Welcome back for the conclusion of this week’s countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can go back and check out songs 40-31, 30-21, and 20-11. Now, let’s Return to the week ending October 4, 1980, and wrap up the countdown.

10. “Xanadu” by Olivia Newton-John

Even though I never saw the movie, I always loved this title song by ONJ and ELO.

9. “Lookin’ For Love” by Johnny Lee

This was a good week for movie soundtracks! We had 2 songs from Fame, 2 from Xanadu, and this is the second from Urban Cowboy. Critics slammed this song. However, the public loved it, making it a smash hit, staying at the top spot of the Country Music charts for 3 weeks, and reaching number 5 on the Hot 100.

8. “I’m Alright” by Kenny Loggins

The soundtrack songs continue to hit it big. Next up – Caddyshack! This was also the beginning of Kenny Loggins run as ’80s soundtrack king. He also got a little help from Eddie Money on the backing vocals.

7. “Woman In Love” by Barbra Streisand

I’m not a big fan of Babs. But, I do like this song. It doesn’t hurt that it was written by the Bee Gees. After the Bee Gees were on top of the world in the late ’70s, they spent most of the ’80s writing songs for other people. In 1980, Barbra asked Barry Gibb to write an entire album for her. The result was Guilty, which was her biggest selling album up to that point. “Woman In Love” was the lead single off of that album.

6. “Late in the Evening” by Paul Simon

This is a fun song by Paul Simon.

Now is the part of the countdown where I tell you what was topping the other charts this week in 1980.

Topping the Country charts was “Do You Wanna Go to Heaven” by T.G. Sheppard

This was the first of 4 straight weeks that “Funkin’ For Jamaica” by Tom Browne topped the R&B charts.

While Dionne Warwick’s “No Night So Long” was #23 on the Hot 100 this week, it topped the Adult Contemporary chart.

This week in 1980 was the second week at #1 on the Dance charts for Geraldine Hunt with “Can’t Fake the Feeling.” This would be a #1 Dance song for 7 straight weeks!

Now we’re talkin’!! The #1 album of the week was The Game by Queen.

Now, on with the countdown.

5. “Drivin’ My Life Away” by Eddie Rabbitt

I love Eddie Rabbitt! This is one of my favorites by him. This song had been a number 1 hit on the Country charts, and crossed over to the Hot 100, and peaked right here at #5.

4. “Give Me the Night” by George Benson

This is probably one of my favorite songs of the countdown this week.

3. “Upside Down” by Diana Ross

This was a huge worldwide hit for Diana Ross. I liked this song when it came out. But, I think this was the first song that I remember getting overplayed.

2. “All Out of Love” by Air Supply

I still love this song by Air Supply.

1. “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen

And the #1 song this week is by one of my all-time favorite bands. And I don’t care what anybody else thinks, but Freddie Mercury has the best voice in rock history! I will be buying their new album, Forever when it comes out on November 10 this year.

That wraps up this week’s countdown. I tend to prefer the songs in the middle of the decade. But, I think this has been one of the better countdowns so far – even though there were barely any rock songs. I hope you enjoyed this countdown as well. We will be back with a new week soon. In the meantime, Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.

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Hi Everybody. welcome back to this week’s countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can go ahead and check out songs 40-31 and 30-21. Today’s list is still a little heavy on the soft rock side. Some of these were a little more familiar to me than yesterday’s list. So, let’s Return to the week ending October 4, 1980, and continue the countdown.

20. “Look What You’ve Done to Me” by Boz Scaggs

This classic soft rock song is from the John Travolta/Debra Winger movie Urban Cowboy. Boz Scaggs wrote this song with legendary composer/producer David Foster. The Eagles also provide backing vocals on this song.

19. “Don’t Ask Me Why” by Billy Joel

Classic Billy Joel tune from his Glass Houses album.

18. “Jesse” by Carly Simon

Bitter much?

17. “Never Knew Love Like This Before” by Stephanie Mills

I always loved this song. I remember taping this song off of the radio. I think when it started, I thought it was a different song. But I was liking it, so I didn’t stop the tape. This song won Mills her first Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

16. “Hot Rod Hearts” by Robbie Dupree

Robbie Dupree hit it big with his song “Steal Away,” which reached all the way to #6 on the charts earlier in the year. This follow-up single didn’t do too shabby either, peaking at #15. Unfortunately, he did not have any other big hits after this.

15. “He’s So Shy” by The Pointer Sisters

This was a big hit for the Pointer Sisters before they really hit it big with their Break Out album a few years later.

14. “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

I was not familiar with this song from Seger’s Against the Wind album. Not too bad.

13. “All Over the World” by The Electric Light Orchestra

I received a ton of feedback when Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic” was a Remember That Song answer recently. The movie Xanadu was getting a lot of love. I have never seen that movie, but I love the songs, “Magic“, “Suddenly“, and the title track. I hadn’t heard of this song before. I figured I would like it since I like all the other songs from the movie that I had heard so far. I was wrong. I do like a lot of ELO songs, but I was not crazy about this one. Maybe I would have liked it better if I saw it in the movie back in the day. Or maybe this is one of those songs that may take a few listens.

12. “Fame” by Irene Cara

Here is the second song this week from an ’80s crush of mine – Irene Cara. I still love this song. It still gives me a boost of energy when I’m working out. This won the Academy Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. This is a classic ’80s song.

Here is the song in the movie:

And here is Irene Cara performing:

11. “Real Love” by The Doobie Brothers

I’m not sure if we’ve had a countdown without Michael McDonald in one form or another. I used to never like Michael McDonald at all. ESPECIALLY with the Doobie Brothers. But, as Rocky wisely said (I bet you never thought you would see those words all in the same sentence) in Rocky IV, “If I can change, and you can change, everybody can change.”

Here are the Doobies performing the song live

And here is the studio version of the song

Well, that wraps up today’s list. I hope you are enjoying these songs so far. The top 10 is going to be even better! We’ll be back with the Top 10 on Friday.

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