The countdown continues ...
#29
The #29 #2 Song on our countdown belongs to Warrant, who took the soft rock / power ballad route with this one, kicking their hard rock, headbanger rock aside to score the biggest hit of their career.
"Heaven" went to #2 in 1989, making it the "newest" song on the countdown. It stayed there for an accumulated six weeks, earning 61 points and held out of the #1 spot by Milli Vanilli's "Girl, I'm Gonna Miss You." (Say wha'?!?!? That's not even a real group!!!)
#28
OK, I've spent a fair amount of times talking about some of my favorites on this countdown ... so it seems only fair to also mention that this is probably my LEAST favorite title on the list. (How this record got all the way to #2 in beyond me!) And as ear-worm catchy as the chorus may be, I just can't believe people out there wanted to hear it again and again and again!
Still, Clint Holmes was able to notch SIX weeks in the #2 position. (He also earned 62 points in the process.) He was kept out of the #1 position thanks to Paul McCartney and Wings' big hit "My Love." (Yes, "My Love" was big enough to rock-block both "Daniel" AND "The Playground In My Mind!")
#27
We told you earlier that TWO songs made it to #2 with the title "Fire." Last hour, we heard "Fire" by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown." This hour, we're treating you to "Fire" by The Pointer Sisters, who took a Bruce Springsteen tune and gave it a soulful spin in 1978. It, too, accumulated six total weeks at #2 ... and earned 63 points. (This version of "Fire" was rock-blocked by "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," the Rod Stewart smash.)
#26
Keeping the fires burning just a little bit longer, we now go all the way back to 1958 when The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis, tore up the rock and roll charts with his classic, "Great Balls Of Fire."
It spent six total weeks at #2 and earned 64 points. It never officially hit the top spot because of the Danny and the Juniors hit "At The Hop."
#25
Eddie Holman scored both a soul and a pop hit with his reading of "Hey There Lonely Girl," a #2 Record for six accumulated weeks in 1970.
The song was a remake (with a gender change) of a minor hit record for Ruby and the Romantics (of "Our Day Will Come" fame) in 1963 that went all the way to #27 on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Chart.
Eddie brought in a whole new level of emotion with his reading ... enough to propel it all the way to #2, kept out of the #1 position by Sly and the Family Stone's funk classic "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin." (And yes, it really IS spelled that way on the record label!)
Holman never came close to having another Top Ten Hit ... but he scored 65 #2 points with this one.
#24
When you talk about epic songs of the '60's, you simply can't ignore the Jimmy Webb tune recorded by actor Richard Harris, "MacArthur Park." (And yes, sometimes "epic songs" means COMPLETELY over the top performances.)
Harris, not a singer by trade, gave this one his theatrical best ... and it clocked in a just over seven minutes a few months before The Beatles did the same with the long fade-out to "Hey Jude." (Of course, no cakes were left out in the rain in The Beatles' record!)
Earning 67 points and accumulating six total weeks at #2, "MacArthur Park" becomes the 24th biggest #2 record to hit the charts between 1955 and 1989. (It was Herb Alpert's vocal take on "This Guy's In Love With You" that kept Harris from hitting the top spot ... which "MacArthur Park" did on MANY regional charts.)
We're halfway home ... and there's lots more to come ...
So please join us again at 11 am as we reveal #'s 23 - 18!
