1984 was a lot of things for music. “The ’80s” as we remember them were in full swing by mid-decade. MTV arguably had its ...

Guilty-pleasure songs come with the baggage of profound embarrassment ... “Hold Me Now” by Thompson Twins from Into the Gap Hits in 1984 were buoyed by earnestness. Thompson Twins’ defining ...

Also, future legends were emerging: Metallica released Ride the Lightning, The Smiths debuted, and The Cure continued to ascend as Robert Smith twisted gothic post-punk songs into pop gems.

Early in the 1900s, Billboard presented charts detailing the popularity of sheet music in the U.S. In July 1940, Billboard unveiled its first chart ranking the sales of recorded songs, the 10 ...