Hot 100 Debuts - November 1982

No one except possibly Michael Jackson himself had any inkling of how phenomenally huge his Thriller album would eventually become.  It all started as modestly as the cover art for the first single in mid-October, when "The Girl Is Mine" was released and its superstar pairing of Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney began getting extensive airplay, showing up on radio station surveys within a week of it's premiere.  The song debuted at number 45 on the Hot 100 the first week of November 1982 and, despite not having a music video to air on MTV, peaked at number 2 in January 1983 though the song topped the Black Singles chart for a three week span around the same time and had ruled the Adult Contemporary chart for four weeks since Christmas.

Then "Billie Jean" dropped on January 2, 1983 and everything went bonkers.  But 1983 is another story for another time.  We're all about 1982 this time around and more specifically November 1982 which continued a growing trend that had started in September 1982 when the Moving Pictures single "What About Me" was released but didn't peak until months later in February 1983. (Well, I guess we're back in 1983 again - ed.) Then in October 1982, nine debuting singles didn't hit their peak chart position in 1983 followed by twenty of the thirty-two singles that debuted during November 1982.  How many of December 1982's Freshman Class will peak in 1983?  We'll find out next week.

Hot 100 debut	debut pos		title	artist
11/6/1982	45		The Girl Is Mine	Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney	207
11/6/1982	72	*	Hand To Hold On To	John Cougar	171
11/6/1982	77	*	You Can’t Hurry Love	Phil Collins	190
11/6/1982	78		Does It Make You Remember	Kim Carnes	134
11/6/1982	79	*	Down Under	Men At Work	215
11/6/1982	88	*	I Know There’s Something Going On	Frida	185
11/6/1982	89		Theme From Dynasty	Bill Conti	102
11/6/1982	90	*	You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’	Judas Priest	72
					160
11/13/1982	58	*	You Got Lucky	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	169
11/13/1982	72	*	Two Less Lonely People In The World	Air Supply	132
11/13/1982	76		I Gotta Try	Michael McDonald	119
11/13/1982	77		Forever Mine	The Motels	87
11/13/1982	79	*	Valerie	Steve Winwood	65
11/13/1982	83	*	Space Age Love Song	A Flock Of Seagulls	147
11/13/1982	85	*	Goody Two Shoes	Adam Ant	186
11/13/1982	86	*	Goodbye To You	Scandal	80
11/13/1982	89		Pledge Pin	Robert Plant	57
11/13/1982	90		Put It In A Magazine	Sonny Charles	126
					117
11/20/1982	56	*	I Do [Live]	The J. Geils Band	161
11/20/1982	59	*	The Other Guy	Little River Band	187
11/20/1982	68		Wake Up My Love	George Harrison	99
11/20/1982	78		(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care	Joni Mitchell	114
11/20/1982	79		Memory	Barry Manilow	130
					138
11/27/1982	59		Heart To Heart	Kenny Loggins	180
11/27/1982	72		Love In Store	Fleetwood Mac	165
11/27/1982	73		Heart Of The Night	Juice Newton	159
11/27/1982	76	*	Allentown	Billy Joel	180
11/27/1982	78		Right Before Your Eyes	America	118
11/27/1982	79	*	Nowhere To Run	Santana	74
11/27/1982	80	*	Twilight Zone	Golden Earring	192
11/27/1982	82	*	Psychobabble	Alan Parsons Project	94
11/27/1982	84		The Elvis Medley	Elvis Presley	65
					136

The first week of November 1982 featured the largest scoring average of the month (160) with an above average five eventual Top 20 singles including the entire month's only consequent Number One, Men At Work's "Down Under". 

November 1982 was a very special time in HERC's life, for it was on November 24, 1982 that HERC attended his first concert.  He has previously stated at least once due to faulty memory and poor research that his first concert was in February 1983 but has since found his last stash of concert ticket stubs, including the one from that very first show which clearly shows the date:

We can see from the chart above that Judas Priest's single "You've Got Another Thing Comin' " had debuted on the Hot 100 just a few weeks earlier.  The song peaked at number 67 the week of November 27th and remains the group's lone Hot 100 chart entry.  Over on the rock radio oriented Top Tracks chart, the single peaked at number 4 during an incredible 37 week stint that began in July 1982 and ended in April 1983. (What happened to the 1983 later deal? - ed.)

HERC's underdog pick of the week is Steve Winwood's "Valerie", which debuted on the Hot 100 at number 79 the week of November 13, 1982 more than a month after his previous single "Still In The Game" had bottomed out at number 100 in the final week of a ten week stay on the Hot 100.  "Valerie" climbed to number 70 the following week, held it for a second week then dropped to 87 before exiting the Hot 100 after just four weeks.  Winwood's song had found a home earlier on Top Tracks chart where it debuted at number 42 the same week another HERC underdog debuted. "Valerie" went on to spend eleven weeks on that chart, peaking at lucky number 13.  The song's last week on the Top Tracks chart was coincidentally it's first week on the Hot 100.  A remix of the song was included on Winwood's 1987 compilation Chronicles and was released as a single.  Once more it spent eleven weeks on the Album Rock Tracks (formerly known as Top Tracks) chart, peaking at lucky number 13 again.  The new single debuted on the Hot 100 at number 77 the week of October 10, 1987, peaked at number 9 the week before Christmas and was last seen at number 99 the week of February 20, 1988.  On the chart dated October 31, 1987, four weeks were added to the song's wks. on chart column, to account for time served back in 1982.