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Regional Hits of 1982

Other Years: 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

The standard page for 1982 lists the biggest hit songs across the whole World. This page compares that with the top 20 biggest hits of the year in North America and Europe. The region index explains how these results were generated and the long term trends.

The most distinctive songs of 1982 (that is the hits that only charted in one place) has been calculated.

  North America   World   Europe  
# Artist Song Title Artist Song Title Artist Song Title #
1 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts I Love Rock 'n' Roll Moves -1 Moves -1 Survivor Eye of the Tiger Moves -3 Moves -9 F R David Words 1
2 Survivor Eye of the Tiger Moves 1 Moves 1 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts I Love Rock 'n' Roll Moves -20 Moves -1 Culture Club Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? 2
3 J Geils Band Centrefold Moves -4 Moves -9 Culture Club Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? Moves 1 Moves -1 Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder Ebony & Ivory 3
4 Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder Ebony & Ivory Moves 0 Moves 0 Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder Ebony & Ivory Moves 1 Moves 3 Survivor Eye of the Tiger 4
5 John Cougar Mellencamp Jack & Diane Moves -12 Moves -4 The Human League Don't You Want Me Moves -3 Moves -17 Falco Der Kommissar 5
6 Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes Up Where We Belong Moves -7 Moves -1 Steve Miller Band Abracadabra Moves -7 Moves -5 Musical Youth Pass the Dutchie 6
7 Steve Miller Band Abracadabra Moves 1 Moves 4 J Geils Band Centrefold Moves -42 Moves -9 Trio Da Da Da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha 7
8 Men At Work Down Under Moves 0 Moves 0 Men At Work Down Under Moves -8 Moves 3 The Human League Don't You Want Me 8
9 The Human League Don't You Want Me Moves 4 Moves -15 Dexys Midnight Runners Come On Eileen Moves -2 Moves -16 Kim Wilde Cambodia 9
10 Hall & Oates I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) Moves -5 Moves -100 F R David Words Moves 9 Moves -22 Shakin' Stevens Oh Julie 10
11 Duran Duran Hungry Like the Wolf Moves -16 Moves -16 Musical Youth Pass the Dutchie Moves 5 Moves 2 Dexys Midnight Runners Come On Eileen 11
12 Culture Club Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? Moves 9 Moves -4 Chicago Hard to Say I'm Sorry Moves -8 Moves -31 Richard Sanderson Reality 12
13 John Cougar Mellencamp Hurt So Good Moves -28 Moves 7 Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes Up Where We Belong Moves -53 Moves 7 Steve Miller Band Abracadabra 13
14 Toni Basil Mickey Moves -4 Moves -8 Hall & Oates Maneater Moves -28 Moves -21 Yazoo Don't Go 14
15 Toto Rosanna Moves -4 Moves 5 Hall & Oates I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) Moves -49 Moves -21 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc) 15
16 Chicago Hard to Say I'm Sorry Moves 4 Moves -149 Trio Da Da Da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha Moves 9 Moves 8 Men At Work Down Under 16
17 Journey Open Arms Moves -42 Moves 12 John Cougar Mellencamp Jack & Diane Moves -100 Moves -16 Imagination Just an Illusion 17
18 Willie Nelson Always On My Mind Moves -26 Moves 4 Toni Basil Mickey Moves -127 Moves -37 Imagination Music & Lights 18
19 Don Henley Dirty Laundry Moves -29 Moves 4 Toto Rosanna Moves -24 Moves -10 Frida I Know There's Something Going On 19
20 The Go Gos We Got The Beat Moves -29 Moves -39 Supertramp It's Raining Again Moves -3 Moves 8 Chicago Hard to Say I'm Sorry 20

The comments here are from the the MusicID impact site site. This version is not able to accept comments yet

12 Aug 2011

1982

Biggest U.S. hit of 1982 was "Eye of The Tiger" by Survivor. Number one for most weeks, most weeks in the chart and best selling. More than "I Love Rock'n'Roll".

As we've said elsewhere the listing here also reflects success over the intervening years. So having the most contemporary success does not guarantee that the song will be the top in the North American chart. Also note that the chart here is "North American" NOT U.S., and while success in Canada does not often tip the balance, the US market being so much larger than the Canadian one, it might make a difference.

We could take your comment two different ways, first as a suggestion that we "fix" this particular chart, or secondly as a suggestion that we look again at the metric we are using.

The first is, of course, impossible. The way this site is set up ensures that all listings are generated with no manual input at all. Once the metric is set no one, not even the administrators, can "fix" positions in individual charts. This is both because there is so much data here that adjusting every page would be impossible, and secondly because we don't trust even ourselves to be objective about which artists, albums and songs are boosted.

Our suspicion is that you are aware of that and that your proposal would be for us to look again at the metric we are using, because in this particular case it is delivering an apparently incorrect result.

So which song has had more success? As you say "Eye of The Tiger" did better in the Billboard chart, was nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe, and was number 1 in Canada. But "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was number 1 in Canada for longer, was a bigger hit according to Record World, WABC New York, and the Billboard Annual listing, and was in the RIAA's important songs list and the "Acclaimed Songs" list.

So we agree, it is possible that "Eye of the Tiger" was more successful. But we'd claim that it is also arguable that "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" deserves its higher position.

Of course one issue is that ANY automated metric is bound to throw up some borderline cases, and clearly this is one. We want a way of combining charts that is both simple and yields defensible results. For us the simplicity is the most important aspect, because we want results that are transparent, so that users can see why certain songs or albums come higher up the list.

We continue to try and refine our metric, and your input will help us with that process. But at the moment we're content to continue using the current algorithm until we can find a better one. If you have any suggestions as to how we could improve the algorithm we'd like to hear them.

Thanks for the input, interesting topic

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