UK Top 200 Best Selling Female Solo Hits Of The 80s

23. HOW WILL I KNOW- Whitney Houston (#6, 1986, 830,000)

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80s position: 100

It really is a small world of 80s female pop, THIS is a song originally offered to Janet Jackson only to be turned down by her! A few altered lyrics by Narada Michael Walden and the Whitney version was born, this was sampled into a No 1 hit (this time 2004’s “Take Me To The Clouds Above” by LMC Vs U2). With a video that is a day glo extravaganza and aimed squarely at the MTV audience that was still resistant to airing black female vocalist Whitney succeeded in cracking this market too and secured herself a second US chart topper.


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22. CRAZY FOR YOU- Madonna (#2, 1985, 858,000)

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80s position: 26

Overcoming opposition from her record company not to release it (they thought it would draw attention away from the “Like A Virgin” album), this became one of Madonna’s biggest hits. Like “Gambler” (No 129) this featured in the “Vision Quest” film and was not available on any Madonna album until 1990 when its inclusion on “The Immaculate Collection” resulted in a re-issue of the single. Again it hit no 2 just like the original.


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21. I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW- Tiffany (#1, 1988, 871,000)

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80s position: 19

Dating back to 1967 when it reached No 4 in the States for Tommy James & The Shondells, this version was pushed by Tiffany in the shopping malls of the US, as successful ploy it hit the top over there in 1987. Some months later it topped our charts too (some scenes in the video were allegedly filmed in the old Bullring in Birmingham) and set Tiffany up for a very happy 1988 with four top 20 hits, and was revived by Girls Aloud for Christmas 2006.


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Recap time

21 19 I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW TIFFANY 871,000
22 26 CRAZY FOR YOU MADONNA 858,000
23 100 HOW WILL I KNOW WHITNEY HOUSTON 830,000

24 23 KIDS IN AMERICA KIM WILDE 829,000
25 11 I FEEL FOR YOU CHAKA KHAN 806,000
26 8 THE ONLY WAY IS UP YAZZ 784,000
27 9 TOGETHER WE ARE BEAUTIFUL FERN KINNEY 781,000
28 12 I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY KYLIE MINOGUE 773,000
29 17 PAPA DON'T PREACH MADONNA 759,000
30 24 UPSIDE DOWN DIANA ROSS 724,000


31 36 FLASHDANCE...WHAT A FEELING IRENE CARA 717,000
32 14 9 TO 5 SHEENA EASTON 712,000
33 84 RUNNING UP THAT HILL KATE BUSH 706,000
34 18 MICKEY TONI BRASIL 704,000
35 15 MOVE CLOSER PHYLLIS NELSON 676,000

36 95 IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME CHER 675,000
37 31 ONE DAY I'LL FLY AWAY RANDY CRAWFORD 661,000
38 22 TRUE BLUE MADONNA 618,000

39 182 I'M COMING OUT DIANA ROSS 617,000
40 52 ONE MOMENT IN TIME WHITNEY HOUSTON 615,000


41 27 JAPANESE BOY ANEKA 611,000
42 25 HEARTBREAKER DIONNE WARWICK 595,000
43 21 SO MACHO SINITTA 587,000

44 NEW EDGE OF SEVENTEEN STEVIE NICKS 584,000
45 38 LA ISLA BONITA MADONNA 579,000
46 169 BETTE DAVIS EYES KIM CARNES 572,000
47 79 MATERIAL GIRL MADONNA 566,000
48 67 ORINOCO FLOW ENYA 561,000

49 32 HAND ON YOUR HEART KYLIE MINOGUE 554,000
50 56 LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY DENIECE WILLIAMS 543,000
 
Three 80s classics there and three of my all time favourite songs. Tiffany was my ultimate teen queen as a teenager, my bedroom was a shrine to her and her outsize jumpers. Glad to see she is staying steady in the streaming age.

Crazy For You is my favourite Madonna ballad, just timeless.

That is quite the jump for How Will I Know and greatly deserved. That should have been a UK #1 at the time.
 
Three 80s classics there and three of my all time favourite songs. Tiffany was my ultimate teen queen as a teenager, my bedroom was a shrine to her and her outsize jumpers. Glad to see she is staying steady in the streaming age.

Crazy For You is my favourite Madonna ballad, just timeless.

That is quite the jump for How Will I Know and greatly deserved. That should have been a UK #1 at the time.
Once again, your music taste, is just so good.
 
The thing I recall about Tiffany from the time was that she had an awful and much discussed relationship with her father. I'm sure I recall something about legal action to remove him from her affairs a la Britney but way back in 88.
 

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