Kindle Versions Now Available for the '70s, the '80s, the Rock Writers and the Albums

Ranking The Rock Era:
Data Science Serving Pop Music History

Ranking The Rock Era: Data Science Serving Pop Music HistoryRanking The Rock Era: Data Science Serving Pop Music HistoryRanking The Rock Era: Data Science Serving Pop Music History
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  • The '80s
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  • The Writers
  • The Albums
  • Methodology
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  • About Bill and Dann
  • More
    • Home
    • The '60s
    • The '70s
    • The '80s
    • The '90s
    • The Writers
    • The Albums
    • Methodology
    • DePauw
    • About Bill and Dann

Ranking The Rock Era:
Data Science Serving Pop Music History

Ranking The Rock Era: Data Science Serving Pop Music HistoryRanking The Rock Era: Data Science Serving Pop Music HistoryRanking The Rock Era: Data Science Serving Pop Music History
  • Home
  • The '60s
  • The '70s
  • The '80s
  • The '90s
  • The Writers
  • The Albums
  • Methodology
  • DePauw
  • About Bill and Dann

It's the Complete Reference

Ranking the ‘80s: The Who’s Who and The What’s What

All the singles and all the albums, as well as all the acts that recorded them, ranked and indexed. Chart statistics are included for each record—Entry, Peak, Weeks at Peak and Total Weeks. Every single’s entry includes writers, producers and the album from which the single came. The top writers and producers are ranked and listed along with the acts and singles for whom they wrote and produced.

Acts and records—both singles and albums—are united in tables with the acts in alphabetical order, records sorted by chart strength with vital statistics for both. Singles acts and Album acts are indexed together making relative comparisons easy.


Ranking the ‘80s is full of new analytics. Albums are scored two ways: on the album’s chart strength and according to the chart strength of the singles they produced. The difference can be telling: which albums are collections of hits and which albums are works greater than the sum of their parts? Acts are analyzed as well: Which acts are singles acts, which are album acts and which do both equally well?

There is a unique Chronology section—a two-page graph and text snapshot of the decade for the top 20 singles acts and top 20 album acts. Each vignette traces singles history, album history week-to-week, important interactions between singles and albums, and a narrative summary of the act’s decadal chart achievements.

Then there are the fun lists:

Highest scoring singles and albums never to make the weekly top 5
Lowest scoring number 1s
Weakest follow-up releases to number 1 hits
Acts with consecutive number 1s
Acts with the most records and the most weeks in the Top 10, Top 40 and on the charts
Most records on the charts simultaneously

…and many, many more

Finally, there is a trivia quiz that will challenge any expert.


Open Ranking the ‘80s to any page and find a memory, an insight or a surprise.


With A Foreword by Dann Isbell

Click to order from Amazon.com:  $29.95

Order: $29.95

Take the Video Tour

A few Trivia Questions

Answers at the bottom of this page


1.   The titles of The Police’s two biggest hits both started with “Every.” Name them. 


2. These three ‘80s acts, which were not one-off star collaborations (i.e. USA For Africa)—had one single ever in the Hot 100 and it peaked at number 1. Two were instrumental and one was a cappella. Name them. 


3. The same act ranked #1 for overall chart performance in 1985, 1986 and 1987.  Who was it?


Who ranked higher on the basis of '80s singles?


4.  George Michael or Wham!?


5.  Don Henley or Glenn Frey?


 6.  Two writers had seven singles--alone or in writing collaborations--on the Hot 100 chart simultaneously.  Who were they? 


Praise for Ranking The '80s

  

“Video might have killed the radio star…but it gave birth to one of the most vibrant decades in pop history. This is the definitive overview of pop’s most visual decade…the stars, songs and albums. If only the book came with a pair of parachute pants…..”

Lou Simon, VP/Music Programming, host of The Diner, Sirius XM Radio

                     

”From a-ha to ZZ Top...from ‘Down Under’ to ‘Straight Up’...it's the ultimate ‘Celebration’ of the music of the '80s. If you find yourself digging out your Walkman and Rubik's Cube, don't say I didn't warn you!”

Rich Appel, Host of the worldwide-syndicated radio show That Thing with Rich Appel


“Bill Carroll has done it again.”

“After successfully ranking The Songwriters, The Albums and (with more than a little help from Dann Isbell) The '70's, this time around he's Ranking The '80's, in a brand-new, meticulously researched book that ranks every charted single of the 1980's based on a scientifically developed formula to determine the comparative values of each title charted.  (And he's got the charts and graphs to prove it!)”

“In addition, this book has some very interesting and intriguing new perspectives to share ...

Additional tidbits such as comparing a given artist's Singles Chart Performance against their Album Track Record.  (By the 1980's, the preferred choice in purchasing music was the LP format rather than the pop singles of the past ... and this book shows you, side by side, how an artist performed in each medium.  You may be surprised by some of these results!)”

The new book also incorporates Bill's Songwriters research AND throws in the additional bonus of Producer information for these chart hits. It's about as "All-In-One" as any chartaholic could ever dream of.

Here's hoping he'll eventually find the time to add similar updates to his 1970's volume and partner with Isbell again to update their outstanding Ranking The '60's volume ... the book that launched this series.  (Could a Ranking the '50's book ALSO be in our future???)

“A more complete analysis simply isn't available ... and you just can't argue with the research (no matter what your own 20/20 hindsight may THINK was the case.)  These books present the facts AS THEY ACTUALLY HAPPENED ... regardless of the "pick-and-choose" airplay we hear today.”

“Highly recommended as a necessary addition to any Music Chart Reference Library.”

Kent Kotal--forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com, http://www.forgottenhits.com

Downloads

Sample of Acts with their Singles (pdf)

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Sample of Albums Ranked (pdf)

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Sample of Singles Ranked (pdf)

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TOC for Website (pdf)

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Answers To trivia questions

Additional Information

1.   The titles of The Police’s two biggest hits both started with “Every.” Name them. 

Every Breath You Take

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic


2. These three ‘80s acts, which were not one-off star collaborations (i.e. USA For Africa)—had one single ever in the Hot 100 and it peaked at number 1. Two were instrumental and one was a cappella. Name them .


Vangelis-Chariots of Fire; Jan Hammer-Miami Vice Theme; Bobby McFerrin-Don't Worry, Be Happy


 3. The same act ranked #1 for overall chart performanc in 1985, 1986 and 1987.  Who was it? 

Madonna


 Who ranked higher on the basis of '80s singles? 


4.  George Michael (Rank: 23, Score: 25301) or Wham! (Rank: 38, Score: 21638)


5.    Don Henley (Rank: 90, Score: 12425) or Glenn Frey (Rank: 89, Score: 12593)


6.  Two writers had seven singles--alone or in writing collaborations--on the Hot 100 chart simultaneously.  Who were they?

Dianne Warren (10/28/89 - 11/4/89) and Prince (10/27/84 - 11/24/84


Errata

What About Me by Kenny Rogers should be listed as What About Me by Kenny Rogers With Kim Carnes and James Ingram

Some copies have a typo--single ranked 916 should be FUNKYTOWN by Pseudo Echo

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