Number One Songs The Year You Were Born - 1940 to 2019 and who’s who in 2020
Granted, new-born babies won’t have any clue, but as parent’s, grandparents, one day you can let them know.
Certain years will hold two songs based on the length of time at number one.
Before you say anything, yes, there were many number one songs over the years, but these are categorized as the overall number one song.
Each form/style of music have their own rankings, but this is overall rankings, so please, don’t shoot the messenger.
So kick back a second or two, scroll down to your year and say one of two things. “I knew that.” Or, “I had no idea.”
And of course, you can find all these songs on YouTube.
At the very end, only a very few can say they were born in two different years with a unique song as explained at the bottom.
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1940: I’ll Never Smile Again – Tommy Dorsey
1941: Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy) – Timmy Dorsey
1942: White Christmas – Bing Crosby
1943: I’ve Heard That Song Before – Harry James
1944: Swinging On A Star – Bing Crosby
1945: Till The End Of Time – Perry Como
1946: The Gypsy – The Ink Spots
1947: Near You – Frances Craig (And this a male singer I might add)
1948: Button and Bows – Dinah Shore
Twelfth Street Rag – Pee-Wee Hunt
1949: Riders In The Sky – Vaughn Monroe
1950: Goodnight Irene – Gordon Jenkins and the Weavers
1951: Too Young – Nat King Cole
1952: Blue Tango – Leroy Anderson
1953: Where Is Your Heart (from Moulin Rouge) – Percy Faith
1954: Little Things Mean A Lot – Kitty Kallen
1955: Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White) Perez Prado
1956: Heartbreak Hotel – Elvis Presley (Though it was number one, Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel Were Number One for 11 weeks, three weeks longer than Heartbreak Hotel.)
1957: All Shook Up – Elvis Presley
1958: Nel Blu de Pinto de Blue (Volare) – Domencio Modugno
1959: The Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton
Stagger Lee – Lloyd Price
1960: Theme From A Summer Place – Percy Faith
1961: Tossin’ and Turnin’ – Bobby Lewis
1962: Big Girls Don’t Cry ’ Frankie Vali and The Four Seasons
1963: Surfin’ USA – The Beach Boys
1964: I Want To Hold Your Hand – The Beatles
1965: I Can’t Help Myself - The Four Tops
1966: The Ballad of the Green Berets – Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler
1967: Respect – Aretha Franklin
1968: Hey Jude – The Beatles
1969: Sugar Sugar – The Archies
1970: Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
1971: Joy To The World – Three Dog Night
1972: Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
1973: Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye
1974: The Way We Were – Barbara Streisand
1975: Love Will Keep Us Together – Captain and Tennille
1976: Silly Love Songs – Wings
1977: Tonight’s The Night – Rod Stewart
1978: Shadow Dancing – Andy Gibb
1979: My Sharona – The Knack
1980: Call Me – Blondie
1981: Bette Davis Eyes – Kim Carnes
(This was close though – Endless Love with Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross were one vote shy from tying)
1982: Physical – Olivia-Newton John
1983: Every Breath You Take – The Police
(but it is worth a serious shoutout for Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye)
1984: When Doves Cry – Prince
1985: Careless Whisper – George Michael
1986: That’s What Friends Are For – Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Elton John
1987: Walk Like An Egyptian – The Bangles
1988: Faith – George Michael
1989: Look Away – Chicago
1990: Hold On – Wilson Phillips
1991: Everything I Do, I do It For You – Bryan Adams
1992: End of The Road – Boyz II Men
1993: I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
1994: The Sign – Ace of Base
1995: Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio featuring L.V.
1996: Macarena – Los del Rio
1997: Something About The Way You Look Tonight – Elton John
1998: Too Close – Next
1999: Believe – Cher
2000: Breathe – Faith Hill
2001: Hanging By A Moment – Lifehouse
2002: How You Remind Me – Nickelback
2003: In Da Club – 50 Cent
2004: Yeah – Usher, featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
2005: We Belong Together – Mariah Carey
2006: Bad Day – Daniel Powter
2007: Irreplaceable –Beyoncé
2008: Low – Flo Rida featuring T-Pain
2009: Boom Pow – The Black Eyed Peas
2010: Tik-Tok – Kesha
2011: Rolling In The Deep – Adele
2012: Somebody That I Used To know Yourself – Gotye featuring Kimbra
2013: Thrift Shop – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz
2014: Happy – Pharrell Williams
2015: See You Again – Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth
2016: Love Yourself – Justin Bieber
2017: Despacito – Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
2018: God’s Plan – Drake
2019: Old Town Road – Lil Nas X
2020: Bad Guy – Billie Eilish, holds the number one spot currently
Now, which of you were born when the greatest number one hit of all time was released?
And no, it wasn’t Elvis, The Beatles or Michael Jackson.
That song is: The Twist – Chubby Checker … it is the only song to reach number one, twice, by the same recording artist, within two years of each other. Were you born in either of those years?
No, I won’t tell you the years, but you can Google it!
... and if you dare, come back here and give yourself up! Grinning.