On this day in 1986: Billy Ocean was enjoying the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry).” The song was written and produced by Wayne Brathwaite and Barry Eastmond; Ocean was also credited as a co-writer for the song. It appears on Ocean’s 1986 album ‘Love Zone’, which was released on Jive Records. 

According to Barry Eastmond, the song was inspired by an incident involving Ocean’s hit song of the previous year, “Suddenly”. Eastmond told Fred Bronson  in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits about a friend of his wife’s who had recently broken up with a long-term boyfriend. While at a party given by her new boyfriend, the song “Suddenly,” which reminded her of her previous boyfriend, was played, and she broke down in tears. Eastmond and his co-writers used this scenario as the basis for writing “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry).”

Here’s a look at the full Top 10 on the U.S. singles chart for this day in 1986:

1 2 THERE’LL BE SAD SONGS –•– Billy Ocean (Jive)-12 (1 Week at #1) (1)
2 4 HOLDING BACK THE YEARS –•– Simply Red (Elektra)-14 (2)
3 6 WHO’S JOHNNY –•– El DeBarge (Gordy)-11 (3)
4 5 NO ONE IS TO BLAME –•– Howard Jones (Elektra)-13 (4)
5 9 NASTY –•– Janet Jackson (A&M)-8 (5)
6 8 INVISIBLE TOUCH –•– Genesis (Atlantic)-6 (6)
7 3 CRUSH ON YOU –•– The Jets (MCA)-13 (3)
8 1 ON MY OWN –•– Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald (MCA)-16 (1)
9 10 SLEDGEHAMMER –•– Peter Gabriel (Geffen)-9 (9)
10 14 DANGER ZONE –•– Kenny Loggins (Columbia)-9 (10)