These are the Top 5 songs for the week ending June 27, 1987 — a snapshot of the summer when pop, rock, R&B, and MTV polish were all fighting for control of the radio.
This Gen X chart rewind counts down the week’s biggest songs from Atlantic Starr, Heart, Genesis, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, and Whitney Houston. How many of these 80s songs do you remember without cheating?
This chart week is pure 1987: slow-dance ballads, glossy rock drama, smooth adult-pop heartbreak, freestyle-pop energy, and Whitney Houston lighting up the whole room like the radio belonged to her.
Want the full year instead of just one chart week? Read the complete Top 10 Songs of 1987 countdown, then watch All the #1 Hits of 1987.
Do not stop at one weekly chart. 1987 was stacked with Billboard hits, big MTV visuals, blockbuster movies, comfort-TV giants, toy aisle crazes, fashion fads, and the kind of pop-culture overload that made the late 80s feel fully awake.
A huge slow-dance ballad with wedding-reception destiny written all over it. “Always” brought smooth R&B romance to the 1987 chart and made every school dance feel a little more dramatic than it needed to be.
Heart went full power-ballad thunderstorm here. “Alone” starts vulnerable, then detonates into the kind of chorus that made 1987 radios feel like they were installed inside a wind machine.
Smooth, moody, and painfully 1987, “In Too Deep” is Genesis in adult-contemporary heartbreak mode — the kind of song that made car rides feel emotionally complicated even if you were just going to the mall.
Bright, catchy, and packed with freestyle-pop energy, “Head to Toe” brought dance-floor sparkle to the chart. It is one of those songs that still sounds like summer, hairspray, and a mall speaker turned up too loud.
Whitney owned this moment. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” is joyful, massive, and completely undeniable — the kind of #1 hit that sounds like 1987 throwing open the windows and daring you not to sing along.
Drop your favorite from this June 1987 Top 5 and follow Smells Like Gen X for more weekly chart throwbacks, 80s music countdowns, Billboard flashbacks, classic MTV memories, movies, TV, toys, fads, videos, and Gen X nostalgia that still knows where the cassette rewind button is.
Topics: June 27 1987 top songs, Top 5 songs this week in 1987, 1987 Billboard songs, Top 10 Songs of 1987, All the #1 Hits of 1987, 1987 in Review, Top TV Shows of 1987, Top 10 Movies of 1987, Top 10 Toys of 1987, Top 6 Biggest Fads of 1987, Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam Head to Toe, Genesis In Too Deep, Heart Alone, Atlantic Starr Always, 80s music, Gen X nostalgia, Smells Like Gen X.