Every Number 1 Song From 1985
#1 Songs of 1985 — The Ultimate Gen X Music Flashback
Step into the sonic time machine and relive every Billboard Hot 100 #1 song from 1985 — the year Gen X truly ruled the radio, MTV was still the coolest babysitter in the house, and every mixtape felt like it had the emotional stakes of a John Hughes movie.
This Smells Like Gen X music rewind runs through the biggest hits of 1985, from Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, a-ha’s “Take On Me”, and Huey Lewis and the News powering time travel with “The Power of Love.”
If 1985 had a sound, it was feathered bangs, mall food court heartbreak, slow dances, movie soundtracks, Live Aid energy, synth-pop hooks, power ballads, and one cassette deck eating the tape right before your favorite chorus.
Read the Full 1985 Songs Breakdown
Want the full written countdown with Billboard year-end context, chart snapshots, Gen X commentary, and deeper song-by-song nostalgia? Read the complete post: Top 10 Songs of 1985.
Keep Rewinding 1985
The #1 hits were only one part of 1985. This was also the year Back to the Future, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rocky IV, and The Breakfast Club owned the multiplex, network TV was still appointment viewing, the toy aisle went full Saturday-morning overload, and the year’s fads turned school hallways, malls, bedrooms, and TV rooms into one giant Gen X memory dump.
Keep the same-year rabbit hole going with the rest of the 1985 Smells Like Gen X cluster.
A few chart-toppers from the 1985 lineup
Why this 1985 playlist still feels like peak Gen X
All the Billboard #1 hits featured in this 1985 countdown
- Like a Virgin — Madonna
- I Want to Know What Love Is — Foreigner
- Careless Whisper — Wham! featuring George Michael
- Can’t Fight This Feeling — REO Speedwagon
- One More Night — Phil Collins
- We Are the World — USA for Africa
- Crazy for You — Madonna
- Don’t You (Forget About Me) — Simple Minds
- Everything She Wants — Wham!
- Everybody Wants to Rule the World — Tears for Fears
- Heaven — Bryan Adams
- Sussudio — Phil Collins
- A View to a Kill — Duran Duran
- Every Time You Go Away — Paul Young
- Shout — Tears for Fears
- The Power of Love — Huey Lewis and the News
- St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) — John Parr
- Money for Nothing — Dire Straits
- Oh Sheila — Ready for the World
- Take On Me — a-ha
- Saving All My Love for You — Whitney Houston
- Part-Time Lover — Stevie Wonder
- We Built This City — Starship
- Separate Lives — Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin
- Say You, Say Me — Lionel Richie
More 80s Music Rewinds Are Coming
Hit play, relive the hits, and drop your favorite 1985 #1 song in the comments. Subscribe for more Gen X nostalgia, 80s music countdowns, Billboard Hot 100 history, retro playlists, forgotten pop-culture stories, and deep dives into the music, movies, TV, toys, videos, and chaos that raised us. For the full written breakdown, read Top 10 Songs of 1985.
Topics: 1985 Billboard Hot 100 #1 songs, 1985 number one hits, Top 10 Songs of 1985, 80s music countdown, Madonna Like a Virgin, Foreigner I Want to Know What Love Is, Wham Careless Whisper, USA for Africa We Are the World, Simple Minds Don’t You Forget About Me, Tears for Fears Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Huey Lewis The Power of Love, Back to the Future soundtrack, a-ha Take On Me, Phil Collins Sussudio, Top TV Shows of 1985, Top Movies of 1985, Top Toys of 1985, Top Fads of 1985, Gen X nostalgia, Smells Like Gen X.