Retro Rewind: Billboard Hot 100 This Week in 1989

Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.

So, just as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.

This week we’d very much like to ode ‘Miss You Much’ – the first single from pop icon Janet Jackson‘s magnum opus, ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ [click here to read our ode to the album]…

After the groundbreaking success of the singer’s third album, ‘Control’ (thanks in no small part to the production of duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis), Jackson tapped the twosome to attempt to recreate some of that magic with her follow-up project.  What they crafted not only exceeded the high bar set by their previous collaboration, but also went on to be one of the year’s best commercial offerings…

With the assistance of a high octane music video billed as a “musical film,” ‘Miss’ – produced by Jam & Lewis – kicked off Jackson’s ‘Nation’ era in a major way.  Not long after its release, the tune leap-frogged over pop nemesis, Madonna, and her hit song, ‘Cherish’ (found on her 1989 hit album ‘Like A Prayer’), to land at the top of the Hot 100 where it stayed for four weeks.

Going on to platinum status, ‘Miss’ became the second best-selling song of the year and also landed in history books for being the first of seven singles from one album to hit the Billboard Hot 100’s top 5.  Also, it was the first of three chart-toppers that made Jackson the only artist in history to land three number one singles on three different calendar years from one album.

Note:  Jackson still holds both records nearly 30 years later.

Hot 100 This Week in 1989

Hot 100 This Week

Click here to read this week’s fully refreshed Chart Check:  Hot 100.