Every #1 Song of 1985: Big Drums, Big Hair, and Big Feelings
1985 wasn’t just a year—it was an MTV-fueled fever dream of synthesizers, sax solos, and high-stakes emotions. Gen X hit full throttle this year, and the music that topped the charts reflected every neon-soaked, Aquanet-hardened beat of it.
📅 January 5–12
“Like a Virgin” – Madonna
The song that turned Madge into a pop icon. Bold, breathy, and scandalous enough to ruffle suburban parents across America. MTV played the Venice wedding-dress video on loop—and we couldn’t look away.
📅 January 19
“Like a Virgin” (returns) – Madonna
Because once wasn’t enough. The reign of Madonna had begun—and there was no stopping her.
📅 January 26
“I Want to Know What Love Is” – Foreigner
Power ballad activated. With gospel choirs and emotional desperation turned up to 11, Foreigner gave Gen X one of its most dramatic slow-dance anthems. We’re still not sure if we ever got the answer.
📅 February 2–9
“I Want to Know What Love Is” (continued) – Foreigner
Still wondering. Still swaying. Still dramatic AF.
📅 February 16–23
“Careless Whisper” – Wham! featuring George Michael
That saxophone. That mullet. That heartbreak. George Michael gave us a ballad for the ages about guilt, betrayal, and forbidden slow dancing. Nobody danced again the same way.
📅 March 2–9
“Can’t Fight This Feeling” – REO Speedwagon
The king of earnest lyrics. REO Speedwagon unleashed peak ‘80s prom energy here. If you didn’t cry while looking out the car window to this, are you even Gen X?
📅 March 16
“One More Night” – Phil Collins
The soundtrack of suburban heartbreak. Phil Collins was inescapable in the ‘80s, and this melancholy track made us all want one more chance at middle school love.
📅 March 23–April 6
“One More Night” (continued) – Phil Collins
He really needed that one more night. And the charts agreed.
📅 April 13–27
“We Are the World” – USA for Africa
When every superstar in music came together to belt out a global anthem. Michael, Lionel, Bruce, Stevie—all crammed into one studio for a cause. It was peak celebrity charity, and somehow, it still slaps.
📅 May 4
“Crazy for You” – Madonna
She slowed it down and gave us a legit love song from Vision Quest. This was the one where your crush maybe finally noticed you at the roller rink.
📅 May 11
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – Simple Minds
The Breakfast Club anthem. Instantly iconic. The raised fist. The empty football field. The ultimate Gen X closer—and proof you can not forget someone just by singing about it hard enough.
📅 May 18–June 8
“Everything She Wants” – Wham!
George Michael was on fire this year. This one had edge—resentment, obligation, and synths that made even bitterness sound sexy.
📅 June 15–22
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” – Tears for Fears
Melancholy meets politics meets road-trip jam. A rare combo of cerebral and catchy, and one of the few songs that felt like it meant something.
📅 June 29–July 6
“Heaven” – Bryan Adams
You slow-danced to it. You sang it into your hairbrush. Maybe you didn’t even know what it meant—but it felt big and romantic and like something you’d hear over a “slow fade to black” in a Brat Pack movie.
📅 July 13
“Sussudio” – Phil Collins
What is a “Sussudio”? Doesn’t matter. Phil turned gibberish into a groove and gave us another impossibly catchy hit. Drum machine perfection.
📅 July 20
“A View to a Kill” – Duran Duran
The only James Bond theme to hit #1. It had swagger, espionage, and that unmistakable Simon Le Bon yowl. A stylish, over-the-top anthem for Cold War cool.
📅 July 27–August 3
“Every Time You Go Away” – Paul Young
A sad song wrapped in silky vocals and soulful keyboards. A rare cover that outshined the original, and the sound of quiet heartbreak in mall food courts across America.
📅 August 10–17
“Shout” – Tears for Fears
Therapy via synth-pop. “Shout, shout, let it all out…”—we did, and it helped. It’s a rebellious anthem for anyone who ever felt trapped in algebra class or ignored at home.
📅 August 24–31
“The Power of Love” – Huey Lewis and the News
Great Scott! A hit so powerful it literally powered a time machine. Thanks to Back to the Future, this became the soundtrack for 1.21 gigawatts of ‘80s awesome.
📅 September 7–14
“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” – John Parr
The Brat Pack’s power anthem. Inspirational, overblown, and somehow deeply motivating. Made you want to run in slow motion through fog for no reason at all.
📅 September 21–28
“Money for Nothing” – Dire Straits
MTV was now music’s main stage, and this song made fun of that while also totally embracing it. Killer guitar riff. Weird computer-animated video. And a controversial lyric that aged… poorly.
📅 October 5–12
“Oh Sheila” – Ready for the World
Often mistaken for Prince, this funky track had the synth swagger and vocal falsetto that made it feel like a Minneapolis Sound cousin. A one-hit wonder worth remembering.
📅 October 19
“Take on Me” – a-ha
High notes, heartbreak, and that video. The pencil-sketch animation made this one unforgettable. A blast of Scandi-pop that launched millions of mixtapes and attempts at that impossible falsetto.
📅 October 26
“Saving All My Love for You” – Whitney Houston
Whitney’s breakout ballad. Emotional, controversial (an affair song?!), and undeniable in its vocal power. She arrived, and nothing would ever be the same.
📅 November 2–9
“Part-Time Lover” – Stevie Wonder
A little scandalous, a little playful. Stevie’s tale of secret love affairs was deceptively upbeat. Cheating never sounded so danceable.
📅 November 16–23
“We Built This City” – Starship
The most simultaneously loved and mocked song of the ‘80s. Radio stations, fake names, corporate rock—somehow it all came together in a soaring chorus Gen X still knows by heart (even if we pretend we don’t).
📅 November 30–December 7
“Separate Lives” – Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin
Another Phil power ballad, this time with a duet twist. Soundtracked White Nights, a movie no one remembers—but the song hits like a cold breakup text.
📅 December 14–28
“Say You, Say Me” – Lionel Richie
It started slow. Then BAM—midway key change and tempo shift. Pure Richie magic. Won an Oscar. Made people cry. Cemented Lionel’s reign as the king of smooth.
1985 was the perfect storm of cheesy, emotional, and epic. From Madonna’s lace gloves to George Michael’s tortured sax solo and Huey Lewis literally powering time travel, this was the sound of Gen X coming into its own—with Walkmans in hand and feathered bangs bouncing in rhythm.