40 Best selling songs of 1986

The year was 1986 which spawned a massive 21 singles hit Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart with The Communards’ Don’t Leave Me This Way leading the pack (The band’s only no.1).

Table of Contents

1986 was a great decade for music and saw a number of breakout stars still very early in their career from The Communards, House Martins, Madonna, George Michael, and Berlin.

Comic Relief was formed, Aerosmith and Run DMC mixed rock and hip hop with Walk This Way.

Peter Gabriel’s stop-motion music video for Sledgehammer raised the bar for video production.
Movies to Watch include Top Gun, Pretty in Pink, Little Shop of Horrors, Crocodile Dundee, Stand By Me and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

James Cameron got the approval to make Aliens by writing the word ‘Alien’ on a board, then adding an ‘s’ and turning it into a dollar sign.

U.S. launched the Polar Bear satellite, Cheers was a popular TV show, plus Tom Cruise, Michael Hutchence, Mickey Rourke, Paul Newman were leading men in movies.

Official Top 40 best-selling songs of 1986

	TITLE	ARTIST	PEAK
1	DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY	COMMUNARDS	1
2	EVERY LOSER WINS	NICK BERRY	1
3	I WANT TO WAKE UP WITH YOU	BORIS GARDINER	1
4	LIVING DOLL	CLIFF RICHARD & THE YOUNG ONES	1
5	CHAIN REACTION	DIANA ROSS	1
6	THE LADY IN RED	CHRIS DE BURGH	1
7	WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET GOING	BILLY OCEAN	1
8	PAPA DON’T PREACH	MADONNA	1
9	TAKE MY BREATH AWAY	BERLIN	3
10	SO MACHO/CRUISING	SINITTA	2
11	TRUE BLUE	MADONNA	1
12	A DIFFERENT CORNER	GEORGE MICHAEL	1
13	ROCK ME AMADEUS	FALCO	1
14	WE DON’T HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF	JERMAINE STEWART	2
15	SPIRIT IN THE SKY	DOCTOR AND THE MEDICS	1
16	THE FINAL COUNTDOWN	EUROPE	1
17	REETE PETITE (1986)	JACKIE WILSON	1
18	RAIN OR SHINE	FIVE STAR	2
19	CARAVAN OF LOVE	HOUSEMARTINS	1
20	THE CHICKEN SONG/A NICE SOUTH AFRI	SPITTING IMAGE	1
21	THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV	A-HA	1
22	ON MY OWN	PATTI LABELLE/MICHAEL MCDONALD	2
23	WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN	BANGLES	3
24	IN THE ARMY NOW	STATUS QUO	2
25	LESSONS IN LOVE	LEVEL 42	3
26	GLORY OF LOVE	PETER CETERA	3
27	THE EDGE OF HEAVEN	WHAM!	1
28	SLEDGEHAMMER	PETER GABRIEL	4
29	ALL I ASK OF YOU	CLIFF RICHARD/SARAH BRIGHTMAN	3
30	TOUCH ME (I WANT YOUR BODY)	SAMANTHA FOX	3
31	WONDERFUL WORLD	SAM COOKE	2
32	A KIND OF MAGIC	QUEEN	3
33	HOLDING BACK THE YEARS	SIMPLY RED	2
34	YOU KEEP ME HANGIN’ ON	KIM WILDE	2
35	LET’S GO ALL THE WAY	SLY FOX	3
36	WORD UP	CAMEO	3
37	MANIC MONDAY	BANGLES	2
38	I CAN’T WAIT	NU SHOOZ	2
39	MY FAVOURITE WASTE OF TIME	OWEN PAUL	3
40	YOU CAN CALL ME AL	PAUL SIMON	4

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