Welcome back to this week’s countdown! If you still need to see what the previous songs were, you can check out songs 40-31, and 30-21. I would also like to point out that T.G. Monahan and I started a new Return to the ’80s series called, Return to 1989. This will be a monthly series, going through all the news events, movies, and music from 30 years ago. So, if you’d like to Return to the glory days of 1989, you can check out our inaugural episode about January 1989.
Now, let’s Return to the week ending February 11, 1989, and continue this week’s countdown.

And don’t forget, you can click on the song title to listen to/watch the video on YouTube, and you can click on the album cover to get the song from Amazon.

20. “A Little Respect” by Erasure

We’ll start off today’s songs with a little synth-pop action. There is no mistaking that this is an 80s song. Erasure had some awesome hits in the U.S. in the late 80s. And they were even bigger in the U.K., as they had 24 straight Top 40 hits there. And by 2009, 34 of their 37 chart-eligible singles and EPs had made the UK Top 40, with 17 climbing into the Top 10. They are still very active, and are constantly releasing new albums. The latest was 2018’s World Beyond.

19. “Don’t Rush Me” by Taylor Dayne

This was the fourth single released from Taylor Dayne’s awesome debut album, Tell It to My Heart. This joins a list of songs about not rushing, such as this, “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”, and “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”.

18. “Armageddon It” by Def Leppard

2 years after the release of the legendary Hysteria album, Def Leppard was still dominating the charts. This was the sixth single released off of the album, and had landed at #3.

17. “Dial My Heart” by The Boys

This is one of those songs that did not look familiar to me at all. But once I heard the chorus, it all came back to me. This is a cute, fun R&B song. It would peak at #13 on this chart, and it was a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

16. “Surrender to Me” by Ann Wilson & Robin Zander

In a decade full of incredible duets, this was one of my favorites. It doesn’t hurt that it is Ann Wilson from Heart and Robin Zander from Cheap Trick that are singing it. Also, it was written by Richard Marx, who knows his way around a power ballad. This was featured on the soundtrack to the 1988 film Tequila Sunrise starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.

15. “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids On The Block

The second boy band entry on today’s list. I hate to admit it, but this song is kind of catchy. And the New Kids are local to me, so I won’t trash them. You can’t argue with their success. But, I’d rather watch an episode of Blue Bloods, starring Donnie, instead. They have been touring in recent years, and it sounds like they have been very successful tours. If anybody is willing to admit that they have seen them, please let me know how they are singing these songs. I don’t know if it would be cool and fun, or just weird.

14. “Angel of Harlem” by U2

Off of the Rattle and Hum album, this is not one of my favorite U2 songs.

13. “The Way You Love Me” by Karyn White

This was the lead single from Karyn White’s debut, self-titled album. Even though I was definitely more into rock in these days, I still liked Karyn White a lot for some reason. This song was written and produced by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Daryl Simmons, and it was the first of four Top 10 singles from Karyn White.

12. “Lost in Your Eyes” by Debbie Gibson

80s CRUSH ALERT!!!! This would be Debbie’s biggest hit, staying at the top of the charts for 3 straight weeks. This was the first single released from her Electric Youth album, ensuring that there would be no sophomore slump. And this was the third song on today’s list for the teen crowd.

11. “What I Am” by Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians

This was the debut single for Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. This was the beginning of the end of the ’80s. It could have easily blended in with the ’90s and the singer/songwriters from that period.

That wraps up today’s songs. I’d love to hear what you think so far. We will wrap up the top 10 songs of the week, on Friday.

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