1989 kicked off with Def Leppard and the biggest TKR hit they’d had thus far, “Armegeddon It“, at number one, and it was setting the tone for the entire year – craziness and fun ensued with all different styles and colors and cultures…and really really OLD tunes hitting the charts. As well as old friends. Tom Keane, the older half of the Keane Brothers, made a background vocal appearance as well as producing the first hit from Glenn Medeiros‘ second album; there was no missing the distinctive voice of Keane on “Never Get Enough Of You“, and he co-wrote and produced several of the other tracks from “Not Me” as well. Tom Jones, who had NEVER hit the official TKR charts before, had a top 5 hit teaming up with Art Of Noise for a cover of Prince’s hit “Kiss” from a couple of years prior. Russell Hitchcock had his first solo hits while Air Supply was on a temporary hiatus. Former Miss America Vanessa Williams was launching a hugely successful recording career with a string of hits. And then came the old songs. Carpenters made their first of several reappearances on the chart with (mostly) unreleased songs that were included on their box set “From The Top”, and also with a number of songs I’d always loved (and a couple of prior hits) that would continue to chart for another couple of years. And I dusted off another old chestnut from 1981, “I’m Your Superman” by All Sports Band, after finding the cassette of their album in a cutout bin raid, and it hit the top of the TKR chart as well it should have done when it had first been out; what an unbelievably awesome song! Dino had a string of monster hits from his debut album, including one of my favorite songs of all time, “24/7“. Roy Orbison made it back to the charts only to pass from a heart attack just before his album “Mystery Girl” took off, it was sad he didn’t get to see how successful “You Got It” was from that album. Using the ol’ “white label, guess who the artist is” trick to gain airplay for the first few weeks, Donny Osmond (come on…really? DONNY FRIGGIN’ OSMOND?!?!) had one of the biggest hits of his career with “Soldier Of Love“, 13 years after his last Top 40 hit . Hair metal continued its moves towards dominance in the rock world, The Bee Gees, the B-52s, and Elton John had their biggest hits in years. And late in the year, a new trio would make it’s TKR chart debut, a band whose music seemed fun but safe with its Christian-oriented lyrics, and whose debut album I’d picked up on a whim after seeing an ad in Billboard a few weeks earlier. From listening to their first fun filled hip hop debut “Heavenbound“, you would have never guessed that in just a decades’ time, the three young men – Toby “TobyMac” McKeehan, Michael Tait, and Kevin “Max” Smith – who had met when attending Liberty University a few short years earlier and formed a rock/rap/hip hop hybrid to perform together, would go on to become one of if not THE most successful contemporary Christian music acts of ALL TIME – DC Talk. The trio was ALL OVER the TKR charts in the 1990s, truly exploding with the release of second album “Nu Thang” in September 1990, and they made their TKR chart debut late in 1989, even before CCM Radio jumped on them and made them superstars…and it’s always ticked me off that they NEVER crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 or contemporary top 40 radio they way they should have…despite their Christian themes, they were made for EVERYBODY….if radio had listened to ME, they would have been ALL OVER those charts, count on it….
JANUARY 7 1989
JANUARY 14 1989
JANUARY 21 1989
JANUARY 28 1989
FEBRUARY 4 1989
FEBRUARY 11 1989
FEBRUARY 18 1989
FEBRUARY 25 1989
MARCH 4 1989
MARCH 11 1989
MARCH 18 1989
MARCH 25 1989
APRIL 1 1989
APRIL 8 1989
APRIL 15 1989
APRIL 22 1989
APRIL 29 1989
MAY 6 1989
MAY 13 1989
MAY 20 1989
MAY 27 1989
JUNE 3 1989
JUNE 10 1989
JUNE 17 1989
JUNE 24 1989
JULY 1 1989
JULY 8 1989
JULY 15 1989
JULY 22 1989
JULY 29 1989
AUGUST 5 1989
AUGUST 12 1989
AUGUST 19 1989
AUGUST 26 1989
SEPTEMBER 2 1989
SEPTEMBER 9 1989
SEPTEMBER 16 1989
SEPTEMBER 23 1989
SEPTEMBER 30 1989
OCTOBER 7 1989
OCTOBER 14 1989
OCTOBER 21 1989
OCTOBER 28 1989
NOVEMBER 4 1989
NOVEMBER 11 1989
NOVEMBER 18 1989
NOVEMBER 25 1989
DECEMBER 2 1989
DECEMBER 9 1989
DECEMBER 16 1989
DECEMBER 23 1989
DECEMBER 30 1989
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