rapped. New jack swing proved that rap and R&B could go well together. Unfortunately, many classic soul fans and hard-core rap fans hated new jack swing. The classic soul fans hated the inclusion of rap and the use of sampling, and the hard-core rap fans hated its accessibility and widespread appeal. I like it, though. It's fun, and it makes me feel good when I listen to it.

I remember learning those raps and thinking I was the coolest around. I still know them. His other number one though? Overplayed to death.

"My Prerogative" is good, but I do agree that it gets overplayed sometimes. Nonetheless, it's his signature song and his biggest triumph, being his only solo #1 hit on the Hot 100.