On this day in 1980: Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album spent its 303rd week on the U.S. album chart, beating the record set by Carole King’s 1971 #1 album ‘Tapestry.’ The album remained on the U.S. Billboard charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in chart history. After moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart, the album added another 759 weeks, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006.
On this day in 1986: Austrian singer Falco started a three-week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Rock Me Amadeus’, also a #1 in the U.K. Falco became the first German speaking artist to achieve a #1 on the U.S. singles chart.
Originally recorded in German, the song is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his popularity and his debts. A longer version (eight minutes), named the “Salieri Mix”, appeared on the initial U.S. release of the album Falco 3. The song was inspired by the movie ‘Amadeus’. For the U.S. release, the song was remixed with an English background overlay. There was never a full English version.
Here’s a look at the complete Top 20 on the U.S. singles chart from this day back in 1986:
1 4 ROCK ME AMADEUS –•– Falco (A&M)-8 (1 Week at #1) (1)
2 1 THESE DREAMS –•– Heart (Capitol)-11 (1)
3 3 SECRET LOVERS –•– Atlantic Starr (A&M)-14 (3)
4 5 R.O.C.K. IN THE U.S.A. –•– John Cougar Mellencamp (Riva)-9 (4)
5 10 KISS –•– Prince & The Revolution (Paisley Park)-6 (5)
6 9 WHAT YOU NEED –•– INXS (Atlantic)-11 (6)
7 7 NIKITA –•– Elton John (Geffen)-11 (7)
8 2 SARA –•– Starship (Grunt)-14 (1)
9 13 LET’S GO ALL THE WAY –•– Sly Fox (Capitol)-14 (9)
10 11 THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT –•– Loverboy (Columbia)-11 (10)
11 15 MANIC MONDAY –•– The Bangles (Columbia)-10 (11)
12 8 KING FOR A DAY –•– Thompson Twins (Arista)-11 (8)
13 18 ADDICTED TO LOVE –•– Robert Palmer (Island)-8 (13)
14 14 SANCTIFY YOURSELF –•– Simple Minds (A&M)-10 (14)
15 6 KYRIE –•– Mr. Mister (RCA)-15 (1)
16 19 TENDER LOVE –•– Force M.D.’s (Warner Brothers)-9 (16)
17 17 BEAT’S SO LONELY –•– Charlie Sexton (MCA)-16 (17)
18 12 HOW WILL I KNOW –•– Whitney Houston (Arista)-17 (1)
19 30 WEST END GIRLS –•– Pet Shop Boys (EMI-America)-5 (19)
20 31 HARLEM SHUFFLE –•– Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones)-3 (20)
