The number one song, which topped Billboard the week I was born, may be up there as a mainstay of adult contemporary radio. Out in these parts, it still gets spins on stations like Ottawa's Move 100.3 or the myFMs in Renfrew County.

RadioActive wrote:

 "Lovin' Feelin'" makes more sense, if only because it's been around since 1964 and therefore had almost 20 years to be played on the air before Sting's tune came along in '83. I don't have a problem with "Every Breath," I'd just like to know the source of putting it as #1. They don't provide it. 

For the last ~20 years, every spin on most stations is logged automatically and uploaded to a central database (Mediabase). Prior to that, stations manually reported their spins - but generally just for current music.

So there's a fair bit of extrapolation here using sample hours and charts, I'd imagine.

"Every Breath" makes sense; I've never seen anything but stellar research on it for both AC and Classic Hits. It won't be long before 80s songs dominate this list as the 60s music has been largely missing from the radio for a while now. Expect "Here Comes the Rain Again," "Don't You Forget About Me" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" to be right up there.

I've also seen versions of this list that adjust for era, giving songs a limited window of peak spins. By that method, the top song was "Smooth" by Santana/Rob Thomas.

Last edited by RadioAaron (January 24, 2024 11:11 am)

Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald and MacArthur Park where my go to's.