3/4/15

Hot 100 Debuts - August 1982


Seven months into 1982 and an average of nine singles have debuted each week with an average of thirty-eight debuts each month.  (The seeming discrepancy in numbers owing to the fact that two months thus far in 1982 have had five weeks instead of four.)  With thirty-five singles in its four weeks, August 1982 does little to change the average.
After making it's Hot 100 debut on June 5th, Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" rose to Number One on July 24th and stayed there for the next five weeks, lording over all of August. In the process, the song kept both Toto's "Rosanna" and John Cougar's "Hurts So Good" from rising above number 2.  From January through July 1982, eight debuting singles had climbed to the top.  How many would rise to the top from the August crop?

Hot 100 debutdebut postitleartist
8/7/198269*I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You're Near)Michael McDonald202
8/7/198278Make BelieveToto148
8/7/198281*Still In The GameSteve Winwood112
8/7/198282I Only Want To Be With YouNicolette Larson99
8/7/198283*Emotions In MotionBilly Squier70
8/7/198287*Let It Be MeWillie Nelson128
8/7/198289How Can I Live Without HerChristopher Atkins64
8/7/198290Your Daddy Don’t KnowToronto50
109
8/14/198272*Hold OnSantana176
8/14/198273*Workin’ For A Livin’Huey Lewis and the News124
8/14/198283Night ShiftQuarterflash87
8/14/198285*You Dropped A Bomb On MeThe Gap Band147
8/14/198288*Don’t Run My LifeSpys41
8/14/198289Holdin’ OnTane Cain134
8/14/198290In The Drivers SeatJohn Schneider61
110
8/21/198269You Keep Runnin’ Away38 Special131
8/21/198271VoyeurKim Carnes151
8/21/198274*Break It To Me GentlyJuice Newton188
8/21/198280Johnny Can’t ReadDon Henley123
8/21/198283Jump To ItAretha Franklin159
8/21/198284He Got YouRonnie Milsap88
8/21/198285Right AwayKansas60
8/21/198287The One You LoveGlenn Frey179
8/21/198288*Steppin’ OutJoe Jackson201
8/21/198289*Up Where We BelongJoe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes212
8/21/198290He Could Be The OneJosie Cotton59
141
8/28/198267*You Don’t Want Me AnymoreSteel Breeze179
8/28/198273Big FunKool & The Gang164
8/28/198274*Don’t Fight ItKenny Loggins with Steve Perry172
8/28/198276Sweet TimeREO Speedwagon156
8/28/198285*Love Come DownEvelyn King174
8/28/198286*She Looks A Lot Like YouClocks70
8/28/198288Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing/You’re All I Need To Get ByChris Christian29
8/28/198289*NobodySylvia179
8/28/198290Sad HeartsFour Tops36
129

The third week scored highest for the month of August with a per song average of 141 points. The higher number is no surprise when you look at the average peak (34), average weeks on chart (14) and average number of weeks from debut to peak (7) - those three factors alone were higher than those of other weeks. It also helped that the week produced two of the three eventual Top 10 songs from the month, including the month's only Number One when "Up Where We Belong" peaked in November. Also worth noting: "Up Where We Belong" currently holds the record for lowest debut position of Number One songs from 1982, rising from number 89 to number 1 over eleven weeks.
The previous record holder was Human League's "Don't You Want Me" which debuted at number 86 in March and then peaked at number 1 in July, seventeen weeks later.  Though both the Clocks and Spys songs could have been HERC's picks for underdogs of the month, he's going with the monumental pairing of Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry on their song "Don't Fight It" - how was this song not a Number One smash?
The song peaked at number 17 in a three month chart run on the Hot 100 and only eked out a number 4 spot on The Top Tracks chart after debuting at number 17 the week of September 4th, when the single-sided 12" promo was also listed as seventh Most Added record amongst AOR stations. (The week before, the 45 of "Don't Fight It" debuted on the Rock Albums chart at number 37.)  The following week, "Don't Fight It" ascended to number 13 on the Top Tracks chart with parent album High Adventure making its debut on the Most Added list at number 2.  The curious double life of the song's 45 continued on the Rock Albums chart as well, even after High Adventure - an actual album - entered the same chart.

Don't Fight It8/289/49/119/189/2510/210/910/1610/2310/3011/611/1311/2011/2712/412/1112/18
Hot 100746651433426232017177697
Rock Albums372127384846
Top Tracks17131510410571826344849544659
High Adventure9/119/189/2510/210/910/1610/2310/3011/611/1311/2011/2712/412/1112/1812/251/1
Rock Albums431916151671717233343
Top 200312217151313133039444242424242
K-Log's brief flirtation with rock radio ended Christmas week 1982 when "Don't Fight It" fell off the Top Tracks chart. But check out that free fall from his second week at number 17, the single's pinnacle on the Hot 100, all the way down to number 76 on the Hot 100 the following week.  Loggins and or Perry must have angered Billboard's chartographers somehow.  The song would last one more week, at number 97, before it was off that chart as well.  The High Adventure album was kept afloat on the Top 200 chart, where it enjoyed another twenty-nine weeks not charted above, by a pair of Loggins soft pop classics: "Heart To Heart" and "Heartlight", both of which peaked higher on the Adult Contemporary chart than on the Hot 100, proving once and for all that Loggins was more popular with his soft rock.  HERC has given the subject way too much thought and has determined the following factors worked against "Don't Fight It", keeping it from ruling the charts:
  • Despite the rock cred Steve Perry (Journey) and guitarist Neil Giraldo (Pat Benatar, John Waite) brought to the project, it just could not overcome the soft rock résumé Kenny Loggins had compiled;
  • No video was apparently made for the song featuring the two distinctive voices trading their lines probably because neither Loggins or Perry had come across as particularly rockin' dudes in their previous videos;
  • On the consecutive weeks of October 23rd and October 30th, 1982, there may or may not have been sixteen songs more worthy of the higher chart positions.  HERC presents those charts below for you to decide:

cover art from HERC's fellow Discogs users
Billboard Hot 100 scans from Record Research/Billboard


1 comment:

  1. "Don't Fight It" should indeed have charted higher, particularly among the charts you present above. Easily the best song on the High Adventure album, I recently placed it at #5 on my list of Kenny Loggins singles and #20 on my list of the top singles of 1982.

    However, the best premiere happened August 21: Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out." The best song of 1982 IMO.

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