I was exploring the internet the other night when I came across a website that showed the Top 200 artists of the 80’s based on # of weeks on the Hot 100 chart and the # of hits they had on the chart.  I found the list to be extremely interesting and at times surprising at what did or didn’t make the list.  The website was www.rateyourmusic.com  or you can check out the list at this link.

When you go through the list, there will be no surprise at the artist at the top of the list.  It is everyone you would think it would be such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Hall & Oates, and Billy Joel (I won’t give you their ranking).  But what I found most interesting was that throughout the list I saw Genesis and most of its members or former members.

Genesis was huge in the 80’s and so was Phil Collins which is no surprise.  Mike Rutherford had a side project during the 80’s called Mike & the Mechanics that also had numerous hits during the 80’s.  And let’s not forget a former member of Genesis, Peter Gabriel.  His resurgence in the 80’s was also quite significant.  Tony Banks was the only member of the band I didn’t see having a hit on the Hot 100 list outside of Genesis.

Before we say that Genesis and its members ruled the 80’s, what was the #1 artist’s stats on the Hot 100 that would need to be topped?  The #1 artist on this list had 26 hits that made the Top 100 and those songs were on the charts for a total of 378 weeks.  That is pretty impressive in my books.

Now let us go through all the hits:

Genesis:

1. #1 – Invisible touch
2. #3 – In too deep
3. #3 – Tonight Tonight Tonight
4. #4 – Land of Confusion
5. #4 – Throwing it all Away
6. #6 – Thats All
7. #14 – Misunderstanding
8. #26 – Abacab
9. #29 – No Reply at All
10. #32 – Paperlate
11. #40 – Man on the Corner
12. #44 – Illegal Alien
13. #50 – Taking It All Too Hard
14. #58 – Turn it on Again
15. #73 – Mama

Phil Collins:

1. #1 – Againt All Odds
2. #1 – Another Day in Paradise
3. #1 – Groovy Kind of Love
4. #1 – One More Night
5. #1 – Seperate Lives
6. #1 – Sussudio
7. #1 – Two Hearts
8. #2 – Easy Lover
9. #4 – Don’t Lose My Number
10. #7 – Take Me Home
11. #10 – You Can’t Hurry Love
12. #19 – I Missed Again
13. #19 – In the Air Tonight
14. #39 – I Don’t Care Anymore
15. #79 – I Cannot Believe It’s True

Peter Gabriel:

1. #1 – Sledgehammer
2. #8 – Big Time
3. #26 – In Your Eyes
4. #29 – Shock the Monkey
5. #48 – Games Withour Frontiers
6. #72 – Don’t Give Up

Mike & the Mechanics:

1. #1 – The Living Years
2. #5 – All I Need is a Miracle
3. #6 – Silent Running
4. #32 – Taken In
5. #62 – Seeing in Believing
6. #63 – Nobody’s Perfect

TOTAL # of HITS: 42 Hot 100 Songs

Now let us go through the # of weeks on the charts:

• Genesis – 220 weeks
• Phil Collins – 258 weeks
• Peter Gabriel – 107 weeks
• Mike & the Mechanics – 95 weeks

TOTAL # of Weeks on the Hot 100: 680 Weeks

The members of Genesis and the band itself outpaced the #1 artist by 16 more songs and by 302 more weeks on the charts.  In fact, they had more weeks on the chart than there are in a 10 year period (which is 520 weeks).  They also had 10 #1 hits which was more than any of the Top 5 artists on the list.  You couldn’t go any time without hearing one of their songs on the radio or seeing one of their videos on MTV (back when they showed videos).

Now I know you can say that it took 4 separate artists to beat the #1 artist (actually Genesis & Phil Collins beat the #1 artist without the help of the other 2), but the point is the members of Genesis were on fire during the 80’s.  And based on the above, I would say that Genesis definitely ruled the 80’s!