Way Back Wednesday: The Top Music of January 22, 1983

This Week In 1983: January 22nd

Men At Work are still holding strong this week at #1 with “Down Under”. In fact, all the songs in the top ten are the same, just shuffled a bit. The Spotify list this week only has thirty nine songs on it. That’s because the song that debuts at #40 this week, Sonny Charles and “Put It In A Magazine”, isn’t available anywhere. I found it on YouTube, though ( because you can find anything on YouTube):

The song only stays on the chart for two weeks before dropping out. Elsewhere, the biggest drops this week are, again, the Stray Cats and “Rock This Town” and Lionel Richie with “Truly”. Both drop completely out of the countdown from #26 and #28 respectively.

Duran Duran makes a large jump into the countdown this week from #53 to #34 with “Hungry Like The Wolf” but the biggest debut on the countdown is Christopher Cross with the song “All Right”. The song debuts at #29. It’s the fifth highest debut for a single in the 80’s behind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (20), USA For Africa’s “We Are the World” (21), Jackson and McCartney’s “Say Say Say” (26), and Men At Work’s “Overkill” (28). Cross is joined on the song by members of Toto (Mike Porcaro on bass, Steve Lukather on guitar, Jeff Porcaro on keyboards).

Also debuting on the countdown this week is one of my personal 80’s favorites. Golden Earring and “Twilight Zone” enter the countdown at #36. When all is said and done, this song will stay on the countdown for almost half the year. But more on that later…