The

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

is published by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

(AC) market. In 1982, 19 songs topped the chart, based on playlists submitted by radio stations. In the year's first issue of ''Billboard'' the number one position was held by

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

with "

Yesterday's Songs "Yesterday's Songs" is a 1981 single by Neil Diamond from his album ''On the Way to the Sky''. The song was a major adult contemporary radio hit, spending six weeks at #1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' chart and four weeks atop the Canadian Adult Contem ...

", which was in its third week in the top spot. It remained atop the chart for four weeks in 1982 before being replaced by "

The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known) "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" is a country- pop song written by Otha Young for Juice Newton in the mid-1970s. Newton was known for charting hits on the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Hot Country charts - and this song has the distincti ...

" by

Juice Newton Judith Kay "Juice" Newton (born February 18, 1952) is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categorieswinning once in 1983as well ...

, a re-recording of a song which had originally appeared on Newton's unsuccessful debut album in 1975. Diamond returned to number one in October with " Heartlight", which also spent four weeks at number one, and his total of eight weeks in the top spot was the most by any artist in 1982. Three songs tied for the longest unbroken run at number one during the year, each spending five weeks in the top spot. In April and May, Greek composer and musician

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

spent five weeks at number one with "

Chariots of Fire ''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell ...

", the theme tune from the film of the same name, for which he had won the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by t ...

in March. Later in the year, "

Ebony and Ivory "Ebony and Ivory" is a song that was released in 1982 as a single by Paul McCartney featuring Stevie Wonder. It was issued on 29 March that year as the lead single from McCartney's third solo album, ''Tug of War'' (1982). Written by McCartney ...

", a collaboration between

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

, spent the same length of time at number one, and was immediately followed into the top spot by country singer Ronnie Milsap's recording of the 1962 song " Any Day Now", which achieved the same feat. Four of 1982's AC number ones also topped ''Billboard''s all-genres chart, the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. "Chariots of Fire" spent a single week atop the Hot 100 in May, and was immediately followed into the top spot by "Ebony and Ivory", which held the position for seven weeks. In November, " Truly", the debut solo single from

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

, lead singer of

the Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

, topped both listings and quickly launched Richie to superstardom. "

Hard to Say I'm Sorry "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a power ballad written by bassist Peter Cetera, who also sang lead on the track, and producer David Foster, for the group Chicago. It was released on May 17, 1982, as the lead single from the album ''Chicago 16''. On S ...

" by the band

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

also reached the number one position on both charts. Conversely,

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

's "

Shanghai Breezes "Shanghai Breezes" is the title of a popular song by the American singer-songwriter John Denver. Released as a single from his 1982 album ''Seasons of the Heart (album), Seasons of the Heart'', "Shanghai Breezes" would become Denver's fifteenth a ...

", which spent one week atop the AC listing in May, could only climb as high as number 31 on the Hot 100. The career of Denver, one of the biggest music stars of the 1970s, was in decline, and "Shanghai Breezes" would prove to be his final top 20 hit on the AC chart and his final top 40 hit on the Hot 100. Following his chart-topping collaboration with Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney took a second duet to number one when "

The Girl is Mine "The Girl Is Mine" is a song recorded by American singer Michael Jackson and English musician Paul McCartney. The track was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released as the first single for Jackson's sixth s ...

", on which he performed with

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, reached the top spot on the final chart of 1982.

Chart history

Chart history

References

See also