We have made it to the top of our very special Biggest #2 Hits of The Forgotten Hits Era, 1955 - 1989 ... and boy, what a big hit it was!
Foreigner accumulated an unprecedented 23 weeks in the #2 position between the three major music trade publications with their mega-smash hit record, "Waiting For A Girl Like You" in 1981. TEN of those weeks were in Billboard Magazine alone. (The other thirteen were split between seven in Record World and six in Cash Box.) In all, it earned an incredible 240 points! (We told you last hour how Jim Lowe's "The Green Door" earned 50% more points than the #3 hit, "Personality" by Lloyd Price. Well, THIS record earned SIXTY more points than Lowe's #2 hit ... or another 33%! The difference between Foreigner's #1 #2 Hit and Lloyd Price's #3 #2 Hit is DOUBLE!!! And please keep in mind that when this survey first started a 7:00 this morning, the #47 record had earned just 30 points ... "Waiting For A Girl Like You" scored EIGHT TIMES that amount. How's THAT for some perspective!!!
Foreigner was yet another band that built its career around hard rock (now Classic Rock) music ... but this Power Ballad was a game changer for the band. After "Waiting For A Girl Like You" occupied the #2 spot on the charts for an INCREDIBLE 23 cumulative weeks, the band tried the formula again in 1985 ... and this time, took their hit "I Want To Know What Love Is" all the way to #1. These two songs became the biggest hits in Foreigner's career ... and this is a band that scored thirteen Top 20 Hits in Billboard Magazine alone!
How does a record spend ten weeks at #2 in Billboard and NOT hit #1?
Well, for starters, it went up against Olivia Newton-John's ten week chart-topper, "Physical," which kept Foreigner's at bay for the first nine weeks of its #2 run. By then, the record had run out of steam, so Daryl Hall and John Oates were able to overtake it with their latest hit, "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)," although Foreigner DID manage to hang on for one more week in the Runner Up spot.
Still, "Waiting For A Girl Like You"'s ten week run at #2 (without ever hitting #1) remained a Billboard chart record for a little over twenty years. (Missy Elliott TIED that record in 2002 with her hit, "Work It.") She was rock-blocked by Eminem, one of this year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame nominees, and his big #1 Hit "Lose Yourself," a song that spent TWELVE weeks in the #1 position beginning in late 2002 and spilling over into early 2003.
And there you have it ...
The 47 biggest #2 Hits of The Forgotten Hits Era, 1955 - 1989 ...
And what a POWERFUL way to end the countdown.
Here's one last look at the complete list of #2 Hits ...
