The Hideaway 20: The 38 Most Listened-To Songs from January 2026

The Hideaway 20 began in February 2025 as a way to feature a personalized chart or countdown of the Top 20 songs I listened to most often in a month. The feature quickly became the most viewed series of posts here on The Hideaway, so we're continuing it into 2026. Some months, there are more than 20 songs due to ties in Scrobbles. For example, January 2026 saw thirty-eight songs make the cut, including a most-Scrobbled song, a two-way tie for second, and a thirty-five-way tie for fourth. Add them all up, and we have a Hideaway 38 for the month. There were 3992 unique scrobbles across nineteen days, with the other twelve days saw no scrobbles. Some days, I'm fortunate enough to spend nearly the whole day listening to music. It's the usual decades-spanning eclectic mix. The oldest track is a 1962 Elvis song, with the newest being two songs from 2013. Perhaps the deepest cut is also the most-listened-to track: Gary Numan's magnificent "Films". Love Cedric Sharpley's drum sound.

	JANUARY 2026 — Top 38 Most Listened-To Songs
rank	title	artist	year
38	I Know What Boys Like	The Waitresses	1982
37	Driven To Tears	The Police	1980
36	I Ain't Superstitious	Jeff Beck feat. Rod Stewart	1968
35	Hot Dog	Martini Ranch	1988
34	Can't Hardly Wait	The Replacements	1984
33	Glycerine	Bush	1994
32	Marry You	Bruno Mars	2010
31	The Time Warp	Nell Campbell, Patricia Quinn, and Richard O'Brien	1975
30	60 Miles an Hour	New Order	2001
29	Song Sung Blue	Neil Diamond	1972
28	Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'	Journey	1979
27	Shoop	Salt-N-Pepa	1993
26	I'd Die Without You	P.M. Dawn	1992
25	Magnet and Steel	Walter Egan	1978
24	My Love	Lionel Richie	1982
23	Wake Me Up	Avicii	2013
22	Wings of a Dove	Ferlin Husky	1960
21	This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)	Talking Heads	1983
20	Couldn't Get It Right	Climax Blues Band	1976
19	No Woman, No Cry [Live]	Bob Marley and The Wailers	1975
18	Forever Man	Eric Clapton	1985
17	Beginnings	Chicago	1969
16	Why Can't We Live Together	Timmy Thomas	1972
15	Blue Jean	David Bowie	1984
14	Johnny Come Home	Fine Young Cannibals	1985
13	Dancing With Myself	Billy Idol	1981
12	Balls To The Wall	Accept	1983
11	Good Luck Charm	Elvis Presley	1962
10	Let's Get Serious	Jermaine Jackson	1980
9	Get Lucky	Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams	2013
8	The Afternoon	The Moody Blues	1967
7	Dark Lady	Cher	1974
6	Shadows of the Night	Pat Benatar	1982
5	Cosmic Girl	Jamiroquai	1996
4	Fernando	ABBA	1976
3	Hollywood Nights	Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band	1978
2	The Wild Boys	Duran Duran	1984
1	Films	Gary Numan	1979

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For this month's Flashback chart, we're dialing it back to January 2016, when we find the Hideaway 28 listed below. All but six of the tracks were released in 1981 or 1982, which makes sense, as I was researching and writing the 1982 Hideaway 100 back then. Work, work, work. One artist, John Newman, has two songs in the Hideaway 28. Boston nabbed the top spot with the catchy lead single from their Corporate America album. I have to agree with a forgotten reviewer who stated the song would have been a perfect album closer, but no one would have heard it because the album itself is a hard listen, and few listeners would have made it through to the end.

	JANUARY 2016 — Top 28 Most Listened-To Songs
rank	title	artist	year
28	Let's Get It Up	AC/DC	1981
27	Stand or Fall	The Fixx	1982
26	Make A Move On Me	Olivia Newton-John	1981
25	Don't Fight It	Kenny Loggins and Steve Perry	1982
24	Everybody Wants You	Billy Squier	1982
23	Forget Me Nots	Patrice Rushen	1982
22	Stray Cat Strut	Stray Cats	1981
21	My City Was Gone	The Pretenders	1982
20	Hearts On Fire	Randy Meisner	1980
19	She's Tight	Cheap Trick	1982
18	Talk Talk	Talk Talk	1982
17	Shakin'	Eddie Money	1982
16	Flamethrower	The J. Geils Band	1982
15	Caught Up in You	38 Special	1982
14	Maneater	Hall & Oates	1982
13	S.O.B.	Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats	2015
12	Love Me Again	John Newman	2013
11	Hang Fire	The Rolling Stones	1981
10	All Touch	Rough Trade	1982
9	Find Another Fool	Quarterflash	1981
8	Don't Change	INXS	1982
7	Love My Way	The Psychedelic Furs	1982
6	What About Me?	Moving Pictures	1981
5	Let It Whip	Dazz Band	1982
4	Tube Snake Boogie	ZZ Top	1981
3	The House That Built Me	Miranda Lambert	2009
2	Come and Get It	John Newman	2015
1	I Had a Good Time	Boston	2002

previous Hideaway 20 posts